In its seventh annual survey released this summer, Ames & Gough, a trusted risk and insurance adviser to the country's largest law firms, provided data relating to legal malpractice claims submitted to insurers during 2016. Detailing the type, frequency, and severity of legal malpractice claims, the survey includes information obtained by polling nine leading insurance companies that insure approximately 80 percent of the Am Law 100 firms.

Overall, from the law firm and attorney perspective, the news is generally good in that the number of malpractice claims has remained relatively steady. For insurers, however, the news is less rosy; legal defense costs, claimed damages, and settlement sums continue to climb.

While the frequency of legal malpractice claims has remained near-constant on a year-over-year basis, it continues to remain well above the pre-recession level, perhaps indicating a “new normal.” Notwithstanding this relative stability of claim frequency, claim severity continues to be an issue.