11-1 Introduction

• Jurisdiction: United States

11-1 Introduction

To avoid the publicity of a lawsuit and the possibility of a jury assessing his or her conduct, a Florida lawyer may decide to include a provision in his or her engagement letter that requires legal malpractice claims to be submitted to arbitration.¹ Doing so is a hotly debated—and possibly unethical—practice,² even though the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the use of arbitration clauses in many other contexts.³

--------

Notes:

^[1] Estate of Williams v. Kevin F. Jursinski, P.A., 160 So. 3d 500 (Fla. 2d Dist. Ct. App. 2015) (pointing out that such agreements allow both the lawyer and the former client to compel arbitration in the event of a dispute).

^[2] Brian F. Spector, Predispute Agreements to Arbitrate Legal Malpractice Claims: Skating on Thin Ice in Florida's Ethical Twilight Zone?, 82 Fla. B.J. 50 (Apr. 2008). A suggested arbitration agreement appears at pages 53-54 of the article.

^[3] See, e.g., Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos., Inc. v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265 (1995) (exterminators); Doctor's Assocs., Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996) (fast food operators); Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 U.S. 440 (2006) (payday lenders); AT&T Mobility LLC v. Con-cepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011) (cell phone service providers); American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Rest., 570 U.S. 228 (2013) (credit card...