I was talking to a lawyer about my potential case the other day and he mentioned that he had malpractice insurance. What does that mean?
That means that the lawyer has purchased insurance that protects his clients from financial loss in the event that he commits an error that causes a loss. If the lawyer is alleged to have made an error that hurts a client and gets sued as a result, the lawyer’s malpractice insurer company will hire a lawyer to defend its insured and pay any judgment against the insured up to the amount of the insurance.
Responsible lawyers carry malpractice insurance even though there is no law or court rule in Tennessee that requires lawyers to purchase such insurance. Indeed, I would be very wary of hiring a lawyer who did not carry malpractice insurance. The fact that a lawyer has insurance means he cares enough about his clients to try to protect them from the consequences of an error.