Legal Malpractice Law Review : Professional Responsibility Case Summaries & Commentary : Bennett J. Wasserman : LegalMalpractice.com : Lawyer Malpractice & Legal Ethics

Bennett J. Wasserman is the Editor of the Legal Malpractice Law Review. He has focused his practice on the law governing lawyers, with emphasis on legal malpractice, professional responsibility, lawyer advertising, billing disputes and the fiduciary duties of practicing lawyers. He has been involved in more than 1000 such cases, defending and prosecuting  substantial claims in these areas. A significant part of Ben's work is devoted to serving as a  strategic consultant and expert witness  on liability and causatlon issues in legal malpractice litigation. He is frequently called upon by litigators, law firms and professional liability insurers to analyze complex cases of compliance or departures from standards of legal practice and rules of professional conduct as they relate to lawyer malpractice, risk avoidance, ethics, attorney advertising and law firm billing practices. Several important reported court decisions in state and federal courts have cited his work as the basis for their decisions.

Since 1990, Ben has served as Special Professor of Law at Hofstra University School of Law, where he has taught a full semester advanced course in Lawyer Malpractice. He has also been a guest lecturer at other law schools at home and abroad and has served on the faculty of continuing legal education programs in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. He is the lead author of the New Jersey Law Journal’s Annual Review of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decisions in the areas of legal ethics and malpractice.

Ben is a graduate of Hunter College (B.A. 1968, M.A. 1971). He received his J.D. cum laude in 1974 from Hofstra University School of Law, where he served as Articles Editor of the Hofstra Law Review. He is admitted to practice in the States of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and in the United States District Courts, Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. In 1985, the Supreme Court of New Jersey certified Ben as a Civil Trial Attorney. He serves on the Malpractice Insurance and Legal Education Committees of the New Jersey State Bar Association. He has been elected to SuperLawyers® in the field of Professional Liability and to Best Lawyers in America® in the fields of Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Law and Legal Malpractice Law. He holds the AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in its Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. In 2008, the New Jersey Law Journal voted him "Lawyer of the Year" for his work in persuading the NJ Supreme Court that its own attorney advertising rules violated constitutionally protected commercial free speech. He is of counsel to Stryker, Tams & Dill, LLP with offices in Newark, New Jersey and New York City.

Krishna J. Shah is the Associate Editor of the Legal Malpractice Law Review. Her practice is focused on the defense  of legal malpractice claims. She is also experienced in handling coverage claims for insurers on a variety of policies, including professional liability, commercial general liability, and excess and umbrella. Most recently, Krishna successfully argued that a New Jersey lawyer who practices as a professional corporation has a duty to report all malpractice claims to his or her malpractice carrier and must also cooperate with the carrier in the defense of the claims. The case was one of first impression and the import of the ruling is that attorneys who practice as a PC, LLC or LLP and who must therefore carry malpractice insurance under New Jersey Court Rule 1:21-1A, cannot deprive former clients who sue for malpractice of the benefit of that mandatory malpractice insurance coverage by defending themselves pro se.  Krishna serves as the co-author of the New Jersey Law Journal’s Annual Review of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decisions in the areas of legal ethics and malpractice.

Krishna graduated from Rutgers University with Honors in Political Science (B.A. 2001) and from the George Washington University Law School (J.D. 2005) where she earned Honors in Oral Advocacy and Legal Research and Writing. She is admitted to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and the United States District Court, District of New Jersey. She is an associate in the Hackensack, NJ office of  Rivkin Radler, LLP . 
 

Claudia A. Costa is an Associate Editor of the Legal Malpractice Law Review. She is a seasoned commercial litigator with extensive experience in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and New York. She has been deeply involved in breach of fiduciary duty and professional liability litigation involving attorneys and law firms.

Claudia received her J.D. from Fordham Law School, where she was an editor of The Moot Court Board and a writer for the Environmental Law Journal. She interned for Judge H. Lee Sarokin of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in its Securities Fraud Unit. She received her B.A. in English from St. Peter’s College. A native born Argentinian, Claudia is fluent in Spanish and while in college, served as an interpreter for the Superior Court of New Jersey, Hudson County.

Admitted to the Bars of New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia, Claudia is of Counsel to Kaufman, Dolowich, Voluck & Gonzo, LLP in its Hackensack, New Jersey office.

Susan Saab Fortney is Associate Editor of the Legal Malpractice Law Review responsible for Texas materials. She is the co-author of LEGAL MALPRACTICE LAW: PROBLEMS and PREVENTION (Thomson/West, 2008), the first law school level casebook in the field. Susan is a prolific author whose many articles have appeared in law reviews and scholarly journals throughout the country. Susan serves as the Paul Whitfield Horn Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at Texas Tech University School of Law, where she teaches a full semester course on Legal Malpractice. She has conducted empirical studies on law firm ethics and liability, works with the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility publication, “The Professional Lawyer”,  serves on the Supreme Court of Texas Task Force on the Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. 

Before entering academe full time, Susan practiced in the public and private sectors where she developed expertise in securities and corporate matters, legal malpractice and directors and officers liability. Susan has earned recognition for her outstanding contributions as a teacher, scholar and public servant. The Texas Lawyer recently selected her as one of the Thirty Extraordinary Women in Texas Law.

Susan received her B.A. (1974) from Trinity University, her J.D. (1977) from Antioch School of Law, her LL.M (1992) and her J.S.D. (1997) degrees from Columbia University School of Law.