Monday, August 23, 2010

Are company's liable if they receive incorrect legal advice?

Many companies ask their legal counsel for advice on a particular practice. If the lawyer provides advice that the company follows, should the company be immune from legal liability resulting from this action?Are company's liable if they receive incorrect legal advice?
Well, no. If that was true the companies would NEVER be liable they would ALWAYS blame it on the lawyers.


Now, lawyers are human being too - they make mistakes, if the lawyer was competent and gave advice in good faith -- the lawyer should not be liable.


However there is a cause of action for malpractice -- if the lawyer gives a com[any bad advice, and the lawyer was no qualified to do so, or gave advice in bad faith -- the company can sue the lawyer for damages.Are company's liable if they receive incorrect legal advice?
Yes parties are liable for their actions even if on the advice of counsel. If they followed the advice of counsel and it was wrong then possibly they could get reimbursement from counsel's malpractice carrier. I've even had companies ask for the advice given to be changed, so no the company should not be immune from legal liability for the action that ultimately was theirs.
No, the company won't be immune, but they could sue the lawyer for malpractice.
They are responsible, they are still the ones committing the action.
nope...but you can go after the lawyer for damages if any result from the improper or incorrect advise.
Why? Is this any different than following poor advise from an engineer, accounting consultant?





The company may be able to sue counsel (I'm assuming out of company not inside legal dept) but the company is responsible for their actions.

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