Professional Liability Claims Against Accountants

Drinker Biddle represents accountants in securities litigation, malpractice claims, other sorts of litigation and administrative proceedings.  Our clients include large accounting firms, smaller firms, and individual accountants.

Our recent professional liability representations of accounting firms and accountants include:

  • An accounting firm that resigned mid-audit.  The firm’s client sued, claiming that the resignation destroyed the client’s business.  We first forced the claim to arbitration pursuant to an alternative dispute resolution provision in the engagement letter.  We then represented the accounting firm in a twenty-six day trial, staged over sixteen months.
  • A firm in a suit brought by the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Vermont, seeking to recover damages for a failed insurance company, asserting that the accountants should have concluded that the insurance company was insolvent.
  • A firm in a suit brought by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as the liquidator of a failed private bank.
  • A Canadian Chartered Accountant in a federal RICO suit filed in Delaware Chancery Court.
  • Malpractice claims stemming from accounting advice related to complex structured transactions involving special purpose entities.
  • A large accounting firm in a malpractice suit brought by a disgruntled “tax” client. 
  • The same firm in a malpractice suit brought by a client who claims that the firm should have uncovered an embezzlement by its corporate controller.
  • A firm in connection with claims by a class of purchasers of stock in a failed Canadian gold refiner.  Plaintiffs claimed that the auditors should have discovered the fraud.
  • Another firm against a claim that the accountants gave improper tax shelter advice to the executive officer of a Fortune 500 company.
  • A firm in a proceeding to determine whether the accountants would be permitted to continue to practice before the SEC.
  • A firm with respect to claims by the Resolution Trust Corporation that the accounting firm should be held responsible for losses resulting from the failure of one of the largest savings and loan institutions in the United States.
  • A firm before the New Jersey Casino Commission to obtain necessary approvals to audit an Atlantic City casino company.

Drinker Biddle has represented accounting firms and accountants for many decades.  The firm has lawyers experienced in every sort of litigation involving accounting and accountants.

Professional Liability Claims Against Lawyers

The firm has represented some of the nation’s largest law firms in a wide range of complex, high-exposure cases involving claims arising from the conduct of trials, real estate transactions, private employment matters, fee disputes, commercial transactions and bank representations.  We typically defend claims for our lawyer clients and their law firms that range in size from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars.  While our legal malpractice trial attorneys are well versed in the litigation management requirements of today’s insurers, a substantial part of our professional liability defense work involves direct representation of national and regional law firms.  Our client firms are based throughout the Middle Atlantic region and across the country.

Drinker Biddle’s professional liability attorneys include the former Chairman of the ABA’s Section of Litigation and its Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, members of the American College of Trial Lawyers and New Jersey Supreme Court Certified Civil Trial Attorneys.