Defending professional liability claims is a core practice area at Dunn DeSantis Walt & Kendrick. We have vigorously represented prominent local, regional, and national firms as well as solo practitioners. Our firm represents a wide variety of professionals, including attorneys, accountants and accounting firms, design professionals, real estate professionals, insurance agents and brokers, directors and officers, and financial advisors. As seasoned litigators who are intimately familiar with professional liability matters, we view it as a principal responsibility to work closely with you to promptly understand your goals and priorities and identify the keys to achieve them, assuring that you receive contemporary, sophisticated solutions for the challenges you face. Throughout the duration of a matter, you will be kept informed and involved as regular and prompt communication is a hallmark of our approach. We pursue practical resolution of your dispute to meet economic and strategic goals while simultaneously taking steps to protect and insulate your hard-earned reputation.

And your matter will always be handled with discretion and a focus on confidentiality.

We are well respected for our decades of experience representing and defending professionals in the real estate development industry, including architects, engineers (structural, mechanical, civil and electrical), environmental consultants, land surveyors, contractors, and construction management firms. In Southern California and beyond, our attorneys are recognized as leaders in providing sophisticated and experienced risk management counseling, and in negotiating and drafting of fair and clear contract documents. Regardless of the size of the project at hand, at our firm you will always receive custom solutions and advice tailored to the needs of your business.

Insurance is often at the very center of business disputes. At Dunn DeSantis Walt & Kendrick, we bring decades of experience with insurance matters to the table when we are called upon to represent professionals in the insurance industry. We have been engaged countless times to represent the interests of a wide variety of insurance professionals, from local and regional brokers and agents to large national insurance brokerages. We assist them and their clients on an as-needed, on-call advisory basis, and we vigorously defend them against errors and omission claims by insureds and claims by third parties arising out of the underwriting, procurement and interpretation of all types of insurance policies. It is important work, and we thrive on it.

In cases where an early resolution is prioritized, we pursue strategies designed to reveal opportunities to expedite termination of your matter through aggressive, creative motion practice and through the involvement of alternative dispute resolution strategies. Should you desire to seek resolution through a trial or arbitration, we are ready, willing and able to implement that strategy. Our attorneys have experience that extends back several decades. And we are prepared to try your professional liability case to a successful outcome in state or federal courts.

Our team has extensive experience in a wide variety of professional liability practice areas, including the following types of claims:

• Abuse of Process
• Architect / Sub-consultant Agreements
• Attorney Withdrawal
• Breach of Contract
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty
• Conflicts of Interest
• Contractor / Architect agreements (Design-Build Agreements)
• Defamation
• Delay Claims
• Department of Insurance Complaints
• Disputes with Professional Liability Insurers
• Disputes between Competing Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
• Employment Matters
• Errors and Omissions Claims
• Ethical Violations
• Fee Disputes
• Fraud
• Insurance-related counseling and advisement (including insurance coverage issues)
• Internal Law Firm Investigations
• Licensing Matters and Inquiries
• Malicious Prosecution
• Owner / Architect agreements
• Partnership or Shareholder Disputes, including Dissolutions of Firms
• Professional Negligence / Legal Malpractice
• Professional Service Agreements
• Regulatory Matters
• Risk Management and Claim Avoidance Strategies
• State and Federal Administrative and Regulatory Actions
• State Bar Complaints
• Trade Secret Claims
• Trademark and Copyright Defense or Enforcement
• Unfair Competition and Business Practices (California Business & Professions Code § 17200)