Protecting My Client’s Clients: Confidentiality and Privilege Issues in Legal Malpractice Cases

Bryan Feldhaus is admitted to practice in Minnesota state and federal courts.

As a shareholder at Lommen Abdo, P.A., Bryan Feldhaus provides clients practical, business-savvy legal advice in three areas: he helps clients develop litigation and compliance strategies to mitigate their business risks; he analyzes and advises clients on legal, regulatory and compliance interests to improve business sustainability; and he manages and advocates for clients in litigation and regulatory proceedings to remediate liability concerns.

Bryan enjoys providing these services to clients across the legal spectrum, including in business litigation, shareholder/partnership litigation, insurance coverage disputes, professional negligence matters and intellectual property litigation. He also works on appellate matters in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Minnesota Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

One growing area of his practice is as compliance counsel. Bryan recently obtained an LL.M. degree in Corporate Compliance and Organizational Ethics from the University of St. Thomas School of Law, which degree focused on the intersection of corporate law, business and organizational ethics. His degree allows him to serve as compliance counsel to our corporate and business clients and will empower him to more effectively advise clients about their regulatory obligations, help clients devise and implement compliance and ethics strategies, and manage a client’s litigation, regulatory investigations or enforcement proceedings to improve their business sustainability.

Finally, he’s been successful in a variety of legal matters such as litigating patent malpractice cases, assisting with the exoneration of Koua Fong Lee, and securing a settlement for Kristen Hall for her partnership share of the popular band Sugarland. He has been recognized as an Up & Coming Attorney by Minnesota Lawyer and as a Rising Star by Minnesota Super Lawyers. When Bryan is not advising clients with their litigation, compliance or ethics concerns.

Concentrating his practice on counseling and representing clients in professional liability and disciplinary matters, Jeremy Boeder works closely with attorneys, insurance agents and brokers and other professionals. He also represents clients involved in commercial disputes, insurance coverage matters and general tort litigation. Mr. Boeder has achieved favorable results for his clients through mediation and arbitration, as lead counsel in numerous jury trials and as appellate counsel.

He has written on lawyers’ professional liability for the IDC Quarterly Monograph and regularly assesses recent developments in the law for the newsletter of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability. Mr. Boeder is also a former Chair and past Legislative Liaison of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section.

For the last five years, Mr. Boeder has been named a Rising Star in Illinois in the area of professional liability defense by Super Lawyers Magazine. In 2015, 2016 and again in 2017, Mr. Boeder was honored as an Illinois "Emerging Lawyer" by Law Bulletin Publishing Company, a distinction granted to fewer than 2% of those eligible attorneys who are age 40 or under or have been practicing law for 10 years or less. For the years 2018 and 2019, Law Bulletin Publishing Company has honored Mr. Boeder as a "Leading Lawyer" in the areas of commercial litigation, professional malpractice defense and personal injury defense. The "Leading Lawyer" designation is earned by fewer than 5% of lawyers licensed to practice in Illinois. The American Society of Legal Advocates also named Mr. Boeder one of the top 40 litigation lawyers under the age of 40 in the State of Illinois for 2017. The ASLA selects fewer than 1.5% of eligible lawyers for this honor.

Marta Alcumbrac brings the same creativity and determination to the practice of law that she used as a principal founder of the Los Feliz Charter School for the Arts, a public school started when Marta realized that parents in her community wanted another educational option for their children. Among her skills is her persistence in quickly obtaining and accurately analyzing the relevant facts, allowing the firm and the client to establish a litigation plan for bringing the case to conclusion. If there is a potential that the case will need to be tried, Marta's experience as a second chair in several trials enables her to know what will be needed for an effective trial presentation. Because of her previous experience at Bonne Bridges, Muller, O'Keefe & Nichols, where her practice focused on the defense of medical malpractice cases, the firm often calls on Marta's expertise in medical issues when the causation of a medical problem is a central issue in the case. She has regularly handled toxic exposure cases, bad faith cases, and legal malpractice actions arising from medical malpractice cases.

Melissa is an AV-rated equity partner at Deutsch Kerrigan, LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a member of the Firm’s Commercial Litigation and Professional Liability Department, where her practice focuses on the defense of professionals in litigation and disciplinary proceedings and complex commercial litigation. She helps professionals, officers and directors navigate through disciplinary actions, ethics investigations, malpractice, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty claims and lawsuits.

Ms. Lessell regularly writes and presents on the subjects of ethics, legal malpractice and professional responsibility. She is a Committee member of the ABA National Standing Committee on Lawyers Professional Liability, Vice Chair for the ABA Tips Professional Liability Insurance Committee, and has served in a variety of roles for the ABA Young Leaders Division. Locally, Ms. Lessell is a member of the 2018-2019 Louisiana State Bar Leadership Class, is routinely recognized as a rising star in the field of professional liability and was listed as a “Top Lawyer” by New Orleans Magazine in the field of professional liability defense.

Melissa earned a J.D. cum laude from Tulane University Law School in 2009, and a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego in 2005.