What Four Practice Areas Generate the Most Malpractice Claims?

After the workday, at a pub where lawyers gather, you can often hear heated debates about which areas of law are the most lucrative, most difficult, or most spiritually rewarding.  The answer will often depend on who is responding but the factors that determine how one feels about their practice include the types of clients, associated costs to market the firm and execute matters, and the amount of time and energy to sustain it.  One big factor that causes heartburn and headaches with attorneys is the potential of malpractice claims.  For what it's worth, over the last 25 years, the same four practice areas have consistently led all others with the percentage of overall malpractice claims.  According to the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability, here are the top 4:

• Plaintiffs Personal Injury at 21.56
• Real Estate at 20.05
• Family Law at 10.33
• Estate, Trust and Probate at 9.68

The percentages are from the most recent year of the study, 2007.