Abstract
This article explores the debate first by describing the one-client and two-client models that are at the heart of the disagreement, and second, by looking at the relationships and obligations that create conflicts and concerns. It explains how the one-client model is consistent with the obligations undertaken in the contract of insurance, better fosters the attorney’s professional obligations, better protects the insured as a consumer of insurance and of legal services, and ultimately better protects the interests of the insurer and the attorney. Finally, this article examines the operation of the one-client model in various problematic situations to illustrate how it accomplishes these benefits, and concludes that a clear one-client engagement agreement, or, in the absence of such clarity, a default position that the attorney represents the insured alone, is better for all parties.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Jean Fleming Powers,
Advantages of the One-Client Model in Insurance Defense,
45
N.M. L. Rev.
79
(2014).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/vol45/iss1/5
