If you are a transactional attorney, you can now rest easy knowing that the attorney immunity doctrine protects you from claims brought by the other party in the transaction so long as your conduct meets the recent standard announced by the Texas Supreme Court. Before May of this year, transactional attorneys had been left wondering whether the attorney immunity doctrine extended outside the litigation context. This placed transactional attorneys in a tough situation which required attorneys to fulfill their ethical obligation to zealously represent their clients while also subjecting themselves to the risk of liability to the other side in commercial transactions.
The Texas Supreme Court had previously made clear that the attorney immunity doctrine provides substantial protections against opposing parties when litigators zealously advocate for their clients in litigation matters. See Cantey Hanger, LLP v. Byrd, 467 S.W.3d 477 (Tex. 2015). However, prior to May 21, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court had not addressed whether attorney immunity also applies to transactional matters, leaving the courts of appeals to make guesses concerning the scope of the doctrine. See Troice v. Greenberg Traurig, LLP, 921 F.3d 501, 506 (5th Cir. 2019) (discussing the trend among the courts of appeals...
