Daniel Hager

Daniel Hager

of Counsel

Russell Roeca - Legal Malpractice Attorney
Dan acts as “of counsel” with the firm. Dan has substantial experience in the defense of professionals – primarily lawyers. He has defended countless malpractice, malicious prosecution, and other claims against lawyers in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Dan’s extensive experience using California’s anti-SLAPP statute has defeated meritless malicious prosecution claims, and has included the recovery of substantial attorneys’ fees awards.

Dan is a recognized expert in lawyers’ malpractice prevention and legal ethics, and has provided consultations and risk management services specializing for more than 20 years nationwide to lawyers, firms, and lawyers’ E&O carriers and brokers. This includes providing lawyers, firms, insurers and brokers with ethics consultations and conflict of interest analysis and solutions. Dan has also served as an expert witness on the standard of care for lawyers and legal ethics.

With his background in malpractice defense and prevention, ethics, and law practice management, Dan has acted as outside ethics and risk management counsel to firms large and small, served as loss prevention counsel for major insurers, and consulted with hundreds of lawyers to avoid claims, take corrective action, or mitigate damages.


Educational and Professional Activities

Dan has been a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco. He served on the Law Practice Management Section Executive Committee from 1993-1997 and again from 2006-2012, and was Chair from 2007-2010.

Dan has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching Professional Responsibility at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He has authored and presented numerous articles and programs, including:

● Protecting Communications with a Law Firm’s Own In-House Counsel, San Francisco Attorney and Los Angeles County Bar Association, 2015;
● Applying for Legal Malpractice Insurance: A Practical Guide to Controlling Cost, American Bar Association, 2012 and 2011 webinars;
● Top Risk Management Trends and Red Flags, Bar Association of San Francisco, September 2011;
● Analyzing Law Firms for Insurability, American Bar Association, National Legal Malpractice Conference, Fall 2010;
● When Attorneys Leave Law Firms, BASF, 2008;
● Audit Your Practice to Reduce Malpractice Risk, BASF, 2007;
● Managing Conflicts of Interest, BASF, 2006;
● General Counsel’s Ethical Responsibilities, Attorney’s Committee of the CASA, 2003;
● “Reduce Your Malicious Prosecution Exposure,” San Francisco Lawyer, June/July 2002;
● Avoiding Malpractice Claims and Ethical Violations in Real Estate Practice, San Francisco Real Estate Roundtable, 1999;
● Ethical Traps for the Unwary - How to Avoid Legal Malpractice Suits, BASF, 1998;
● Law Practice Management and the Bottom Line, Law Firm Profitability Institute, San Francisco, 1997;
● Professional Liability Loss Prevention, Professional Liability Underwriting Society, Los Angeles 1996;
● Screening New Clients and Matters to Avoid Malpractice Claims and Unpaid Bills, BASF, 1995;
● Substance Abuse and its Impact on the Legal Community, BASF, 1994;
● Effective Fee Agreements to Avoid Malpractice Claims and Fee Disputes, BASF, 1993;
● “Managing Conflicts in the Wake of Henriksen,” California Law Business Supplement to the San Francisco Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 1993; and
● Avoiding Malpractice, San Francisco Law School, 1992.

In addition, Dan regularly provides law firms with CLE programs in the areas of legal ethics, law firm risk management, substance abuse/professional competency, and elimination of bias in the legal profession.

Dan received his B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981 and his law degree from the University of California, Davis in 1985. He is admitted to practice in California state and federal courts
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