My office has changed the way we handle real estate transactions since the November 2020 1st District Illinois Appellate Court decision in Crawford v. Hayen, 2020 IL App (1st) 200076 (1st Dist. 2020). In that case, the 1st District ruled that the attorney committed legal malpractice in that he breached his “duty to adequately investigate and secure all available information about patent or latent defects of the condominium prior to closing.” Id. at ¶ 13.My office uses a three-page letter of engagement for buyer-side …