Insurance Assurance

Here are some tips to help law firm management address this difficult situation. These tips apply to all three of the broad categories of law firm insurance products ' professional liability, property/casualty and health insurance ' but especially to professional liability because of recent events.

1. Select the right broker. First and foremost, use an experienced, qualified insurance broker who knows the legal profession. Choose wisely because the broker has a critically important impact on your law firm's ability to achieve its risk management objectives.

   Unless your current broker's competence and qualifications are excellent, seek competitive bids for this extremely important responsibility. Don't rely on someone whose primary qualification is being a personal friend or neighbor of a partner! Insist upon references from comparably sized law firms to ensure the broker knows the legal marketplace and its unique requirements.

   One reason your broker needs current expertise specifically with insuring law firms is to ensure that all operating risks have been identified and adequately covered with an insurance product (or otherwise protected against via an appropriate risk management strategy). The market has changed dramatically, and insurance coverage limits from even a few years ago may not be adequate today. Some policies, notably for health care insurance, may need to be restructured to respond to current market conditions. Also, new coverages such as catastrophic information loss may need to be added. All these changes need to be accurately budgeted.