A missed limitation date is the claim, and it is already too late when you find it.

Lawyers professional liability

Claims of negligent advice, missed deadlines, conflicts and errors in the work.

Without it — A missed statute of limitations is indefensible and the loss is the client’s whole case.

Prior acts and tail cover

Continuity back to a retroactive date, and an extended reporting period on exit.

Without it — Claims-made cover with a lapse strands every year of work behind it.

Cyber and client confidentiality

Breach of privileged material, ransomware, and the notification obligations that follow.

Without it — A firm holds concentrated privileged data and is a deliberate target for it.

Crime, including trust accounts

Theft of client funds, and the fraudulent-instruction wire fraud aimed at closings.

Without it — Real estate and settlement wire fraud is the most common large loss in the profession.

Employment practices

Claims by associates and staff.

Without it — A firm that litigates employment matters is not exempt from them.

Is legal malpractice insurance required?

In one state. Oregon requires practicing lawyers in private practice to carry coverage through the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund, a mandatory primary program. A number of other states — Alaska, South Dakota, Nebraska, North Carolina and Virginia among them — require DISCLOSURE instead: you must tell clients or the bar whether you carry it, which is not the same obligation and is easy to overlook. Everywhere else it is voluntary, and most firms carry it because clients and courts increasingly expect it.

What actually drives our premium?

Practice area, above everything. Plaintiff personal injury, securities, patent prosecution, class action and real estate work rate far above estate planning, immigration or transactional practice — the exposure is the size of what a mistake costs the client. Then firm size, claims history, how long you have carried continuous cover, and your supervision and calendaring systems. A documented docketing system with redundancy is one of the few operational things that genuinely moves the price.

What is a retroactive date and why does it matter so much?

It is the earliest date of work the policy will respond to, and it is the most important number on a claims-made policy. Cover applies to claims MADE during the policy period for work done on or after the retroactive date — so if you switch insurers and the new policy sets a fresh date, everything you did before it is uninsured, regardless of how many years you paid premiums. Never accept a later retroactive date at a renewal or a move, and never let a policy lapse.

How claims-made cover works

What is tail coverage and when do we need it?

An extended reporting period, bought when you stop practicing, retire, sell the firm or move to a policy with a later retroactive date. Because claims-made cover responds only while a policy is in force, a firm that simply stops buying insurance is exposed to every claim that arrives afterwards on work already done — and legal malpractice claims frequently surface years later. Tail is priced as a multiple of the last annual premium and is worth building into any retirement or merger plan early.

How serious is the wire fraud problem?

It is the largest single money loss facing firms doing real estate or settlement work. The pattern is consistent: an attacker monitors email, waits for a closing, and sends convincing revised wire instructions. The money goes, and recovery is rare. Note where the cover sits — cyber policies commonly pay the breach response while excluding or heavily sublimiting the FUNDS, which fall under crime and social engineering cover. Check that sublimit against the size of a typical closing, because it is usually far smaller.

How crime cover treats funds transfer fraud