A missed limitation date is the claim, and it is already too late when you find it.Founded by an agent who has written professional liability for large accounting and law firms.

General liability

The office, the reception and injury to clients and visitors.

Without it — Every office lease requires it, and it answers none of the claims the practice itself generates.

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 coverage

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

Without it — Claims-made coverage 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.

A client or a lender panel wants proof of malpractice insurance. What do they usually ask for?

A certificate showing lawyers professional liability at a stated per-claim and aggregate limit, and often confirmation that the policy covers the practice area of the engagement. Corporate clients and insurers that hire panel counsel set their own minimums in the outside counsel guidelines, and title companies and lenders do the same for closing attorneys. Read the guideline for the limit, whether defense costs may sit inside it, and how much notice you must give if the policy changes.

Is legal malpractice insurance required?

Oregon is the long-standing example, where the bar requires every lawyer in private practice with a principal office in the state to carry coverage through its own Professional Liability Fund. Most other states leave it voluntary, and a number require you to disclose whether you carry it, either on your annual registration or directly to clients, so check your own bar’s current rule. In practice, corporate clients, lender panels and some courts require a certificate before they will instruct you.

How much does malpractice insurance cost for a law firm?

We do not publish a figure, because practice area moves the price more than anything else and one range across every practice would mislead. Lawyers professional liability is priced per lawyer, then adjusted for practice area. Plaintiff personal injury, securities, patent prosecution, class action and real estate work rate far above estate planning, immigration or transactional practice, because the exposure is the size of what a mistake costs the client. Then come claims history, the limit and deductible, and how long you have carried continuous coverage. A claims-made policy usually costs less in its first years and steps up as the prior work behind it builds. 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. Coverage 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 coverage 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 coverage 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 coverage sits — cyber policies commonly pay the breach response while excluding or heavily sublimiting the funds, which fall under crime and social engineering coverage. Check that sublimit against the size of a typical closing, because it is usually far smaller.

How crime coverage treats funds transfer fraud