Why You Need a Personal Umbrella Policy
Let me start off by saying no one, and certainly no professional, should be without a personal umbrella insurance policy. Although it will not extend over your legal services or business coverage exposure (i.e., workers comp), the benefit of this coverage extending limits above your personal auto and homeowners coverages far outweighs the relatively minimal […]
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Client Engagement Letter: ‘Why Not?’
I am still amazed when firms say they don’t use an engagement letter, or don’t use one most of the time, especially on repeat business with a client. My response is usually, “Why not?” After all, the letter can be pretty much boilerplate, so we are not talking about a huge effort in crafting something […]
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How Can an Economic Downturn Impact Your Firm?
Let’s set the stage with a presupposition with which you may or may not agree. It is the natural order of things that when as much was done to stimulate the economy during the pandemic, the bill will come due. I think we are about to pay the piper to some extent. That means rough […]
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Cyber Coverage: Higher Limits in High Demand
I know from many phone conversations that many of our insureds are becoming more aware of cyber coverage. We also certainly see more interest in increasing the limits from the $100,000 aggregate we include by endorsement to all our lawyers professional liability (LPL) policies. It is correct to ask, and to examine the cost involved. […]
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PHIL’S CORNER: 2021 Policy Dividend – a Loyalty Reward
The OAMIC Board of Directors recently declared a policy dividend of approximately 5% of the earned premium for annual policy limits up to $1 million. This equates to about $448,000 to be paid to policyholders who have a current policy as of the Dec. 31, 2021, record date. View Post I like to think of […]
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PHIL’S CORNER: Employment Practices Liability Insurance, Even for Solos & Small Firms
Did you know employment practices liability coverage (EPL) can be added to your lawyers professional liability (LPL) policy? Have you seriously considered it from a cost/benefit standpoint? The answer is obviously yes if your firm has added it, as about 47% of our insured firms have. If not, is it because you are uncertain about […]
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PHIL’S CORNER: With A Little Help From Our Friends
I know, now you will be singing that song – or at least that line – the rest of the day! With all the uncertainties the past couple of years, we are even more thankful for our insureds (friends) than ever before. That is appropriate for this time of year. One thing the pandemic has […]
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Managing Your Clients’ Expectations
A couple of things make it increasingly difficult to achieve client satisfaction in the provision of legal services. Starting out with a disgruntled client who is never happy and has already been to four other lawyers creates a mountain that is very difficult to climb. But, the other very tough situation is a client who […]
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How the Number of Attorneys Affects Premiums
I get questions from time to time along the lines of “Why is my insurance twice as much just because I now have two lawyers at the firm instead of one?” I promise this won’t be a primer on insurance, but to really answer that question, we have to back up and look at the […]
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Considerations for Attorneys With Clients in Cannabis-Related Businesses
We were probably the first lawyers professional liability insurer to openly declare the willingness to write coverage for law firms providing legal services to cannabis business clients. Many insurers declined to underwrite firms with these types of clients, while others crafted specific exclusions for claims arising from clients in a cannabis business. On the other […]
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