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Errors & Omissions Insurance for Legal Profession
As an attorney, you most likely understand the importance of being protected by insurance more than just about anyone. After all, you have seen the cases that come in and out of your office and have read the case studies of lawsuits that have taken place around the country. This is a litigious country and you need to be protected. Therefore, it is essential that you have Errors and Omissions in place.
When you have E & O in place, you will be protected if a client attempts to hold you responsible for the services you have provided. In other words, if the case doesn’t get the results the person had hoped for, you might find yourself facing a lawsuit. With this liability in place, you can be protected in such cases. In fact, this type of insurance can effectively help pay the costs associated with judgments or settlements against you. In addition, it can help pay for the cost of your defense.
Professional liability , which is also sometimes referred to as malpractice, is basically in place in order to protect you if you make any errors or omissions with someone’s case. Even if you do not feel as if you made an error, your client’s perception may be different. Therefore, it is in your best interest to be properly covered.
Even if you are not found to be guilty of making an error or an omission, just the legal battle itself can be quite costly. In fact, fighting the case can cost thousands of dollars, which can potentially bankrupt your practice or at least have a long lasting impact on your profits.
Some attorneys do not feel that they need to have liability in place. After all, you take the time and effort to make sure you do everything properly for your clients, so why should you have to worry about lawsuits? The reality is that we all make mistakes. No matter how good of a lawyer you are or how reliable your employees are, mistakes can happen. Therefore, it is important to have protection in place in case the unexpected does happen.
If you have general liability in place, you are not properly covered for lawsuits that you might face as an attorney. This is because professional losses are not covered with these more generalized policies.
When you shop around for an E and O policy, keep in mind that there is no “standard” policy to purchase. Rather, Errors and Omissions policies are intended to be unique to the individuals purchasing them. Therefore, you need to be certain to read the policy carefully in order to make sure it covers all of the types of exposure you might face. The fact that you are an attorney will expose you to different potential lawsuits than what a doctor or computer programmer might face.
There are also several different features that you might want to make sure are included in your policy. Some of the more popular features include…
- Prior acts
- Prior law firm
- Arbitration/Mediation
- Innocent partner
- Disciplinary proceedings
- First dollar defense
- Personal injury
- Defendants reimbursement
By having these various features in place, you can be protected to the fullest extent possible. In addition, with prior acts and prior law firm coverage, you will be insured for any incidents that occurred before you obtained the insurance. You will, however, need to determine how far back the coverage will be retroactive before you finalize the policy.
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