Well, welcome to July! Hard to believe July is already here. We at INtegrity First Corportation
recognize/celebrate the month of July as Legal Malpractice Insurance Awareness month.
Similar to September being Life Insurance Awareness Month and October being Cyber
Insurance Awareness Month. And what better way to kick off the month than a short
discussion on why malpractice insurance is so important. This fourth of July as we celebrate this
great nation of ours don’t be red white and blue. Be red white and insured or covered.

I personally believe that there is no better way for lawyers to protect themselves, their
practices and perhaps more importantly their clients! Everyone makes mistakes and lawyers
are not excluded from this fact. Some mistakes are small and insignificant and can be resolved
by the lawyer. Other mistakes however are more severe. They can cause harm to the client,
and affect the reputation of the lawyer. These claims/mistakes requires special expertise, legal
defense counsel and significant resources to resolve. This is where your legal malpractice
insurance coverage/program pays huge dividends.

Your coverage will provide the guidance and assistance throughout the process, provide for
defense counsel and settlement funds if needed. It also provides for a vigorous defense of you
protecting your reputation from those annoying frivolous claims that often times get filed
against you.

A good lawyers professional liability policy is worth its weight in gold! Make sure you have one!

Enter to win two FREE Steelers Tickets!

As we at Integrity First Corporation celebrate the month of July as lawyers legal malpractice insurance Awareness Month, we are honoring you, the lawyer, and offering you a chance to win two free Steelers tickets to an upcoming game during the 2023 2024 season.

Time doesn’t stand still and we are not getting any younger.  At least I’m not.  Eventually we all will at some point retire.  As lawyers in the private practice of law, you need to prepare for retirement from an insurance perspective.  

When you retire, you want to make sure that you take the proper steps to maintain the coverage you paid for in all the years prior.  You do this by securing what is known as tail coverage referred to as an Extended Reporting Provision.  Tail coverage will allow you to report future claims filed against you stemming from professional services you provided to clients prior to your retirement.  Hence the term tail coverage.  

Tail coverage is an essential piece of your retirement plan and it is not inexpensive (cheap).  The cost of tail coverage is usually based upon a percentage of the last premium you paid prior to retirement.  Cost can be upwards of 300% of the last premium paid. For example if the last premium you paid for your policy prior to retirement was $2000, your tail coverage could cost as much as $6000. 

It is important to note and to plan for that most carriers will offer a free retirement tail providing that you satisfy certain requirements.  Different carriers have different requirements however most stipulate that you must have been insured with the carrier for three consecutive years to be eligible for a free retirement tail.  Therefore you need to check with your broker and confirm what the requirements are in order to obtain a free retirement tail.  

Do not wait until the last minute to check as we are talking time requirements of at least three years and be careful as to not change carriers when you are within that three year time frame.  And if you do have to change carriers when in that retirement time frame, consult with your broker on what you will need to do to obtain a free tail with the new carrier.  There may be options where you won’t have to start over at year 1 of being continuously insured.

Remember, when you’re getting close to retirement, ask questions, get answers and confirm that you qualify for a free tail or at a minimum can purchase a tail. It will help provide for a secure retirement and possibly add a little more cash to your retirement savings.

Professional Services On Behalf of the Named Insured, that term or similar term is in most, not all, but most lawyers malpractice insurance policies.  It is intended to limit the policy coverage to lawyers in the law firm that are providing legal services to clients of the law firm only. Keep in mind that the name of the law firm is usually the name of the Named Insured listed on the policy.  

This term usually is a good thing for the law firm in that it does limit the exposure and coverage to the law firm business.  It can however be quite a surprise to any firm lawyers working outside the law firm in a “side” venture and moonlighting situation.  The policy will not cover professional services performed for anyone that is not a client of the Named Insured/Law Firm.  

There are instances where lawyers have worked in a law firm and also maintain a solo part time law practice away from the law firm.  Thinking that they had malpractice insurance coverage with the law firm, did not bother to purchase a separate policy for their part time solo work.  They did not realize they had no coverage until they were sued for work performed in their part time solo capacity.  Ouch!  That is a hard lesson.  

This situation can also occur if when working in a firm the lawyer agrees to provide legal service for a friend or family member and doesn’t run the business through the firm or sign the client up as a client of the firm.  

So check who is the Named Insured on your legal malpractice policy.  Make sure it is correct, again it is usually the name of the law firm. Be certain that all lawyers in the firm know that they are NOT or may not be covered by the law firm policy for legal services they perform for others who are not client’s of the firm. 

When it comes time to purchase or renew a legal malpractice policy, most people focus on price, which is not a bad thing. If it’s not the top priority, it is certainly in the top five. There are, however, other items that should be included on that list. Today, I want to give you my top items on my list in no order of importance. 

1. Prior acts coverage. Why is that important? Most claims filed against lawyers stem from professional services they provided five or more years ago. You don’t want a policy that excludes that type of claim.

2. Definition of professional services. Many lawyers wear many hats when providing professional services, acting as an arbitrator, mediator, trustee, Guardian, and title agent, just to name a few. Make sure that these services are not excluded in the policy that you purchase. 

3. Speaking of exclusions, number three is exclusions. I’ve long said that if you’re going to read only one section of the policy, read the exclusion section. At least this gives you some idea of what is not going to be covered under the policy. I have seen policies that have less than 10 exclusions. I’ve seen policies that have more than 25 exclusions. I’m not saying that the policy with 25 exclusions is any worse than the one that has 10 exclusions, but you need to read them and make sure if any of them apply to you. 

4. Extended reporting periods or extended reporting coverages. It’s commonly referred to as tail coverage. In the event that you quit practicing law, or you retire from the private practice of law, this provision will allow you to purchase an endorsement that allows you to report future claims that are filed against you for services that you performed in the past that would have been covered under your last policy. 

5. We’re going to come full circle and back to price. Price is important. Nobody wants to overpay for a policy. But please remember your objective when you first started the process. Your objective should have been to find a policy that provides the coverage you need and protects both you and your client all at a reasonable cost. 

There you have it, my top five list for now.

If you don’t have any writing about what work you did, it’s pretty difficult to justify the work that you did perform.

I suggest this to everybody. Even if you’re not billing hourly it’s easier to write down what you did because if you get in that situation later, it’s a lot easier to say this is the work I did and I earned that fee; I know that because I wrote it down.

And you don’t need to, but if you write down and send the work that you are doing to your client periodically, it’s even better.

Scott Eberle is on several insurance carriers defense panels. He’s been doing this type of work for many years. In my opinion, he’s one of the best presenters of legal malpractice and how to prevent it. So I think you’re in for a treat in terms of taking back some good information that you can implement in your firms.

Meet Scott Eberle

“My name is Scott Eberle, I am an attorney at Burns White in Pittsburgh where my practice focuses on representation of professionals, lawsuits and ethics matters. I’m focused on representation of lawyers in legal malpractice lawsuits, as well as ethics issues either in front of the office of disciplinary Council, or just general ethics consultation. I help attorneys navigate the issues that come up in their practice and I’m able to provide guidance on what you need to do to follow the rules of professional conduct to not get yourself in potential trouble with the disciplinary council.”

With any representation that you enter into make sure that you are adequately identifying who you represent and what you are doing on behalf of that party and that is that that will help you navigate your way and to avoid potential conflict situations.

Scott Eberle is on several insurance carriers defense panels. He’s been doing this type of work for many years. In my opinion, he’s one of the best presenters of legal malpractice and how to prevent it. So I think you’re in for a treat in terms of taking back some good information that you can implement in your firms.

Meet Scott Eberle

“My name is Scott Eberle, I am an attorney at Burns White in Pittsburgh where my practice focuses on representation of professionals, lawsuits and ethics matters. I’m focused on representation of lawyers in legal malpractice lawsuits, as well as ethics issues either in front of the office of disciplinary Council, or just general ethics consultation. I help attorneys navigate the issues that come up in their practice and I’m able to provide guidance on what you need to do to follow the rules of professional conduct to not get yourself in potential trouble with the disciplinary council.”

Most people think obtaining life insurance is a long and arduous process. It isn’t! At INF, we really try to make the process as simple and easy as possible. 

We start by completing an indication sheet. You’ll sit down or talk on the phone with either myself, Don Ivol, or Mark Schnelzer and we’ll ask you a few simple questions such as your name, your address, height, weight and gender. We’ll also ask just a couple of questions with regards to your health history. 

At that point, we use the information that you provided and we send it to our managing general agent who has access to 20-25 different insurance carriers. These carriers will look at the information that you provided and come back with a preliminary pricing report. Then, we’ll get back in touch with you and review the available amounts and pricing. 

From there, you can make your decision based upon the amounts, the carrier, and the pricing. At that point, things become a little bit more detailed and there will be a life insurance application that’s required. 

We will always be at your side to walk you through the process, help you answer those questions and get the information to the carrier to verify the original pricing and the coverage terms. So don’t put off applying for life insurance because you think the process is too difficult.

Happy Holidays and  Tis the season for Family, decorations, cookies, gifts and the office party!  Especially this year since most if not all of our offices were closed last year due to the pandemic. 

If an office party is on your calendar enjoy it and have a great time but as my mom always told me be careful and watch what you drink.  Especially if you are the owner of the business. 

Not only do you have to watch yourself, but you have to watch what your guests are drinking.  It is easy to over indulge at any parties but it seems like it is easier to do so at the office Christmas/Holiday Party and as you know accidents do happen.

So if you’re planning a holiday party and are going to be serving alcohol, consider the purchase of what is known as host liquor liability coverage.  It can provide you protection in those situations when an over-served guest at your party is involved in some sort of accident, causes harm to someone and that someone looks to you for damages.  

I’m not trying to be a holiday grinch here – just trying to help you be prepared for the unexpected and keep those holidays happy!  Enjoy your office party and have a wonderful holiday season! 

If you have any questions about liquor liability insurance, or any other type of insurance, call us at 412-563-2106.

No one likes to report a legal malpractice claim to their carrier. It reminds us that we made a mistake or that very difficult client that is impossible to satisfy.

To make matters worse, legal malpractice policies demand that we also report any potential claims, not just actual claims, but those issues that may develop into an actual claim.

All claims, whether actual claims or potential claims must be reported to the carrier as soon as you become aware of them. Don’t delay this process. Slow reporting to the carrier can and will cost you money in that the carrier can simply deny your claim because the claim wasn’t timely reported. Proper notice must be given to the carrier.

A good tip is to review your policy and make sure you’re familiar with the reporting process. Making that call or writing that letter may be painful and dredge up a few bad memories or two, but it will provide a level of comfort knowing that the report was made and the denial of coverage is not in the cards for late reporting.