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.”

Welcome to level up your cybersecurity in October program from integrity first Corporation. It’s week three, and we’re going to talk about updating your software and the importance of it. 

Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in unpatched software. When new software updates come out to the public, it allows everyone, especially hackers, to learn about the weaknesses that were there and take advantage of them. 

Public Knowledge of those holes leave you and your organization as easy prey. So what should you do? You should update or patch your software. That makes you less vulnerable to security risks. If an update becomes available on your device, update it properly. Better yet, enable your phone, desktop, laptop to auto update, which will automatically install anything security wise that you might need automatically as soon as it’s available to you. 

In the case of a Red Cross breach as an example, they did not install an update fast enough and gave hackers access to over 50,000 people’s data. This is just one example of many malicious software attacks that happen every day and a perfect reason why you should update your software.

Join us next week for level four!

In this article, we’re going to review what to do if you forgot your password to the INF ShareFile portal. The first thing to do is not worry, it only takes a few minutes to reset the password.

To start that process, go to integrityfirstins.sharefile.com and click on the forgot password link. Now, you’ll want to enter your email address in the field.

The email address that you’re going to want to use is the email address that is associated with your legal malpractice application. That’s most likely the email address that INF used to give you access to the portal. Once you have your email in, click the I’m not a robot, and go through the rigmarole that Google is going to require to prove that you are in fact human. Click Send.

This should result in a Reset Password email being sent to your email address.

Go to your inbox and you might have to do a refresh to see that email come in. Click on that email and you can see that there is a reset your password now link contained within the text of the message.

If you do not receive the reset ShareFile password email in your inbox, you’ll definitely want to check your spam folder, there is a chance that your email provider may look upon the reset ShareFile password email as spam.

Click on the reset your password now link.

You can see for security purposes, INF has a few password requirements. The password needs to have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, two numbers, a special character and it has to be at least 12 characters in length. So select a new password that you’ll want to use for the portal.

Make sure that you typed them the same and then click on Reset password. You can see ShareFile will confirm your account password has been reset. Now if you want to sign in to the portal, click on back to sign in. Put in your email address, put in that new password and click on Sign In. 

If you have any questions about password reset process, email Stacey Ivol at sivol@integrityfirstins.biz or call at 412-563-2106. 

The most common question I get as an insurance broker from new lawyers or new law firms is why did my premium on my professional liability insurance increase especially when we haven’t had any change at all in our areas of practice? And probably more important, we haven’t had any claims, but yet my premium goes up by 20%? What’s the deal? How did that happen? 

Well, the simple answer to that question is, step rating.  Step rating is really nothing more than the carrier’s attempt to price your increased exposure as you practice year to year. 

As an example, the very first year that you, the lawyer, purchase a professional liability policy is probably going to be the least amount that you ever pay for professional liability insurance. The reason for that? You have no baggage, the carrier is basically covering you from the effective date of your policy, day one, going forward, there’s nothing in your past that actually is going to impact the premium, or gives the carrier concern that there might be a claim out there waiting to happen. 

Your first renewal, the carrier not only is going to price it for everything that you’ve done in the past, you know, which is one year, however, they also have to price it for what you’re going to do for the next 12 months. Therefore, their exposure basically doubles. Therefore, they have to increase your premium to capture that risk. 

The same holds true for the third year, not only is the carrier going to insure you for everything that you’re going to do for the third year, but they’re also insuring you for everything that you did in year two and year one. Basically, their exposure is tripling – they have to capture that risk by again, increasing your premium. 

The good news behind step rating is that there is a cap to it. It’s not going to increase your premium for the next 30, 40 years. Depending on the carrier, step rating could cap at five years, could cap at six years, could cap at seven years. Again, it depends on the carrier that you’re insured with. But again, the good news is that it does cap, it doesn’t continue on and on and on. 

If you have a legal malpractice policy or have been looking for one, I’m sure you have heard the term “Hammer Clause:”.  It has been and is a widely discussed term. Well what is a hammer clause anyway? Great question!

Simply put, the hammer clause which is located in the consent to settle provision of the policy is the carrier’s ability or attempt to force you to settle a reported claim.  In its strictest form, you, the insured, must accept the negotiated settlement of the carrier.  You have no input. 

Over the years, the consent to settle provision and hammer clause have been revised and modified. Today, some carriers state that they will not settle any claim without the consent of the insured, who’s consent shall not be unreasonably withheld.  What’s unreasonable right?  It is not defined in the policy.  

Other carriers state that you, the insured, can refuse to settle a claim agreed to by both the claimant and the carrier.  However if that claim continues and settles for a higher amount than what was originally agreed to by the carrier and the claimant, you are responsible for the difference! Yiokes, that could be expensive.  

Still there are other types of modified versions of the “clauses.”  These versions allow you to reject a settlement the carrier and claimant agree to. and if that claim settles/closes for a higher amount than the original settlement agreed to, the carrier will agree to pay a certain percentage of the increased settlement.  You will be responsible for the rest.  This is kind of a middle of the road hammer clause.

The best type of consent to settle provision for you, the insured, is to have no hammer clause.  Some, not many carriers do offer this.  They give the insured the absolute right to refuse to settle with no consequence or hammer!

How do you know what you have in your policy?  Best way to find out is to read the policy and discuss it with your broker.

I get asked by most lawyers who are cutting back on their practice hours if and how that will affect their legal malpractice insurance premiums.  

Most are surprised when I tell them that it really won’t have much of an impact on pricing this renewal.  Or for the next couple of renewals for that matter.  

Insureds need to keep in mind that your future workload/hours plays only a part in the pricing and underwriting process of your renewal.  

Another much larger part in the underwriting/pricing process is your prior acts coverage/hours.  For example if you have been insured for 10+ years, working 50 hours per week, and this renewal you decide you’re cutting back to 30 hrs per week to spend more time at home.  Granted you will be creating less exposure for the carrier by working 20 hrs per week less but the 50+ hours per week you worked for the last 10+ years doesn’t go away and that exposure to claims still exists.  

Carriers do and will price for that.  Overtime, the reduced hours you work will have an impact on pricing but not in the near future.  

It is always nice to be in a position to work less hours per week, but don’t expect it to have an immediate impact on your malpractice pricing.  Overtime, yes but not immediate.

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.

Although it can be quite a depressing subject to discuss, life insurance is something that everyone needs to consider. Life insurance is a necessary tool when it comes to financial planning.

Life insurance can be used for a variety of purposes, including paying for funeral expenses, paying off a mortgage, paying for a child’s college tuition, and providing a significant sum of money to your surviving spouse to help pay for everyday expenses for years to come.

There is no better time to consider it than now, especially since it is the start of a new year. We commonly make New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more, read more, improve our relationships, and a variety of other things.

Make reviewing your life insurance portfolio, if you have one, one of your New Year’s resolutions.

Is the amount sufficient, or do you need more? Have you bought a new house, sold a house, have a child, or become empty nesters in the last year? All of these factors will have an impact on your need for life insurance and the amount you need. If you don’t have a life insurance portfolio, you should ask yourself the same questions and make adjustments accordingly.

I remember not that long ago at Christmas time, we used to go shopping at the mall and we were always worried about someone breaking into our cars and stealing the gifts we just purchased.  We had to make sure that when we went back out to the car to put the gifts away so we could continue shopping, that we put the packages in the trunk or worse yet put them in the back seat and cover them up with a blanket or something else.  

Although I still think you have to be careful at the mall, most of us shop online and we have different types of worries, online and cyber threats.  Be careful when you’re shopping online, make sure you’re on a secure site when checking out, to who and when you provide your confidential information and be wary of bounceback emails advising you that your credit card was rejected or not recognized and you need to re-enter it. 

I know you have heard it a million times, BUT be careful with your confidential information.  The hustle and bustle is still a big part of the holidays, it is both online and at the shopping malls….be alert, don’t let someone steal your purchases from your car or your computer!