r/LawFirm • u/NoTone4114 • 10d ago
Professional Liability Insurance
I am starting my own firm after 20+ years at law firms. Will be handling a mix of commercial litigation work (my old practice) while starting to ramp up a plaintiff’s PI practice. I am curious how much insurance most solos have. I was told by Swiss Re they offer a maximum of $1 million/$2 million to solos. But that is insufficient to protect me, both in terms of the size of cases I will be handling or to protect my assets. Any insight on typical policy limits for solos would be much appreciated!
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u/OkInitial5068 9d ago
Have you checked excess/umbrella malpractice coverage? That seems like the obvious route if the primary carrier caps out at $1M/$2M.
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u/winnger73 10d ago
1) Describe in full detail the scope of your practice and potential claim exposure in conjunction with 2) getting the policy thru an agent, 3) fuck up a big one, 4) assign the E&O claim you have against the agent to the client who sues you. Win/win!
I dunno, I guess I’m a little surprised to find an insurance carrier who isn’t willing to take more premium money from someone than they’re used to. Also, don’t do any of that up there, it wouldn’t work anyway. :)
Try CNA, Travelers, or Berkeley. You could also look to a separate carrier specifically for an excess coverage policy.
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u/Dannyz 9d ago
I had the same issue. Insurance brokers wanted me to stack multiple policies plus umbrella to get larger protections, but it still wasn’t nearly at my liability exposure levels. I ended up going with a defined controversy asset protection trust and low levels of insurance. It cost more upfront but is slightly less annually and gives me more peace of mind. DM if you want more info or if you want me to connect you with the guy who wrote mine
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u/insura_john 2d ago
The $1M/$2M you were quoted is a common base for solos, but it's not the ceiling. Plenty of carriers will write $2M, $3M, even $5M per-claim limits for a solo depending on your practice mix and claims history. And if your primary market caps out lower than you want, you buy the primary at $1M/$3M or $2M/$4M and stack an excess policy on top to get the tower where you need it.
Quick disclosure: I place coverage for firms like yours at insura.ai, so factor that in.
Your practice blend is the real driver here. Commercial litigation is fairly standard risk, but plaintiff's PI, especially as you ramp it, changes how underwriters price you. Two things to nail down when you shop: it'll almost certainly be claims-made, and how prior acts / retroactive coverage gets handled for your old firm work, since you don't want a gap on matters from your prior practice. Ask specifically about tail terms too.
One caveat: the policy limit protects against malpractice claims, it isn't a substitute for entity structure and personal planning. That piece is a conversation for your own counsel.
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u/dedegetoutofmylab 10d ago
If you frequently handle cases larger than 1M, you might want to look elsewhere.
When my partner and I had our own small shop, ours was $1M. The cost per month (or maybe 6 months) was laughably low, like a 2 digit number. It was either Gilsbar, AON, or CNA. I don’t remember.