Lawyers professional liability insurance
According to the Black Laws Dictionary, a person educated in law is known as lawyer or a person licensed to practice law. There are many synonyms to lawyer as attorney, councilor and solicitor. Lawyers are the person hired by an individual or government to represent them in legal matters. A lawyer is a legal person to represent anybody in legal matters. In many countries a person has to give a series of bar examinations to become a lawyer. Bar examinations are held to see whether the person is eligible to practice law in any country.
Every country has its own series of bar examination. A professional liability means errors, omissions, negligence or any other damage to the customer caused by the professional. Lawyers though are the experts of legal matters have various legal liabilities. Lawyer's professional liability insurance helps them in such liabilities.
Professional liability insurance gives cover against claim of negligent act and errors in the professional service. The claims of non performance, fraud and breach of contract are also some of the professional liabilities of the lawyers. The lawyer's professional liability insurance is also necessary as any case filed against the lawyer, affects the business and good will. The margins of profit along with the personal assets are sometimes not enough for the settlement of some legal matters. The insurance policy has the following types -
- Claims Made Policy: This policy only cover the matters brought to the insurance company during the time of policy period. In this policy the claims made for the specific period in the policy running period are subject to stipulated limitations and extensions. This policy is different from the occurrence policy.
- Errors and Omissions Coverage: This policy helps a lot to the lawyers. The lawyers are often exposed to the clients claim that he gave them inadequate legal advice resulting in loss of the client
This policy generally covers claim made against negligent acts resulting in bodily injury, property damage or any kind of loss to the client.
The lawyer's insurance police cover areas like professional services rendered as an attorney, notary public and title agent. It also covers personal injury caused by attorney or attorney firm. The policy does not cover the claims like dishonest act, deceptive acts, illegal acts and malicious acts. For the specified exclusions, companies sometimes give coverage to the innocent client. There are also some cases where the cover is denied like vicarious act, claims made by the insured lawyer, third party claims, racketeer influenced, and corrupt organization act, claims under employee retirement income security act of 1974, attorney services given to the company not owned by the insured law and many more cases.
Overview
Every profession has its pros and cons. Lawyer profession is also very delicate as it handles legal matters, which sometimes results in heavy loss to the client. The client can file a law suit against the lawyer or his firm for the compensation. The insurance cover helps in dealing with such situations. It also gives cover in the time of personal injuries or damage occurred outside the work place and timing of work.
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