Lawyers Professional Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance

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wooden gavel with a money sign symbolizing the losses you could insur without Lawyers Professional Errors and Omissions Insurance

Sometimes the Lawyer Is the One Being Sued. Protect Your Professional Reputation and Your Assets!

Quite often legal professionals find themselves the subjects of lawsuits, brought on by unhappy clients, other attorneys, corporate shareholders, and third parties.

Lawyers Professional Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance, also known as Lawyers Professional Liability (LPL) insurance or Attorney Malpractice insurance, protects law firms, solo attorneys, and associated staff against claims of negligence, errors in judgment, omissions, and inadequate performance. Depending on the policy terms, you may also be covered for claims of slander, breach of contract, or privacy violations.

Who Needs Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance?

Some state insurance commissions require you to carry professional liability coverage. For others, you may wonder whether you need it. All lawyers should carry it, especially:

  • Those with practices involving personal injury, real estate, bankruptcy, trusts and probate, finance, family law or other high-liability areas
  • Retiring lawyer, to cover claims against previous work (also known as a Tail Policy)
  • Paralegals or clerical staff, independent contractors, or those who provide counsel for a law firm that has no coverage or insufficient coverage
  • Those who offer professional services related to legal action, such as arbitrators, mediators, notaries, title agents, conservators, and trustees
statue of lady justice in front of law books

Lawyers Professional Liability is supplemental insurance. It does not replace Commercial Liability, Employment Practices Liability, or Directors and Officers Insurance.

What Does Legal Malpractice Insurance Cover?

Lawyers Professional Liability policies typically cover financial losses, legal fees, and other expenses related to claims made against you, even if a claim is baseless. After all, lawsuits are time consuming and expensive.

While overall legal malpractice claims have leveled off over recent years, the financial severity of the claims continues to grow. It has never been more important to have the appropriate level of liability coverage.

Get a Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance Quote!

You’ve put a lot of time, effort, and money into your profession. Don’t leave that all up to chance. Call Banas & Fickert at 413-527-2700 to connect with a Lawyers Professional Liability insurance agent who can customize the right plan for you and your firm.

Massachusetts Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance FAQs

Lawyers professional liability insurance helps protect attorneys and law firms from claims related to professional mistakes, errors, omissions, negligence, or inadequate legal services. It is also commonly called legal malpractice insurance, attorney malpractice insurance, or lawyers errors and omissions insurance.

Yes. Lawyers professional liability insurance, legal malpractice insurance, attorney malpractice insurance, and lawyers E&O insurance usually refer to the same general type of coverage. The policy is designed for risks connected to legal services, not general business accidents.

Legal malpractice insurance may help cover defense costs, settlements, judgments, and other covered expenses if a client or third party claims that an attorney’s professional error caused financial harm. Common examples include missed deadlines, filing errors, conflicts of interest, alleged poor legal advice, or failure to properly communicate with a client. Coverage depends on the exact policy terms.

Lawyers professional liability insurance usually does not cover every risk a law firm faces. Common exclusions may include intentional wrongdoing, criminal acts, fraud, bodily injury, property damage, employment claims, cyber incidents, or general business liability. A law firm may need separate coverage such as general liability, cyber liability, employment practices liability, or a business owner’s policy.

Massachusetts generally does not require every attorney to carry malpractice insurance, but certain business structures and situations may have specific insurance or disclosure considerations. For example, Massachusetts regulations require certain limited liability partnerships and limited liability companies to maintain professional liability insurance at specified levels.

Solo attorneys, small law firms, larger firms, retiring attorneys, and legal professionals in higher-risk practice areas should consider lawyers professional liability insurance. It can be especially important for attorneys practicing in areas such as real estate, family law, probate, bankruptcy, personal injury, finance, or other fields where mistakes can lead to significant financial loss.

The cost of lawyers professional liability insurance depends on several factors, including the number of attorneys, practice areas, location, claims history, years in business, requested limits, deductible, and risk management procedures. A solo attorney with a low-risk practice may pay much less than a larger firm working in higher-risk legal areas.

Most lawyers professional liability policies are written on a claims-made and reported basis. This means the policy that responds is usually the one in effect when the claim is made and reported, not necessarily when the alleged error happened. Because legal malpractice claims can appear years after the work was performed, attorneys should avoid gaps in coverage.

Tail coverage, also called an extended reporting period, gives an attorney or law firm additional time to report claims after a claims-made policy ends. It can be important when an attorney retires, changes firms, closes a practice, or moves to a different policy. Tail coverage does not usually cover new legal work performed after the policy ends; it is meant for claims arising from past covered work.

Prior acts coverage may protect a law firm from claims based on legal services performed before the current policy’s start date. Some policies provide full prior acts coverage, while others use a retroactive date that limits how far back coverage applies. This is especially important when switching insurance carriers or adding attorneys to a firm.

No. General liability insurance and lawyers professional liability insurance cover different risks. General liability usually applies to non-professional business risks, such as bodily injury or property damage. Legal malpractice insurance is designed for claims connected to professional legal services, such as alleged mistakes, omissions, or negligence in legal work.

Yes. Banas & Fickert Insurance Agency can help Massachusetts attorneys and law firms review lawyers professional liability insurance options, compare policy terms, and look at coverage based on practice area, firm size, risk exposure, and budget. To discuss coverage, call 413-527-2700 for a personalized quote