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.

I’m starting a small business. What insurance do I need? 

When starting a small business, most of the time, money is pretty tight and price is a major consideration when deciding to buy anything. Usually, and unfortunately, insurance is pretty much always close to the bottom of the list. 

At a bare minimum, you do need to consider the purchase of any insurances that are mandated or required by the state that you’re in, and the industry that you’re practicing in. 

In my opinion, the most common required insurance in Pennsylvania is workers compensation. If you have employees, you need a workers compensation policy to cover them in the event that they are injured on the job. You should have this in place on the day you open up shop. 

Next, you should think about protecting yourself and the assets of your business. This can usually be accomplished with the purchase of a business owners package, which would include general liability coverage and coverage on the business personal property. 

General Liability protects you against negligence claims, and the business personal property actually protects the property of the business. Depending on the amount in your specific industry, these small business packages can be purchased starting at $500. 

Again, a lot goes into pricing and the pricing will vary. There are several other coverages that you need to consider and review, such as employee benefits, health insurance, professional liability insurance, cyber insurance, bonds, and crime policies, just to name a few.

But if you’re just starting out, you need to make sure you address the first three items that we talked about – workers compensation and a small business owners package which protects in general liability, and business personal property.

When underwriters look at a risk, there are several factors that come into play in the pricing portion of the process.

A couple of the major driving factors or driving forces are:

• How long have you actually carried insurance?
• How long have you actually been practicing law?
• What type of law do you practice?
• What areas do you play in?
• Have you ever had a legal malpractice claim?
• Do you really care about risk management?
• What kind of risk management techniques do you have in place in your office?

These are all things that an underwriter will look at that will either cause your premium to go up or cause your premium to go down.