What is step rating and how does it affect my legal malpractice premium?

Simply put, step rating actually causes your premium to increase. Why? Because each step is equivalent to an additional step or an additional year of exposure.

When you’re a new lawyer, or you’re just opening up your firm, you’re down on the lowest level, or the lowest step because you don’t have anything or any ghosts or skeletons in your closet that the carrier is concerned about.

But each year as you practice, you go up each step. And again, the more steps, the more exposure. The more exposure, the more premium the carrier is going to charge.

So simply put, step rating causes your premium to increase.