What is a hammer clause in a legal malpractice insurance policy?
It’s a great question that I get asked a lot. Simply put, a hammer clause in a legal malpractice policy is the carrier’s ability to force you to settle a claim that you really don’t want to settle.
How does the carrier do this?
The carrier basically just says, look, we can settle this claim for X number of dollars. You say, well, no, I don’t want to settle it for X number of dollars. And the carrier says, okay, we won’t settle it, we’ll keep fighting it, but if the end result is a settlement larger than what we could have settled it for back here, you’re responsible for the difference. You’re on the hook.
Are you looking for ways to lower your legal malpractice insurance premiums and help turn prospects into firm clients? Look no further than your firm’s website and online presence.
Insurance carriers now review your firm’s website in an effort to try and get a better picture of you. They are looking at the site content describing your areas of practice, the type and size of your clients, risk management procedures, articles in the firm newsletter, blog, your Google My Business profile and social media feeds.
They are trying to determine if your law firm’s site conforms with the ABA and or state bar association rules and guidelines on advertising and e-platforms. What the underwriter sees and interprets from your site will impact on how he or she views the exposure your firm creates and will influence the pricing up or down.
One of the content items that seems to regularly raise a red flag is the listing of the firm’s practice areas on the site. Firms will often boast several areas of practice on the site, some of which they haven’t had a case in that area for years.
I realize that it may seem like a good idea to list as many areas as possible to try and draw in clients. I have even spoken to firms that have told me that they want the web site to project the firm as having that “large firm” appeal or sophistication impact.
From an underwriting and pricing standpoint, know that it can have a negative impact. Especially if several of the areas of practice are considered higher risk areas such as: Oil and Gas, Securities, Intellectual Property (copyright patent trademark), Class Action and some Employment law.
Additionally, from a marketing standpoint, listing areas of practice that you do not typically deal in can have negative effects on your search engine optimization as well. Google wants to know what your firm does well and they want to show your website to people searching for that skill.
When you list many areas of practice and don’t have a concentration on a particular niche, your website is less likely to show up in the organic search results for what you do best!
Please know, I am not trying to tell you how to advertise or practice. That obviously is up to you. I am telling you that you should be as accurate as you can with the content on your website, Google My Business listing and social media profiles.
Know that people other than prospects are looking at your website including insurance carriers and even your competition. Keep your online presence updated, relevant and interactive.
It will give the insurance carriers an accurate picture of your firm, coordinate and confirm the information you list on the malpractice application and help drive the type of prospects to your website the firm wants to have as new clients.
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.
When you purchase professional liability insurance, most of the time, you’ll see what’s known as a retroactive date listed somewhere on your declarations page of the policy. This retro date actually refers to the date that the coverage will go back to, to cover you for your professional services.
If you are an older professional, like me who has been around for the last 30 years, you might have a retro date of 1/1/1989. Or if you’re a new professional, like my daughter, you might have a retro date of 1/1/2015.
Again, just remember, it’s the date that the policy will refer to or go back to cover you for the professional services you perform for your clients.
How do I report claims under my professional liability insurance policy?
This is a great question. You spend a lot of money on a professional liability policy and you want to be sure that when and if you do have a claim to report, that it’s done properly and promptly.
Usually the carrier has three ways for you to report claims. One is by email, two is by fax, and three is by us mail. The contact information for these three methods of reporting claims is usually found in the policy itself or on the declarations page.
Remember, don’t hesitate. Don’t wait. prompt reporting of claims is great. I’m Don I your insurance guy.
What deductible should I choose for my legal malpractice insurance policy?
That answer is really a personal preference. You can go on both ends of the spectrum from a zero deductible, $10,000 deductible or even higher. It really depends on your comfort level.
If you are comfortable having zero deductible and paying a higher premium, because that’s what’s going to happen, then take that.
If you’re not comfortable with paying the higher premium and having a low deductible, take the lower premium and higher deductible. Again, I call it sleep insurance. Whatever you’re comfortable with is what you want to choose.
A loss only deductible, which is also commonly referred to as first dollar defense, is a deductible type that will only apply in the event that there is a settlement of a claim.
This means that if you are sued, and there are defense costs and other types of incidental costs, they’re not going to apply to your deductible. Your deductible is only going to apply in the event that there is some type of loss, i.e. settlement.
According to the most recent ABA studies, malpractice claims stemming from calendaring errors continue to be a common mistake made by law firms. One of the ways to reduce calendaring errors is to make sure that your firm or office has a dual calendaring system in place.
Dual calendars can include calendars on your computer, laptop, desktop, other electronic devices, paper calendars, wall calendars, desk calendars, diaries, phones, there’s a slew of them. My point being is that there are actually several ways to implement a dual calendar system, and you should choose one that works best for you and your firm.
The risk management benefit of having a dual program in place is the backup benefit. If a calendar entry is missed on one system, it should be picked up by the other system. Hence the chance of a missed deadline by the office is reduced with a dual calendar system. consistency with the entering of the information, weekly cross checking of the system and having two people maintaining the system are key elements to a successful program.
So if you want to reduce your risk of a legal malpractice claim, and lower your malpractice insurance premiums, make sure you have a dual calendaring system in place.
What is the difference between professional liability insurance and general liability insurance?
The best way to answer that question is really just to give you a couple of examples. A professional liability policy covers the professional for the work that he or she does on behalf of their clients. So a lawyer’s professional liability policy would cover a lawyer for those professional services that they are doing or performing for their clients.
A general liability policy is what we like to call “slip and fall insurance”. If somebody were to walk into your office and slip and fall where they may get hurt a little bit, they could turn around and sue you for bad back medical claims or their hospital visit, etc. This is where your general liability policy would come into play.
As general liability and professional liability kind of sound the same, they are two very different types of coverage.
