Most lawyers’ professional liability insurance policies, including WILMIC’s, are claims made-and-reported policies. With claims made-and-reported policies, coverage is only provided for claims that are first made against the lawyer/law firm and reported in writing to the insurance carrier during the policy period. In order to trigger coverage, you must report a claim or potential claim to WILMIC during the policy period when you first become aware of it.

Claims made policies can provide “prior acts” coverage. With prior acts coverage, you have coverage for a claim made and reported during the policy period, for professional services rendered years ago. At the same time, most claims made policies exclude coverage for an act, error or omission leading to a claim that was reasonably foreseeable prior to the effective date of the policy. Sometimes coverage is excluded for professional services rendered before a specified date, known as a retroactive date. Circumstances – such as practicing law without insurance or affiliations with certain law firms – may preclude coverage for professional services previously rendered.

Lawyers who retire or leave private practice often purchase a “tail” coverage endorsement to protect their financial well being. Tail coverage extends the claims reporting period of your policy and is provided through an endorsement to your current policy. The coverage terms, conditions and liability limits of the policy remain unchanged. You can extend the claims reporting time to one, two, three, six years or for an unlimited period.

You need to complete a Additional Lawyer Application. The application requests basic information about the lawyer joining your firm – previous firm affiliations, claim history and so on. If you request prior acts coverage for the new lawyer, you will be charged an additional pro rata premium. Some lawyers may need prior acts coverage, while others may not. Also, some lawyers may not be eligible for prior acts coverage. When a lawyer joins your firm after leaving another firm, that lawyer may want prior acts coverage even if the lawyer is currently covered under the former firm’s policy. For example, the lawyer may be apprehensive about the continuation of coverage under the former firm’s policy or may have questions about the adequacy of the former firm’s limits. Questions often arise about the size of the former firm’s deductible and who is responsible for paying the deductible.

Your WILMIC policy protects you for professional services you render in other states, as long as your Wisconsin office is your base of operations. The underwriting process includes a close examination of the type of work your firm renders outside Wisconsin.

No. Virtually all lawyers’ professional liability policies exclude any claim arising out of your performance as an officer or director of a business enterprise or non-profit organization. WILMIC’s policy does cover services you provide as director or officer of a professional legal association.