Law firms battle wave of suits with insurance coverage

Though it was once quite rare for a large law firm to face a lawsuit of its own, the frequency of claims being aimed directly at lawyers is rapidly increasing, and the firms are now boosting their insurance coverage to help to protect themselves against costly liability claims. According to legal experts, suing lawyers and their firms got started in the 1980s. This was also especially the case among the law firms that represented collapsed financial institutions in the Savings & Loan crisis, who were targets for FDIC litigation. Today,…

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Liberty Mutual Insurance expands new commercial lead umbrella policy form for mid-sized companies

Liberty Mutual Insurance has announced that it has now broadened its new commercial lead umbrella policy form in order to include an endorsement for crisis management in the hopes to provide increased protection for mid-sized organizations against the significant harm that can come from a business crisis. This new endorsement element provides customers with up to 72 hours in which to discover that a crisis has occurred, and then to make their claim, which includes coverage of up to $50,000 for Weber Shandwick support for crisis management. Weber Shandwick, a…

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Lawmakers in Massachusetts approve rate freeze for the state’s unemployment insurance plans

Massachusetts lawmakers have passed a $130 million spending plan this week. The legislation includes a provision that freezes the unemployment insurance rate that businesses have to pay. This is the fourth consecutive year that lawmakers have put a freeze on the insurance rate, hoping to spare the state’s businesses from costly and, at times, excessive rate increases from insurance companies. Legislators believe that the rate freeze will help stimulate the state’s economy, as businesses will be saving approximately $220 per employee on insurance coverage. The nation’s economy is still showing…

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The importance of understanding what business interruption insurance can provide

According to partner Robert Glasser from the Dempsey Partners L.L.C. New York Office, it is very important for a company to assess its needs for business interruption coverage and to do so carefully. That said, while CFOs and risk managers are typically confident in determining many of the insurance needs of their organizations, they often balk in the face of business interruption because they don’t have a structured approach to provide them with the information they require to make their decision regarding this coverage and its limits. Unfortunately, this discomfort…

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Lawyers gain broadened professional liability coverage from OneBeacon

OneBeacon Insurance Group member, OneBeacon Professional Insurance (OBPI), has launched a broadened lawyers’ professional liability (LPL) coverage so that its protections will now include network security and privacy (NSP) liability. Lawyers can access this new offering in either of two possible ways, which are: 1. As an LPL policy endorsement 2. As its own standalone coverage According to the OBPI senior vice president of the LPL division, Kim Noble, these days, a law firm’s lifeblood is its information systems, and it is vital to protect those systems, as they may…

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