Commercial insurance products: Protection for claims that our policy does not cover

 

 

You and your firm may be at risk of having claims that are not covered by the compulsory professional liability indemnification policy. Commercial insurance companies have developed insurance policies to protect you and your firm for different risks which continue to evolve to respond to new risks in doing business. There are different insurance options available and the terms of cover, including deductible amounts, may vary between insurers and brokers. Additional information is in the chart to the left, and below are brief descriptions of commercially available insurance products commonly sought by law firms. Talk to one or more brokers selling commercial insurance for law firms to learn what is best for you and your firm.
  • Cyber insurance is being provided to BC firms on a primary basis as part of the Indemnification Program. For details on what primary coverage is provided, complete information is available on our Your Cyber Coverage page. As with any type of insurance, you must consider whether you need excess insurance. You will want to talk to an insurance broker about buying additional coverage to protect yourself from the risk of claims that exceed the policy limits or are not covered. Excess insurance must be bought for the firm as a whole, not its individual lawyers. A broker can help you decide how much excess insurance may be appropriate for your firm, if any.
  • Crime (fidelity) provides coverage for employee fraud or theft. It can also include other coverages that will respond if you or your bank accounts are the target of a thief. Often crime policies are written on a discovery basis (provides uninterrupted coverage, reaching back across your firm's history, regardless of your prior policy structure) and can include the following coverages:
  1. loss resulting directly from employee fraudulent or dishonest acts, such as an employee forging your signature and withdrawing money from an account;
  2. client coverage;
  3. loss of money and securities from inside or outside your premises;
  4. loss resulting directly from the acceptance of counterfeit drafts and paper currency;
  5. loss resulting directly from forgery or alteration of a financial Instrument issued by you;
  6. computer and transfer fraud, including coverage for loss caused by a hacker or virus, fraudulent instructions sent to the your financial institution, and fraudulently induced transfers (social engineering fraud), and restoration expense coverage;
  7. extortion against persons or property;
  8. first party claims expenses / professional fees coverage for all insuring agreements.
  •  Commercial general liability insurance is the "first line" of coverage that a business typically purchases. CGL insurance covers many of the common risks that can happen to any type of business, such as bodily injury or property damage on the business premises or due to the business operations, personal and advertising injury, and medical payments. It specifically excludes certain types of risks, including professional services, pollution, liquor, and directors and officers liability. Separate insurance policies are available to cover these situations.
  • Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils. Open perils cover all the causes of loss not specifically excluded in the policy. Common exclusions on open peril policies include damage resulting from earthquakes, floods, nuclear incidents, acts of terrorism, and war.
  • Employment practices liability insurance deals with wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, breach of contract, emotional distress, and wage and hour law violations. EPL insurance is sold as a type of management liability insurance, which is related to professional liability insurance.
  • Directors & officers liability (often called Management Liability Insurance or Executive Liability Insurance) insurance covers exposures faced by directors, officers, managers, and business entities that arise from governance, finance, benefits, and management activities. This includes (1) directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance, (2) employment practices liability (EPL) insurance, (3) fiduciary liability insurance, and (4) "special crime" insurance (covering kidnap, ransom, and extortion exposures). These coverages may be written as stand-alone insurance policies or combined into a single, "package" policy.