Apply For Insurance By Mail

You may obtain our insurance application package, including instructions and all required supplemental forms by writing, calling, or e-mailing us. You may also print the Application Package. Acrobat Reader software is required. A free version of the Acrobat Reader software is available if you do not already have it.

Please complete the application and all supplemental forms. Write n/a on forms not applicable to your practice and sign and date them. Upon receipt of a completed application, a binding premium quotation and language for a warranty wording letter will be mailed to you. This letter on firm letterhead warrants that you have not become aware of any error, incident, act, or omission which might fall within the scope of the requested insurance since the application was submitted. Once we receive the warranty wording letter and premium payment, we will send you a policy of insurance.

To facilitate the continuity of your insurance once insured by us, a pre-printed renewal application is forwarded to you several weeks prior to your insurance renewal date. To obtain a renewal premium quotation, you need only make corrections and additions on the pre-printed application, sign, date, and return it to us.

For help in estimating your coverage requirements consider these factors:

1. Consider the monetary values of matters handled by your firm.

Average dollar value can be misleading because there is no guarantee that a loss won’t exceed the average value of your firm’s representations. Consider the potential damage to your firm if a claim arose from your firm’s biggest case. Attorneys often use this worst-case scenario when choosing limits rather than their firm’s average exposure. Risk-averse lawyers often use a multiple of two or three times the highest loss they can anticipate in selecting policy limits.

2. Determine whether your practice concentrates in areas of law that have a high frequency of claims.

Loss experience studies identify plaintiff’s personal injury cases and real estate matters as the areas with the highest frequency of claims. Practice areas with high but somewhat lower claims probability include business transactions, family law, collection and bankruptcy, and estate planning. All other areas have relatively low claim probabilities. In Kentucky, we are seeing an increase in bankruptcy, workers’ compensation, family law, and estate and probate claims. Note that over-diversifying your practice in a number of relatively claims-free areas may result in a greater malpractice exposure than concentrating in areas with higher claims frequencies.

3. Take into consideration the personal assets of the attorneys in your firm.

If personal assets are substantial, higher policy limits may be desirable even though the firm’s practice has low exposure to malpractice claims.

4. Consider the number of attorneys to be covered under the policy. Frequency of claims increases in direct proportion to increases in the number of attorneys in a firm.

5. Evaluate the firm’s attitude toward risk.

Does your firm have an active risk management program?
Are you confident in your docket, work control, conflicts check, filing, and mail handling procedures?
Have you provided legal advice in a careful, responsive manner?
What kind of training are you providing to new attorneys in your firm?

6. Consider the risk tails that may exist for your firm’s areas of practice. The risk tail is the time between an occurrence and the claim arising from it. For example, real estate claims often have long risk tails because errors are typically not discovered until the properties are resold, which could be a number of years later. Similarly, estate and probate claims have long risk tails. A long risk tail means that claims are more costly because of inflation. In these circumstances, higher insurance limits are warranted for inflation protection.

7. Keep in mind that defense and other claims costs are included in the limits of coverage in many lawyer liability policies, including ours. Defense costs vary with each claim depending upon the complexity of the claim. These costs can erode policy limits substantially before a claim is finally paid. In choosing policy limits, consider both indemnity and defense expense.

8. Understand the requirements of a claims-made and reported policy, the policy form used by virtually all providers of lawyers liability insurance and the one we use. “Claims-made” means that the limits in effect at the time the malpractice claim is first made against the lawyer covers that claim -- not the policy and limits in effect at the time of the conduct giving rise to the claim. Increasing limits as a firm’s malpractice exposure grows over the years should be considered to protect against several claims from prior years’ representations being asserted in the current policy year.

9. Review your firm’s malpractice exposure annually. You should review your exposure well in advance of your policy’s renewal date. Compare the cost of the limits option you think you should have with the next highest option, and evaluate the cost of a lower versus a higher deductible.

10. Lawyers Mutual offers these coverage options:

• $100,000/$300,000
• $250,000/$750,000
• $500,000/$1,000,000
• $1,000,000/$1,000,000
• $1,000,000/$2,000,000
• $2,000,000/$2,000,000
• $2,000,000/$4,000,000
• $3,000,000/$3,000,000
• $3,000,000/$6,000,000
• $4,000,000/$4,000,000
• $4,000,000/$8,000,000
• $5,000,000/$5,000,000
• $5,000,000/$10,000,000

Each coverage option is subject to two limits: (1) a per claim or occurrence limit, and (2) an annual aggregate limit for all claims. For example, with our lowest coverage option, $100,000/$300,000, there is a coverage limit of $100,000 for any one claim and a coverage limit of $300,000 for all claims that may occur during the policy period.

11. Deductible Options:

When choosing a deductible you must first decide how much of the risk the firm is willing to assume. Assuming more risk reduces the premium charged. Lawyers Mutual offers a range of deductibles from $1,000 to $100,000. Additionally, we offer three different deductible options:

• Per-claim -- The deductible applies to each claim asserted during the policy period.
• Aggregate -- This caps your deductible for all claims asserted during the policy period. The entire aggregate could be applied to the first claim.
• Combination per-claim and annual aggregate -- Under this option, each claim has its own deductible, but the total of all deductibles for the term of the policy will be 2.5 times the per-claim deductible. The per-claim deductible is applied to each claim until the aggregate has been paid.

To obtain an application package or get more information:
Call: 1-800-800-6101 or 1-502-568-6100
E-mail: smith@lmick.com
Write:
Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company of Kentucky
Waterfront Plaza
323 W. Main Street, Suite 600
Louisville, KY 40202

Questions? Call us at 1-800-800-6101 or 1-502-568-6100