Lawyers are used to protecting and defending people and businesses against the legal risks and threats they face.
The reality is that lawyers and law firms face as many — or more — risks as their clients.
From typical business risks like fires, workplace accidents and theft — to law firm specific ones like malpractice lawsuits, damage to legal files, and cyber theft of client records — law firms typically need a lot of different kinds of insurance coverage to protect them against the perils they face.
In this article, we’ll reveal the top five business insurance companies for lawyers and law firms and explain everything you need to know to get complete coverage for your legal practice.
- Best 5 business insurance companies for lawyers
- Who needs law firm insurance?
- What kind of coverage do I need to protect my law business?
- What other coverages do law firms need?
- What coverage do I need for my law firm employees?
- How much does law firm business insurance cost?
- How to find cheap business insurance for law firms?
Best 5 business insurance companies for lawyers
We researched more than 20 insurers that offer coverage for lawyers. Here are our recommendations of the 5 best providers for different reasons.
- CoverWallet: Best for lawyers who want to compare costs from different providers
- Embroker: Best for overall online experience
- CNA: Best for law firms that value state and regional bar endorsements
- The Hartford: Best for legal practices looking for a solid and ethical insurer
- Simply Business: Best for finding low-cost coverage
CoverWallet: Best for lawyers who want to compare quotes from different providers
CoverWallet makes it possible to compare insurance quotes from several providers within minutes. For most coverages, this would happen immediately. But because coverage for law firms, especially larger ones, is so complex, you will likely have to complete the quote and purchase insurance through a CoverWallet, or more likely, parent company Aon representative.
CoverWallet is a cutting-edge insurance provider. The firm has developed its own state-of-the-art platform, based on its own algorithms, to ensure it is able to connect lawyers, law firms, and other legal practices with all the business insurance they need at a fair price.
The firm’s experts have used their extensive experience to make sure you only have to input the information needed to generate quick and accurate quotes. The entire process should take less than ten minutes.
You can feel confident knowing that CoverWallet is a part of Aon, an established company that provides advice to businesses on things like risk, health, and retirement.
Once you get your quote, CoverWallet makes it easy to purchase a policy online or through an agent. (In this case, it will likely be through a company representative.) When you get your policy through CoverWallet, it’s simple to manage your coverage online, including downloading a certificate of insurance, filing a claim, renewing your policy, and more.
Because of the complexity of lawyers insurance, and the number of types of coverage lawyers and law firms need to consider (which we cover in detail in this article), it is highly likely that you will have to speak with a CoverWallet representative to complete your quote. Here is what the screen looks like when that happens.
Embroker: Best for overall online experience
Embroker is the first fully digital business policy insurer. The entire quoting and insurance purchase process typically takes less than ten minutes, even for an entire legal practice.
Because Embroker is a digital based company, it’s able to pass on what it saves on infrastructure and unnecessary administrative costs to clients. In most cases, Embroker is able to provide the lowest cost insurance in the marketplace. You can also further control your costs by choosing your own policy limits and deductible.
If you’re concerned about working with a virtual agency, you can rest assured knowing you can reach a business insurance expert over the phone, email or chat 24 / 7. In addition, Embroker assigns an account manager to every policyholder who gets to know the ins and outs of their legal practice and the unique risks it faces.
Here is a simple Business Owners Policy quote from Embroker. Even though we used the Embroker platform to generate the quote, the insurer they recommended for this coverage is CNA, which we are covering in the next section.
CNA: Best for law firms that value state and regional bar endorsements
CNA is the leading provider of lawyers insurance in the United States. It covers more than 50,000 law firms and 155,000 lawyers nationwide.
It’s the bar-endorsed provider of lawyers insurance in Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, along with many city and county bar associations. The company offers law firms property and casualty, cyber liability, management liability, workers’ compensation, business auto, umbrella, and legal malpractice insurance.
CNA is a solid and stable company that’s been serving the insurance needs of lawyers and law firms of all sizes for more than 50 years.
The Hartford: Best for legal practices looking for a solid and ethical insurer
The Hartford is one of the oldest companies of any kind in the United States. It’s been offering insurance solutions for more than 200 years and has helped one million plus businesses with their insurance needs. The company takes pride in the fact that the Ethisphere Institute named The Hartford a World’s Most Ethical Company twelve times. The Hartford’s longevity and focus on ethical business practices makes it a company that you can feel good about doing business with.
The Hartford’s dedicated and highly experienced small business team is available to help lawyers and law firms explore their insurance options. If you decide to purchase insurance from The Hartford, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your business to a strong, stable, knowledgeable, and ethical provider.
Simply Business: Best for finding low-cost coverage
Simply Business is a broker specializing in small business insurance. They work with many carriers with a focus to help you find low-cost coverage that your business may need. They vet the carriers that they work with carefully to ensure that all of them have excellent financial ratings. They select the carriers that can offer low-cost coverage even if these carriers may not be well-known and small businesses may not have access to them otherwise.
Pros:
- Easy to get and compare several quotes online
- Able to get quotes from A-rated carriers which you may not be aware of and offer low cost
- Knowledgeable agents that are available to help you along the process
Cons:
- If you prefer a particular carrier that Simply Business doesn’t work with, you may need to look elsewhere
- Have to file a claim directly with the carriers
Who needs law firm insurance?
A wide array of people need this type of coverage including:
- Attorneys
- Bankruptcy referees
- Barristers
- Criminal law offices
- Corporate attorneys
- Counselors at law
- Estate lawyers and offices
- Lawyers
- Law firms and offices
- Legal aid offices
- Patent solicitor’s offices
- Estate lawyers and law offices
- Family lawyers and practices
- One person practices
- Private practices
- Real estate lawyers and law offices
- Tax lawyers and law offices
- Pro bono lawyers
What kind of coverage do I need to protect my law business?
It’s a good idea to start with a Business Owners Policy (BOP). It provides many of the core coverages you need to protect your legal business, including:
- General liability insurance covers you and your law practice if someone is injured at your office. It will also cover claims of libel and slander. Example: A client slips and falls in your lobby and breaks their arm. General liability insurance would pay for their medical care.
- Business property insurance protects your law office space, whether you rent or own it. The coverage will pay for repairs from damage caused by things like fire or weather events. It will also pay for damage to or theft of office equipment including computers, printers, and law books — everything you need to keep your law practice up and running.
- Business income insurance will pay lost income if you cannot open your office and meet with clients because of a reason covered by your business property insurance, such as fire damage.
A BOP makes it easy to purchase the other coverages your law firm needs and add them to your policy.
Tip: If you run your law practice out of your home, it’s critical that you get a BOP. Your homeowners insurance policy will not cover client injuries that happen at your home or work property losses.
What other coverages do law firms need?
Some insurance types typically purchased by legal practices include:
- Employment practices liability insurance. This covers you if an employee or contractor sues you or your law firm for discrimination in the workplace or sexual harassment.
- Cyber (data breach) insurance. Legal practices store a lot of confidential — and valuable — client and employee data on their computers and servers. This insurance will pay costs related to a data hack or theft — or a ransomware attack.
- Valuable papers and records coverage. This will pay to replace or restore client or employee files or records that get damaged, are lost or stolen.
- Computers and media coverage. Law firms are highly dependent on their computers. This insurance protects you if your computers are damaged by a malicious virus.
- Commercial vehicle insurance. Many lawyers drive their personal cars to clients’ homes, court, and hospitals. If a lawyer has an accident while driving for business, their personal auto policy won’t cover the damages. That’s why it’s important for them to be covered by business auto insurance.
An agent with legal industry experience, an insurance company representative or online tool can help you figure out the coverages you need for your legal practice.
What coverage do I need for my law firm employees?
You will need these two coverages for your law firm employees and they are both important coverage for lawyers and attorneys.
Legal malpractice insurance for lawyers and attorneys
Legal malpractice insurance covers you and the people who work for you if you’re sued by a client because someone makes a mistake while providing legal advice and services and they’re harmed because of it. Lawyer’s malpractice insurance pays legal and settlement costs. Learn more at the best legal malpractice insurance companies and its cost.
Workers’ compensation insurance for all law firms’ employees
Workers comp insurance will pay for medical care, disability benefits, and lost wages if an employee is injured or becomes ill for work related reasons. It can also pay funeral costs if someone dies because of an on the job incident. For example, if a lawyer in your firm specializing in criminal cases follow a lead in an investigation and get attacked and injured. Workers comp insurance will pay for the medical costs, lost wages, and more. Learn more at the best workers comp insurance companies.
How much does law firm business business insurance cost?
The price of lawyer coverage can vary and depends on many factors, including:
- Location: Certain locations, usually urban areas, have a higher number of lawsuits against lawyers
- Size and number of employees: Single person practices will spend less on insurance than big law firms
- Claims history: Law firms that have made claims in the previous three or five years are viewed as being of greater risk
- Experience: People who have practiced law for a long time are less likely to make mistakes they’ll be sued for.
An insurance agent with experience working with lawyers and law firms — or an insurance company representative — can provide you with a quote for the coverage you need. It’s a smart idea to get a few quotes and compare them so you can get your insurance at the best possible price.
How to find cheap business insurance for law firms?
There are a few ways to find the coverage you need at a fair price:
- Shop around for the best value. Get quotes from a few companies and compare coverages and costs to find the best combination of the two.
- Don’t stop shopping around. Make sure you get new quotes when it comes time to renew your policy.
- Safety first: Be sure to implement the safety standards and best practices for your law firms. This will help reduce the risk of malpractice insurance law suits against you and your employees and the risks of getting injured at work.
- Take advantage of discounts. If they’re not offered to you when getting a quote, ask about them, whether you’re buying online or through an agent.
Taking these steps will help ensure you’re not paying too much for the business insurance for your law firms.
