Attorneys’ license location does make a big difference!
When completing your applications for Lawyers’ Errors and Omissions Insurance pay close attention to the location of the licenses. If, for example, you are in California and you have firm whose members are licensed in New York and Arizona, and not in California, this can dramatically impact your pricing. If your work is based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, your Attorneys are not “Attorneys” necessarily in California and may be considered as highly trained paralegal staff depending on what they are doing for you.
Given that most carriers rate by the number of Attorneys and modify by practice areas, litigation intensity, nature of exposure, number of general support staff and systems & process, this can make a very meaningful difference in premium charges. Most firms are very happy to take a premium reduction where justified by the facts.
Where you have a situation similar to this please do discuss this with us in detail as we may be able to make some real pricing adjustments while negotiating with underwriters. Each case is different, but this is always worth a look.
