Malpractice, Trust Accounts, and the Data You Hold.
Protecting attorneys, clients, and legal practices
Law firms carry a distinct combination of risk: professional duty to every client, custody of client funds in trust, and a store of confidential information that makes them a prime fraud target. Most malpractice claims hit small firms, and the ABA estimates most attorneys are sued at least once in their careers. The exposures that define the field are legal malpractice — missed deadlines, conflicts, the "case within a case" — and the trust-account wire fraud and data breaches aimed squarely at law firms. A practice needs coverage built for all of it. This is a specialized corner of professional services insurance built for how law firms actually get sued.
Properly structured coverage protects the firm, its attorneys, and the clients who rely on them.
The Law Firm's Signature Exposures
The core is lawyers professional liability — negligence in rendering legal services. Missed deadlines and expired statutes of limitation are among the most frequent claim sources, creating liability regardless of the underlying case's merits, and conflicts of interest are consistently a leading loss cause. What makes legal malpractice distinct is the "case within a case": to win, the client must prove that but for the attorney's negligence they would have won the underlying matter — effectively re-litigating the original case inside the malpractice case.
Alongside malpractice sits a fast-growing money exposure. Law firms are prime business-email-compromise targets, with criminals impersonating attorneys, clients, or counterparties to redirect settlement or escrow funds from trust accounts — and many cyber policies exclude social engineering and money held for others unless specifically endorsed. Bar grievances and disciplinary proceedings add a separate defense need.
Key Risks in Law Firm Operations
Law firms face exposure related to:
Missed deadlines and expired statutes of limitation
Conflicts of interest and adverse or dual representation
Inadequate representation or failure to apply the law
Trust-account wire fraud and business-email compromise
Data breach of confidential and privileged client files
Bar grievances and disciplinary proceedings
The "case within a case" burden that shapes every malpractice defense
The missed-deadline and conflict claims, and the trust-account wire fraud, are the exposures that most define the firm.
Core Coverages for Law Firms
A properly built law-firm program typically includes:
Lawyers Professional Liability — Covers defense and damages for malpractice — negligent acts, errors, and omissions in legal services — written claims-made with a retroactive date, prior-acts coverage, and tail, often with a sublimit for disciplinary-proceeding defense.
Cyber Liability & Data Breach — Protects confidential client files against breach and ransomware and can respond to some funds-transfer fraud — though many policies exclude social engineering and trust funds unless endorsed.
Commercial Crime & Social-Engineering Fraud — Covers employee theft and fraudulently induced transfers — the key fill for the trust-account wire-fraud gap.
General Liability — Covers premises injuries and personal and advertising injury.
Commercial Property & Business Income — Cover office contents and technology and lost revenue after a covered event.
Workers' Compensation — Provides legally required coverage for staff.
Employment Practices Liability — Protects against employment claims, a notable firm exposure.
Directors & Officers Liability — Protects firm-management decisions.
Umbrella / Excess Liability — Adds higher limits above general liability and auto.
What's Commonly Overlooked
Law-firm programs are most often weakened by:
No social-engineering or crime coverage for trust-account wire fraud — the biggest gap
Cyber policies that exclude money held for others unless specifically endorsed
Professional-liability limits too low for the firm's practice areas
A retroactive date or missing tail that exposes departing or retiring attorneys
Weak wire-verification controls that let carriers deny a fraud claim
The gap that hurts most is the trust-account wire fraud — and the exclusions that can leave it uncovered.
Real-World Claim Examples
A filing deadline or statute of limitations is missed, prejudicing the client's case
The firm represents adverse or competing interests, drawing a conflict claim
A phished attorney email authorizes fraudulent transfers from the trust account
Confidential client files are exposed in a data breach
A bar grievance triggers a disciplinary investigation
Any one of these can be significant, and a trust-account wire loss can be immediate and large.
Regulatory & Licensing Context
State bar admission governs the right to practice, and attorneys are bound by each state's rules of professional conduct, including strict trust-accounting rules that require client funds to be segregated, never commingled, and reported. One state uniquely mandates primary malpractice coverage through a bar fund; most others don't require it but many require disclosure to clients if the firm is uninsured, and courts and client engagements often require it in practice. The rules of professional conduct also impose duties of confidentiality and technology competence that drive breach-notification and safeguard obligations.
Why Proper Placement Matters
Underwriters weigh the number of attorneys and staff, revenue, the practice-area mix — securities, intellectual property, plaintiff's personal injury, trusts and estates, real estate, and business transactions generate the most frequent and severe claims, while criminal and insurance defense rate lower — years in practice, prior claims and disciplinary history, internal controls such as calendaring and conflict-checking, and cyber controls including written wire-verification procedures. Coverage is claims-made with a retroactive date, prior-acts, and tail. Placing the program with specialty legal-malpractice markets, and closing the trust-account fraud gap, is what keeps the coverage sound.
Our Approach
At Cory Washington & Co., we insure law firms around both halves of their risk — legal malpractice and the money in trust. We structure lawyers professional liability with continuous prior-acts and tail and the practice-area limits your work demands, then close the trust-account wire-fraud gap with crime and social-engineering coverage and align the cyber policy so trust funds aren't excluded. We also insure related professional practices, including accounting firms, consultants, and architects and engineers, and the broader professional services category.
Your duty to clients and your custody of their money both carry risk — we build coverage for each.
All insurance descriptions on this website are provided by Cory Washington & Co. LLC strictly for general informational purposes. They are not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as, legal, financial, or insurance advice. The information presented is general in nature and does not guarantee the availability, terms, conditions, or scope of any insurance coverage. Actual coverage is determined solely by the specific policy language issued by the insurer and remains subject to underwriting approval. Nothing on this website creates or implies an agent-client relationship, binds coverage, or alters any existing policy. Cory Washington & Co. LLC expressly disclaims any liability for actions taken, or not taken, based on the content provided here. For advice regarding your particular situation, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional at Cory Washington & Co. LLC or another qualified insurance professional, and always review your policy documents in full.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get law firm insurance through Cory Washington & Co.?
Request a quote or contact our team. We start with a short conversation about your operations, analyze your exposures, then negotiate law firm insurance across multiple carriers that compete for your account and present options with the trade-offs explained. Cory Washington & Co. LLC is licensed in all 50 states.
What does law firm insurance cost?
It depends on your exposure. Law firm insurance is priced on factors like your industry, size, prior claims, and the limits and deductibles you select — so two businesses rarely pay the same. We shop your account across competing carriers and present the trade-offs in plain English.
Is law firm insurance required?
Whether law firm insurance is strictly required depends on your state, your contracts, and your lenders or clients. Even where it is not mandatory, going without it can leave serious financial gaps. We assess your exposure and any contractual requirements, then structure coverage that meets both.
What if another agency has already declined or non-renewed my coverage?
Difficult, specialty, and previously-declined placements are a core part of our work. We access excess & surplus (E&S) and specialty markets that many generalist agencies cannot, and we explain the trade-offs clearly so you can decide with confidence.
Available in all 50 states. See how requirements differ in California, Texas, Florida, New York, or choose your state.