OAMIC: Legal Malpractice Insurance - Resources

What is a Marketing Plan and Why Your Law Firm Needs One

As a lawyer in a solo or small firm, you wear many hats. You’re an entrepreneur through and through – often creating a business from the ground up, soliciting work, marketing your services, managing accounting… oh, and actually doing the legal work, too. Marketing is one area that can overwhelm people who aren’t trained in it, especially as it’s continued to increase in complexity over the past decade. Gone are the days of newspaper ads and billboards being the primary advertising...

What Exactly Is Tail Coverage and How to Know If You Need It

Tail coverage, formally called an extended reporting endorsement, is often the final piece of your legal malpractice insurance. It is used for events like retirement, disability, leaving private practice or even death. Since legal malpractice is a claims-made policy, continuity of coverage is extremely important – and this importance doesn’t end when your circumstances change. In order to be covered, you must have a policy in place both when the incident occurred and when the claim is reported. That's where tail coverage...

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How the Legalization of Medical Marijuana Affects Oklahoma Attorneys

When Oklahoma voters passed State Question 788 on June 26, 2018, medical marijuana became legal in the state. Questions started flooding in immediately about how the law would actually operate and be enforced, and how soon medical marijuana would be available to consumers. But the law affects more than just those who choose to partake in growing, selling or even consuming marijuana -- and that includes lawyers. This blog explores legal malpractice insurance as it relates to medical marijuana...

8 Ways to Avoid Legal Malpractice Claims

While legal malpractice claims may not be commonplace for lawyers, according to the American Bar Association attorneys in private practice have a 4-17% chance of being sued for malpractice each year. There is no iron-clad solution for preventing malpractice claims; however, there are several steps you can take to help prevent suits which can result in costly and time-consuming legal battles. 1. USE A CALENDAR SYSTEM AND MEET ALL DEADLINES Missing deadlines is the leading source of legal malpractice suits. Failure...

Understanding Your Claims-Made Insurance Policy

In the insurance world, there are two main types of policies -- occurrence and claims-made. You're likely to be most familiar with occurrence policies, as this is how your home and auto insurance work. Legal malpractice insurance is written as a claims-made policy and it's a bit more complex. Read below to learn about claims-made policies, or watch this video: A QUICK OVERVIEW OF OCCURRENCE POLICIES With occurrence coverage, the policy covers losses that take place during a specific coverage period,...

6 Ways OAMIC Has Your Back

At Oklahoma Attorneys Mutual Insurance Company, we are proud to be the only local provider of legal malpractice insurance in the state. Lawyers professional liability insurance is our core product, not just a side offering. By focusing on providing only insurance lines and products that were designed to protect lawyers, we have built a unique company managed by Oklahoma attorneys for the sole benefit of Oklahoma attorneys. This laser focus allows us to provide benefits that national insurers just can’t...

6 Areas of Practice with the Most Frequent Malpractice Lawsuits

Legal malpractice lawsuits can be costly for any law firm, but the potential cost of malpractice claims can vary significantly based upon the areas of law concerned. Some areas have a high frequency of lawsuits filed, while others have more severe costs of defense and settlement. Knowing where your area of practice stands in this regard is important when looking for suitable legal malpractice insurance. Analyzing recent trends in malpractice claims is one way we help Oklahoma attorneys secure...

What Is a Step Rate and How It Affects the Cost of Legal Malpractice

Legal malpractice is priced using what’s called a step rating methodology. But what exactly does that mean? Watch this video to learn more, or continue reading below. Envision your career as a step ladder. When you’re a young lawyer, you’re on the first rung of the ladder. You’re starting to acquire work and your coverage is just starting, too. Your exposure is small because you haven’t done much legal work yet. Because of this, your first year’s premium is substantially reduced. This is called step 1. From then...

What Is Email Wire Transfer Fraud and How To Prevent It

Scamming people for money is not a new concept but it has gotten much more sophisticated as technology continues to advance. Email wire transfer fraud is one of the most common types of fraud. In 2018 alone, the FBI received more than 20,000 email wire fraud complaints with adjusted losses of more than $1.2 billion, according to the the organization's 2018 Internet Crime Report. Attorneys can be an easy target for cybercriminals because they often wire money to or on...

10 Questions to Ask When Looking for Legal Malpractice Insurance

Too often the purchase of insurance – sometimes even legal malpractice insurance – is treated like commodity shopping, weighted heavily on price. Many policyholders only read and research their coverage when faced with a claim, only to find they are unsure how their policy will work. But what should you evaluate when reviewing/comparing lawyers professional liability coverage? Let's go through the basics. 1. WHAT SHOULD MY LIMIT OF LIABILITY BE? The limit of liability question is perhaps the hardest to exactly...