Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance policies are written on a “Claims Made” or “Claims Made and Reported Form” policy form. This is unlike an “occurrence” policy in many ways. One of the biggest differences is that with a “Claims Made” form the law firm will settle on the limits that are in-force at the time a claim is made not when the act occurs. With an “Occurrence” form the claim is settled on the form that is inforce when the act occurs not when the claim is made.
Given this your Lawyers Professional Liability policy will settle using the limits inforce at the time the claim is made. If you lower the liability limits, you lower the limits back to the inception date of coverage for any newly reported matters. If you needed to have higher limits in the past, you should maintain the higher policy limits until you are sure that the statute of limitations has run on the cases that you needed to have the higher limits for. If you don’t could find that you are underinsured just when you need the Lawyers professional Liability Insurance Policy the most.