Starting your own Law Practice can be stressful. There are a lot of important choices you have to make to get your practice up and running to become successful. One of those to minimize up front expenses until the revenue starts to flow is starting the law practice in your home. Having the proper insurance coverage gives you peace of mind that your practice and you are protected. It goes without saying that you need to get Attorney Malpractice Insurance, but many attorneys negligent the business exposures of running a law practice in your home.
What is the Current Value of your Law Practice?
Your business likely has value you don’t think about: printers, computers, furniture, and other items associated with a legal practice. You need to look at the value that all of these items bring. Many attorneys do not realize that unless your homeowners policy is endorsed this business personal property is excluded. And not all homeowner’s insurance carriers will endorse their policies to cover a business exposure.
Clients/Visitors
A law practice that has clients in your own will also need to be sure that the firm has commercial general liability coverage. If your business involves visits from customers, you need to consider the risk that you’re taking on.
Employees
In addition to general liability coverage, your law firm will need workers compensation insurance and likely an endorsement called “Hired Non-Owned Auto” to cover any business trips that your employees take using their person vehicle added to your business owners policy.
How’s Your Security?
If you are keeping information about clients, whether in hard copies or on a cloud storage system owned by a third party, security is important. How well protected is your database? Are you covered if that database is compromised? Data theft can be high tech or low tech, so making sure that your data security is covered is very important.
Trust Accounts
Even if your law practice is in your home, many law practices have Trust Accounts. Do you have adequate coverage to cover thefts, either internal or external, out of your Trust Accounts. Generally your professional liability insurance policy will not provide coverage for the actual theft of funds. A Business Owners policy may provide coverage, but be sure to make sure that the policy limits are adequate.
As a specialist in writing law firms, L Squared Insurance Agency can work with you to address the unique needs of a law firm that is being run out of a home.