Steven A. Reisler published an hilarious piece on the Washington State Bar Association website about attorney malpractice insurance company application questions.  He opens with:

“The good news, my insurance carrier explains in a cover letter, is that rates for some areas of the practice of law have not increased in 2011. However, it furthermore explains, if you actually “represent clients” and “charge for your services,” or if you practice in the fields of criminal law, personal injury, commercial litigation, insurance defense, family law, admiralty, patents or trademarks, arbitration, civil rights, international law, tax, estate planning, securities, creditor-debtor law, bankruptcy, collections, business formations, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, elder law, labor, administrative, aviation, healthcare, immigration, workers compensation, antitrust, municipal, or environmental law, then, to account for actuarial fluctuations (i.e., my insurer’s need to make a profit in unprofitable times), there will be a modest 100 percent to 300 percent increase in your premiums next year.”

Reisler then lists the “questions” on the insurance inquiry form he must complete. A few:

• How many claims have been made, or could have been made against you or your firm in the past 25 years?
• How many claims or incidents are you aware of that might, by any stretch of your simple imagination, result in a claim?
• Do any past, current, or future clients not like you?
• Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat worrying about one of your cases?
• If not, why not?

Read Steven Reisler’s Post