How We Calculate Your Premium
How We Calculate Your Premium
Calculating your premium involves four steps:
1. Law practice’s gross fee income
In most cases, a law practice’s gross fee income (GFI) for the last financial year is used to calculate its base premium for the following year (other than for newly established law practices). Your base premium reflects the overall claims experience for law practices within your GFI range, as determined by Lawcover’s statistics.
2. Law practice’s claims experience
Your base premium is then adjusted up or down depending on your law practice’s (including any prior practices) claims history.
3. Law practice’s risk management
Your base premium may be adjusted down depending on your law practice’s principals’ satisfactory attendance at Lawcover’s Risk Management Education Program (RMEP) or your law practice’s ISO 9001 – Quality Management Systems risk management certification.
4. Choice of excess
Most law practices will have the option to select a higher excess instead of the standard excess, in return for a premium reduction.
Risk Management Education Program – 2023/24
The current premium discounts for participation in Lawcover’s Risk Management Education Program (RMEP) are set out in the table below
For full details of the new RMEP program and discounts please click here.
RMEP Premium Discount
3 x Principals Workshops
5 x Principals Workshops
7.5%
10%
Other premium discounts – 2023/24
Category
Discount Conditions
ISO 9001
Criminal Law
12.5%
20%
Law practices are entitled to this premium discount if they are certified to this standard by 30 June 2023. A copy of the current certificate must be provided, confirming that certification will remain current for the following policy year.
Please note that ISO 9001 discounts are NOT cumulative with the RMEP discounts.
For law practices whose Gross Fee Income for the prior year is exclusively derived from
- Matters which, if litigated, would be litigated in the criminal jurisdiction of any court
- Appellate work that flows from such litigation
- Any other advice or litigation that directly flows from such litigation
- Matters that are the subject of Commissions of Inquiry which may result in a recommendation for criminal prosecution
Please Note:
- The combined maximum premium discount of any type achievable for any law practice is 30%
- This includes any risk management premium discount, no claims discount and criminal law discount that might be applicable
- Some law practices pay the minimum premium based on low GFI. For 2023/24, the minimum premium is $220.00, plus GST and stamp duty (if applicable)
- It is important to note that the premium discounts referred to on this page do not apply where a law practice pays the minimum premium
- Where a law practice pays more than the minimum premium, but the application of a premium discount would result in a premium of less than the minimum, the law practice will only be entitled to a discount which generates the minimum premium
