Lawcovernotes October 2013

Professional Services Since joining Lawcover as Chief Operations Officer in February this year, one of my key objectives was the transformation of our Claims, Risk Management and Underwriting/Client Service areas to Professional Services; structured specifically to assist legal practitioners throughout their professional career. Professional Services embodies legal practitioner support at Lawcover. It has aligned all professional service activities to maximise value and service to the profession. Together these business units ensure integrated: Professional Indemnity Insurance and optional Top Up coverage Client service relating to your policy and insurance needs Claims management General advice in relation to claims and circumstances which may give rise to claims Individual practice and risk management advice Comprehensive claims prevention and risk management education programs and workshops that cater to individual and practice needs Our Claims service Lawcover adopts a consistent approach in managing litigated and unlitigated claims and will strenuously defend your best interests. Personal consultation throughout a claims process is essential to ensure that you are fully informed and supported. Lawcover understands that claims represent more than a legal process; they are also about your reputation, livelihood and wellbeing. For this reason, we support you through these situations with an empathic and consistent approach to early resolution. We draw on a talent pool of highly experienced in-house Claims Solicitors and utilise a panel of specialist legal firms to ensure the best possible outcome. Claims prevention and risk management service Lawcover has recently expanded and reinvigorated its Practice Support Services team (formerly Risk Services) to cater to the growing number of requests and referrals. Sole practitioners and legal firms alike tell us of the value of our claims prevention activity which aims to: Minimise the risk of claims against lawyers Educate lawyers on potential areas of risk and how to mitigate these Protect the legal profession by assisting lawyers that may need additional support in managing their exposure to negligence claims Assist in ensuring your clients are satisfied Through our Risk Management Education Program (RMEP), lawyers are assisted in proactively addressing both current and potential risks. This pre-emptive approach to claims prevention continues to be popular with lawyers, and is preferable to waiting for circumstances to arise or a claim to occur. Our Practice Advisory Service (PAS) offers in-practice support and guidance and in essence, is a discussion with the practitioner about any identified concerns and how to manage these. These concerns typically include: Keeping appropriate file notes Practice management issues Communication issues Client/lawyer relationships Our Professional Services will continue to develop based on valuable feedback from our insured lawyers. Please feel free to contact our team for further information on our claims management processes and participation within any of our risk management and claims prevention activity. Kerrie Lalich Chief Operations Officer