Does the company or the inhouse lawyer bear the cost of professional liability insurance?
Smith: That depends on the company and the in-house lawyer. Typically the company buys the policy and does not pass the cost back to the individual lawyers. Editor: My company may never have considered purchasing professional liability insurance covering its inhouse lawyers. What arguments can I use to convince my employer to purchase professional liability insurance for me and other members of the legal staff? Smith: As we have discussed, Sarbanes-Oxley and related laws and regulations create a lot of uncertainty about the likelihood of corporate counsel’s exposure to liability and the nature and extent of such liability. As with any employee benefit, it can, given the current uncertainties, play a significant role in recruiting and then retaining a highly trained and expert legal staff. And it is, compared to D&O coverage, a relatively inexpensive product. That is not to say that it is cheap, but for the protection that it provides, it is not going to be a major expense for most comp
