Claims should be reported directly to CNA. Your claim submission should include a letter of explanation from a principal of the firm along with the actual suit papers. If you do not yet have or there are no suit papers, submit a written description with full particulars including, but not limited to: the specific act or omission, dates and persons involved, identity of the possible claimant(s) and circumstances by which the insured first became aware of the possible claim. Forward all claim information to:

CNA Insurance Companies
Attn: Regional Director, GSL Lawyers Claims
333 S. Wabash, 39 South
Chicago, IL 60685
Phone 312.822.5956
Fax 312.817.0528

The CNA policy covers legal services, which include services as a lawyer, mediator, arbitrator, notary public, title agent, guardian, trustee, and executive of an estate.

Typical exclusions from the CNA policy include, but are not limited to:

• Claims for services to an entity in which an attorney has an equity interest great than 10% or if the attorney is employed by the entity
• Insured vs. Insured claims
• Criminal or malicious acts or omissions

As long as there is a claims-made policy in force at the time the claim is made and that policy provides coverage for prior acts, there would typically be coverage.

Tail coverage or an Extended Reporting Period extends the time in which to report claims under an expired policy. It covers claims that are made for errors that occurred prior to the expiration of the policy.

CNA employs a staff of highly experienced and specially trained claim adjusters. If defense counsel is needed, CNA appoints your legal counsel from a panel of law firms who have extensive experience in Lawyers Professional Liability.

You have the option of dealing directly with our underwriting staff or through an approved agent of record.

To determine your premium, underwriters review your firm’s area of practice, claim history, insurance history, suits for fees, practice specialization, disciplinary proceedings, docket controls, internal procedures, and the number of attorney to be insured and their weekly hours, limits, and deductibles.

The longer an attorney has been practicing, the higher the premium. This is because the CNA policy typically picks up the career of the attorney. CNA utilizes a step-rating scale, with five years being the maximum step. The mature rate is applied to an attorney who has been in practice for a minimum of five years.

Policies that cover less than one year of exposure (newly admitted attorneys, for instance) are step rated at the lowest step rate and receive the highest discount in premiums. Over the next six years, as exposure increases, the rate is automatically increased in set steps (decreasing discount increments each year) until exposure reaches maturity. When the policy is considered fully mature, it will stabilze on the step-rate chart. The reason behind this is that the risk associated with the policy has leveled due to statutes. Please review our informational sheet, The Effects of Step Rating on Your Yearly Premium Payments, for additional information.

You should select a deductible that you can afford to pay. CNA offers per claim or aggregate deductibles. Higher deductibles reduce your annual premium. Higher limits of liability may require higher deductibles.

Career coverage is coverage for your past acts. It can include your entire career back to your Bar admission date or to a specific, retroactive date. There is typically no coverage for an error that occurred prior to the retroactive date, even if the claim is reported under an in-force claims-made policy. A retroactive date can be placed on the Named Insured, which affects every attorney in the firm; or on an individual attorney within a firm; or both or none.

Lateral coverage is coverage for your legal services on behalf of the Named Insured only. This limits the liability exposure a firm may assume when adding attorneys to the firm.

Your coverage can usually be found in the definition of Insured in the policy. Typically, an Insured is any lawyer who is or becomes a partner, officer, director, associate, or salaried employee of the Named Insured, which would be career coverage. Or it could go on to say, "but only for services on behalf of the Named Insured," which would be lateral hire coverage.

You should also check the Insuring Agreement in your policy. While you may have a quote that offers career coverage, you may still have limited coverage. This is because some Insuring Agreements state that there is no coverage for a claim if there is another policy that might cover the claim because the error occurred while affiliated with another law firm.

New lawyers are automatically covered based on the coverage that the firm has. If the firm desires to limit coverage for the new attorney, you should submit a New Lawyer Application Supplement at the time the attorney joins the firm.

The retention of your files depends on the class of each record and your particular state’s rules and regulations. To ensure proper record retention procedures, we urge you to review the CNA whitepaper, Creating a Record Retention & Destruction Policy: A CNA Professional Counsel Guide for Lawyers and Law Firms, under our Risk Management Tools section.

When you apply for lawyers professional liability coverage with us through CNA for the first time, we will quote from another carrier's New Business Application if your firm has less than 20 attorneys. The next year, we will send you a pre-filled CNA New Business Application for your review and signature. The second and subsequent years, we will send you a short, seven-question Renewal Application; however, if you have five or fewer attorneys in your firm and you otherwise qualify, we will simply send you a bill as part of our automatic renewal process