Insurance

Australian legal practitioners who engage in private legal practice are required to:

• hold a practising certificate - in Victoria issued by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
  
• be covered by approved professional indemnity insurance cover.

All Victorian law practices must insure with LPLC unless granted an exemption by the LSB.

LPLC’s insurance policy indemnifies a law practice against claims for civil liability in connection with the provision of legal services.

The period of insurance is for 12 months from 1 July to 30 June and the policy covers:

• claims made against the law practice during the policy period, or
• claims made outside the policy period if the circumstances from which the claim arises were first notified to LPLC during the period of insurance.

Cover under the policy extends to all current and former principals and employees of the law practice, as well as any prior practice merged into the law practice.

The current limit of indemnity is $2m (including defence costs) for any one loss.

While most claims constitute a separate loss, in some circumstances multiple claims are aggregated under the policy and treated as a single loss.

Details about policy terms, conditions and exclusions are available in the policy sections on this website for solicitors and barristers.

The insurance policy wording complies with the minimum standards required under the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 and is approved by the Victorian Legal Services Board each year.

LPLC’s insurance scheme provides financial protection for law practices against professional liability claims, and also benefits consumers of legal services when claims are made.

Particular features of the scheme are:

• Insurance cover is compulsory
  
• LPLC cannot avoid or cancel cover based on non-disclosure or misrepresentation
• LPLC cannot set off or reduce its liability because of a breach of any obligation by the law practice to LPLC
• Practitioners who have retired and ceased legal practice are covered by a run-off policy with LPLC
• LPLC invests heavily in risk management training and advice for law practices to reduce the incidence of negligence claims.