Firm Operations · Module 25

Insurance & Risk

Manage all firm insurance policies in one place — never miss a renewal or let coverage lapse.

Overview

Law firms carry multiple insurance policies across different insurers, brokers, and renewal dates. Professional indemnity, public liability, cyber liability, employment practices — each has its own coverage terms, renewal cycle, and claims history. Managing these across scattered spreadsheets and email reminders creates gaps: lapsed coverage, missed renewals, underinsurance discovered only at claims time, and lost policy documents when needed urgently.

The Insurance & Risk module is a centralised register of every insurance policy held by the firm. It tracks policy numbers, insurers, brokers, coverage limits, deductibles, premiums, effective and expiry dates, and claims history. Renewal alerts are generated automatically. Administrators see at a glance which policies are current, which are expiring soon, and whether any have lapsed.

Insurance Types Covered

Professional Indemnity

The mandatory insurance for law firms in most jurisdictions, covering negligence claims, errors and omissions, and breach of professional duty. Coverage limits and excess amounts are typically set by the law society or bar association.

Public Liability

Covers bodily injury or property damage claims arising from the firm's premises or operations. Required if clients or visitors attend the office.

Cyber Liability

Covers data breach costs, ransomware recovery, regulatory fines, and client notification obligations arising from a cybersecurity incident. Increasingly mandatory for firms holding client personal data.

Employment Practices

Covers claims by staff for wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and other employment-related actions. Relevant once a firm has employees beyond founding partners.

Other

Directors & Officers liability, building and contents, business interruption, workers' compensation, or any other policy held by the firm. The "Other" category accommodates any policy type not listed above.

Policy Record Fields

Each insurance policy record stores:

Policy Number — The unique identifier issued by the insurer. Required for all claims and regulatory declarations.

Insurer & Broker — The insurance company that underwrites the policy, and the broker who arranged it (if applicable). Both are stored for contact reference at claims time.

Coverage Limit & Deductible — The maximum amount the insurer will pay per claim or in aggregate, and the amount the firm must bear before cover responds.

Premium — The annual premium amount in the firm's currency. Useful for insurance cost tracking and comparing renewals against prior years.

Effective Date & Expiry Date — The start and end of the current policy period. The expiry date drives the renewal alert.

Renewal Date — The date by which the firm must make a renewal decision or submit a renewal proposal — typically 30–60 days before expiry.

Claims Count — The number of claims lodged against this policy. Maintained for disclosure obligations at renewal (most policies require disclosure of claims history).

Coverage Dashboard

The summary panel at the top of the module shows four metrics:

Total Policies — The count of all active insurance policies registered in the module.

Expiring Soon — Policies whose expiry date falls within 90 days. Coloured amber — action required to initiate renewal.

Expired — Policies whose expiry date has passed and which have not been renewed. Red flag — the firm may be operating without coverage in the affected area.

Total Coverage — The aggregate of all policy coverage limits. A rough indicator of the firm's total risk protection envelope.

Adding a Policy

Open Insurance & Risk

Click Insurance & Risk in the sidebar under Firm Operations. Click + Add Policy.

Select the insurance type

Choose the policy type: Professional Indemnity, Public Liability, Cyber, Employment Practices, or Other. This determines the category the policy appears under in the module.

Enter policy details

Fill in the policy number, insurer name, broker name (if applicable), coverage limit, deductible, and annual premium. Enter all monetary amounts in the firm's primary currency.

Set the policy dates

Enter the effective date (cover start), expiry date (cover end), and renewal date (when the renewal process must begin). The renewal date drives the alert — set it to 60 days before expiry for most policies, 90 days for professional indemnity where the renewal proposal requires significant preparation.

Add notes

Add any relevant notes: special conditions, endorsements, exclusions relevant to the firm's activities, broker contact details. Notes are visible to all administrators.

Save

Save the record. It appears in the insurance register and is included in the coverage totals and expiry monitoring immediately.

Insurance compliance discipline

• Enter every policy immediately on placement or renewal. Do not wait until renewal — the module only alerts you if the policy is in the register. A policy you haven't entered cannot alert you when it's about to lapse.
• Attach the policy schedule (Certificate of Currency) to the record. When a client or counterparty requests proof of insurance, you can retrieve it in seconds from the record rather than hunting through email or filing systems.
• Review the Expired count on the first of each month. One expired policy in the register is a gap that must be addressed the same day. Operating without required coverage — even briefly — can void regulatory standing.
• Update claims counts immediately when a claim is lodged. Many renewal proposals ask for claims history over the past 3–5 years. An inaccurate count creates disclosure problems at renewal time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I store historical policies — not just current ones?

Yes. A policy with a past expiry date remains in the register as a historical record. This is important: law societies in most jurisdictions require firms to maintain run-off professional indemnity coverage for 6–7 years after the policy period for matters handled during that time. Historical records also support renewal disclosure requirements.

Does FRITH send automatic renewal alerts?

Yes. When a policy's renewal date is within 90 days, the firm administrators receive an in-app notification and an email alert (if notification preferences are set to include insurance reminders under Settings → Notifications). A second alert fires at 30 days.

Can I export the insurance register for an audit or compliance declaration?

Yes. Click Export from the Insurance & Risk module to download all policy records as a CSV. The exported data includes all policy fields — suitable for annual compliance declarations to law society and for inclusion in firm quality system audits.

How do I record a mid-term endorsement (change to an existing policy)?

Edit the existing policy record and update the affected fields (coverage limit, premium, special conditions). Add a note in the Notes field recording what changed and when — e.g., "Coverage limit increased from $2M to $5M per claim effective 1 April 2026 — endorsement certificate attached." Retain the original record rather than creating a new one so the history is preserved.