{"id":247744,"date":"2026-06-29T15:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/?p=247744"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:06:26","slug":"in-house-lawyers-malpractice-elpl-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/2026\/06\/29\/in-house-lawyers-malpractice-elpl-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Do In-House Lawyers Need Malpractice Insurance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Steven Schwartz<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Depending on their situation, in-house lawyers should consider purchasing Lawyer Professional Liability (LPL) insurance coverage or Employed Lawyer Professional Liability insurance.<\/p>\n<p>Many in-house attorneys believe they are automatically shielded from personal liability simply because they work for a corporation rather than a law firm. Those lawyers assume that, if the company gets sued over bad legal advice, the company absorbs the loss. However, that is not always the case.\u00a0 In addition, many in-house lawyers assume that, if they make a legal mistake, their employer will not sue them.\u00a0 That also is not always true.<\/p>\n<p>Courts in multiple jurisdictions have held that in-house counsel can face personal liability for malpractice, even when acting solely on behalf of their employer. Regulatory investigations, third-party claims, securities violations, and ethics complaints can put an in-house lawyer at risk \u2014 personally, not just institutionally. And when that happens, the company\u2019s own insurance may not protect the attorney.<\/p>\n<p>Corporations usually carry Directors and Officers (D&amp;O) insurance and commercial general liability (CGL) policies. In-house lawyers sometimes fall within the scope of D&amp;O coverage \u2014 particularly if they hold an officer title like Vice President-General Counsel \u2014 but this coverage is designed to protect corporate decision-makers from claims arising out of their business decisions, not professional services. D&amp;O policies typically do not cover traditional malpractice claims like failure to spot a legal issue, a mistake in contract drafting or missed regulatory deadlines. In fact, D&amp;O policies often contain exclusions for professional services. In addition, most insurance policies, including D&amp;O policies, contain \u201cinsured-vs-insured\u201d exclusions which block coverage if the corporation sues the lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>Many in-house lawyers rely on their employer\u2019s indemnification agreements or bylaws provisions, which promise to cover legal costs if an attorney is sued in connection with their duties. These protections are real, but they have limits. Indemnification only works if the company remains solvent. Indemnification can also be clawed back or contested if the company later determines the attorney acted outside the scope of their duties or in bad faith.<\/p>\n<p>If the company is acquired, restructured, or simply decides to blame its legal department for a costly mistake, the in-house lawyer may find themselves without the protection they counted on.<\/p>\n<p>In-house lawyers should consider obtaining, or asking their company to obtain, Employed Lawyers Professional Liability (ELPL) insurance coverage.\u00a0 This coverage can be purchased as stand-alone coverage or as an endorsement to the company\u2019s corporate D&amp;O policy.\u00a0 ELPL insurance protects the personal assets of the in-house legal team including paralegals and support staff from the following risks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Claims by regulatory bodies (e.g., SEC), shareholders, venders and other third parties.<\/li>\n<li>Claims by the company, which happen more often than you might think.<\/li>\n<li>Claims by other employees. If it is not made clear to the employee in writing, they may believe that the lawyer represents them personally rather than the corporation.\u00a0 Even if the employee is wrong, they may sue the in-house lawyer who will be forced to defend themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Claims by \u201caccidental clients.\u201d Employees frequently approach in-house counsel for quick, casual legal advice regarding personal matters (divorces, traffic tickets, etc.).\u00a0 If an employee relies on that advice and suffers a loss, they can sue the lawyer for malpractice.<\/li>\n<li>Pro bono or moonlighting. Many in-house lawyers participate in company-sponsored pro bono programs or volunteer or nonprofit boards.\u00a0 Standard corporate insurance policies do not cover those activities, but an ELPL policy can cover them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ELPL coverage is typically less expensive than insurance for lawyers in private practice.\u00a0 It can cost between $1,000 and $2,500 per lawyer depending on a number of factors. The cost of securing proper coverage is trivial compared to the cost of a personal malpractice defense. Attorneys who counsel clients on risk management owe themselves the same diligence they bring to client matters.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/tag\/steven-schwartz\/?taxo-tag-body\"><em>Steven Schwartz<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0is a certified mediator with Miles Mediation &amp; Arbitration and a principal at Brown &amp; James in St. Louis. He has defended lawyers in\u00a0legal malpractice\u00a0cases, malicious prosecution cases and ethics complaints for over 35 years. He can be reached at\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"mailto:sschwartz@bjpc.com\"><em>sschwartz@bjpc.com<\/em><\/a><em>. The views expressed in this article are not intended to be taken as legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In-house lawyers face personal malpractice risks that corporate insurance may not cover. Learn why ELPL insurance offers critical protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":247745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12182,27748,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-featured","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247746,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247744\/revisions\/247746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/molawyersmedia.com\/missouriinhouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}