Employed Lawyers Liability
Malpractice-style protection for the in-house legal team giving your organization legal advice.
This is an estimate, not a bound policy — a licensed VAB producer confirms final terms before coverage starts. Sgt. Savings can answer questions but can't quote, bind, or guarantee coverage.
Employed Lawyers Liability covers your in-house general counsel, deputy or associate GC, staff attorneys, and their supervised legal-support staff for claims arising from the legal work they do for your organization — advice, contract drafting, litigation and regulatory-matter management, compliance guidance, and notarization. It sits specifically excess of any other lawyers-professional-liability coverage the individual attorney carries, and it protects the lawyer personally — not the organization and not any outside law firm you also retain.
Who This Is Really For
The ideal buyer.
The ideal buyer is a company that just brought legal in-house for the first time, or expanded a solo GC into a small legal team, after years of relying entirely on outside counsel. The trigger is often a specific realization: the outside firm's malpractice policy protects that firm's own work, not the in-house attorney's independent judgment on contracts, compliance advice, or litigation management once legal moved inside the building. This buyer has usually assumed the company's own D&O or general liability coverage extends to their GC's professional legal work, and it doesn't — professional negligence by a lawyer needs a lawyers-specific policy. What fits them here is coverage scoped to exactly what in-house counsel does day to day, sitting excess of whatever personal lawyers-PL coverage the attorney already carries, rather than a generic executive liability policy that was never built to evaluate legal work on its merits.
- Organizations with an in-house general counsel or legal department
- Businesses employing staff attorneys who draft and negotiate contracts
- Organizations whose in-house counsel manages litigation or regulatory matters directly
- Legal teams that provide internal compliance advice as part of their role
- Organizations running a formal pro bono program through in-house counsel
- Any business concerned about a bar-association or licensing-board proceeding against in-house counsel
What It Covers
Coverage, broken down.
Legal advice and counsel
Covers claims arising from legal advice given to the organization by in-house counsel.
Contract drafting and negotiation
Extends to claims tied to contracts an employed lawyer drafted or negotiated on the organization's behalf.
Litigation and regulatory-matter management
Covers claims from how in-house counsel managed litigation or a regulatory matter for the organization.
Compliance advice and notarization
Covers compliance guidance given internally, and notarization performed as part of the role.
Pro bono services (if elected)
When your organization runs an organized pro bono program through in-house counsel, that work can be included as a covered legal service.
Disciplinary proceeding defense costs (optional)
An optional add-on that covers defense costs for a bar-association or licensing-board proceeding against the attorney.
Illustrative Scenario — How This Coverage Responds
Illustrative scenario — a contract term an in-house attorney signed off on
A company's general counsel reviews and approves a vendor contract that later turns out to have an ambiguous liability clause, costing the company money in a dispute. Company leadership questions whether the GC's review met the standard expected of a practicing attorney. Employed Lawyers Liability is what defends the GC personally against that claim of professional negligence in the legal work performed for the organization.
Illustrative example for education only — not a claim outcome or a promise of payment. Every claim depends on the actual policy issued and its terms.
More Than One Way In
More scenarios.
Real coverage doesn't fit one story. Here's who else this shows up for.
The first in-house hire
A company that has always used outside counsel hires its first general counsel. Leadership assumes the same malpractice protection that covered the outside firm's work automatically extends to the new GC, and is surprised to learn it doesn't.
The formal pro bono program
A legal department wants to launch an organized pro bono initiative, using company attorneys' time for outside community legal work. Before starting, the team confirms whether that work needs to be specifically elected onto the policy to be covered.
The multi-state counsel question
A GC admitted to practice in one state is asked to advise on matters in several states where the company now operates. The legal team wants to understand how registered multijurisdictional practice is treated under the policy before expanding that role.
Know The Gaps
What this doesn't cover.
Every policy has limits. Knowing them before you buy is how you avoid a denied claim later.
Legal work for anyone other than the organization
Prior employers, private clients, or personal/volunteer legal work outside your official pro bono program falls outside this policy — an in-house attorney doing outside legal work needs their own separate coverage for it.
Fee and compensation disputes
This is a professional-negligence policy, not a billing-dispute policy — that distinction matters since in-house counsel is salaried, but the exclusion is worth knowing if any fee-sharing arrangement exists.
Practicing law while unlicensed, suspended, or revoked
Keeping bar admission and standing current is a condition of coverage — a narrow carve-back exists for properly registered multijurisdictional in-house practice, but lapsed licensure generally isn't covered.
Fines, penalties, sanctions, restitution, or corrective-action compliance costs from a disciplinary proceeding
Even with the optional disciplinary defense-cost add-on, it pays for defending the proceeding — not for any fine or sanction that results from it.
Coverage for the organization itself, or for any outside law firm
This protects the employed attorney personally — the organization's own liability sits on its Board & Executive Liability or general liability coverage, and any outside firm you retain carries its own malpractice policy.
Criminal proceedings
Criminal matters, including any tied to a disciplinary proceeding, fall outside this coverage entirely.
Behind The Quote
What goes into the decision.
What actually moves your price and your approval — no black box.
Size and structure of the legal department
A solo GC and a multi-attorney department with supervised paralegal staff present different exposure profiles — underwriting wants an accurate picture of who's actually practicing law under the policy.
Scope of legal work actually performed
A GC who only reviews contracts is a different risk than one who also manages litigation and regulatory matters directly — the broader the scope of legal services performed, the more that needs to be reflected accurately on the application.
Bar admission and standing
Current, active bar admission and standing is a condition of coverage — a narrow carve-back exists for properly registered multijurisdictional practice, but lapsed licensure is a real gap, not a technicality.
Whether pro bono work is formally organized
An ad hoc favor for a friend outside work is treated differently than a structured, organized pro bono program run through the company — only the latter can be elected onto the policy.
Let's get you covered.
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Availability
Available nationwide, with policy terms adjusted to each state's requirements.
Questions, answered straight
No jargon on employed lawyers liability — just what you're actually asking.
No — this is specifically for your in-house attorneys and sits excess of any other lawyers-professional-liability coverage they carry. Your outside firm's malpractice coverage is entirely separate.
This protects the employed lawyer personally for claims about their legal work — it doesn't extend malpractice-style protection to the organization itself.
It extends to supervised legal-support staff working under the employed lawyers, in addition to the licensed attorneys themselves.
Legal work for anyone other than your organization is excluded, unless it's done through a formal, organized pro bono program your organization has specifically elected to include.
Only if the optional Disciplinary Proceeding Defense Costs coverage is added — and even then, it covers the cost of defending the proceeding, not any resulting fine or sanction.
Legal advice, contract drafting and negotiation, litigation and regulatory-matter management, compliance advice, and notarization performed for the organization — plus organized pro bono work if that's specifically elected.
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Learn moreReady to talk it through?
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Insurance products described on this page are marketed by The Veteran Alliance, a licensed insurance producer, and underwritten by one or more separately licensed insurance companies, which may include Corgi Insurance Company and its affiliates. The insurer that actually underwrites your policy, its licensing status in your state, and any state-required notices will be identified in your quote and policy documents. Coverage, limits, eligibility, and pricing are determined by the underwriting insurer, may vary by state, and may change. Nothing on this page is a quote, an offer of insurance, a binder, or a guarantee of coverage — coverage takes effect only when a policy is issued.