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LAWPRO Magazine: 2012 May/June – Year in Review 2011
In This Issue of LAWPRO Magazine
Mentor with less fear with LAWPRO waiver of deductible
LAWPRO has long promoted the benefits of mentorship, which flow not only to the mentee, but also to the mentor. Lawyers who have access to experienced mentors benefit from practical advice and information without having to learn “by trial and error.” While many Ontario lawyers give their time generously to more junior members of the… Read More »
Real estate lawyers: The buck stops with you
LAWPRO is seeing far too many real estate claims where the lawyers handling the deals are making or not catching fairly basic errors. Often these mistakes result from errors made by clerks – all or most of which the lawyer could’ve and should’ve caught. Common mistakes include: Not catching errors in legal descriptions Missing executions… Read More »
Is Facebook secretly sharing what you are reading and watching?
During a recent phone call with one of my colleagues, we had a bit of a chuckle over a rather risqué and NSFW (not suitable for work) article that one of our mutual friends had apparently just read online. Think clothing-optional antics by a celebrity in Vegas. as it happened, a few minutes before our… Read More »
Book reviews: iPad, iPad Apps and LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers
Here are three new additions to the practicePRO Lending Library you can read in under an hour. Two cover the gadget everyone waits in line to buy, and the other a powerful (but often underused) tool for building your online professional contact network. iPad in One Hour for Lawyers by Tom Mighell. Published in 2011,… Read More »
$101 million in claims costs: Do we have your attention yet?
In this, the third annual review of LAWPRO operations, we’re taking a slightly different approach. You’ll notice that there are fewer words in many sections and more use of graphics to convey information. Why this change? Because a picture is worth a thousand words. And because now – more than ever – we need to… Read More »
Hitting our stride: Fine-tuning service
Did you know that the LAWPRO customer service department handled over 23,000 individual pieces of correspondence in 2011? Each of our customer service representatives is trained to address a wide range of service issues, from accounts management to coverage inquiries to the referral of claims to our claims department. While we received roughly the same… Read More »
E&O claims numbers: Going up
Claims costs in primary program may top $90 million in 2011 Lawyers are reporting more claims The increase in the number of claims reported can be attributed in part to an increase in the number of lawyers insured under the Law society e&O program – to just over 23,000 in 2011 from about 18,000 in… Read More »
Following through to recover costs
By the time certain claims come to our attention, it’s either too late or uneconomic to pursue a repair. Some of these cases require that we pay an indemnity to the party affected. This payment, however, is not the end of the story: To control our claims costs, we must take steps, where possible, to… Read More »
How remedial action by LAWPRO saves the bar millions
Timely efforts by LAWPRO to “repair” errors committed by lawyers save the Ontario bar millions of dollars every year. 1. Setting aside Registrars’ administrative dismissal orders (Rule 48) Defended actions (Rule 48.14): Judicial discretion to set aside dismissal is unpredictable Registrars’ orders dismissing actions under Rule 48 have become common. In some cases, we were… Read More »
LAwPRO defends lawyers in diverse areas of practice
While it may seem that a large number of LAwPRO claims arise from real estate transactions and routine personal injury litigation, we actually defend claims against a broad spectrum of Ontario lawyers – and in courts ranging from the small claims court to the Court of Appeal. Regardless of the forum or area of law,… Read More »
TitlePLUS update: Careful management of risks, claims paves way for TitlePLUs program’s future
Managing risk: Rigorous underwriting The 2011 policy year marked a period of fine-tuning for the TitlePLUS title insurance program, now headed into its 15th anniversary year. Rising building compliance-related claims costs in recent years prompted our underwriters to make some underwriting changes in 2010 that were deemed prudent for the program’s long-term success. Subsequent additional… Read More »
Corporate citizenship: An evolving new LAWPRO mandate
In may 2011, the LAwPRO Board adopted a Corporate social Responsibility (CsR) statement that is based on four principles: a commitment to provide a healthy workplace, respect for the environment, support for the legal community, and support for the larger community in which we live and work. The following is a summary of how LAwPRO… Read More »
2011 financial results explained
A. Net premiums: $109.7 million Net LAWPRO revenues in 2011 stood at about $109.7 million, about $9 million more than in 2010. An increase in the 2011 base premium to $3,350 per lawyer, and in the number of lawyers insured under the program are major factors affecting the net premium figure for 2011. Excess premium… Read More »