Professional Liability

Insurance at an accounting firm is rarely a risk decision you make in isolation. The engagement letter, the audit committee, the state board, and — for auditors of public companies — the SEC and PCAOB each set conditions that decide most of what you carry. This playbook maps the five exposures that actually generate accounting-firm claims to the liability line each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what the other party will demand before they sign.

Architects meet commercial insurance through the people who need their signature — the project owner whose design agreement names E&O limits, the general contractor who demands a certificate before site access, the state board that requires a written contract. This playbook maps the five exposures that actually generate architect claims to the liability line each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what the contract will demand before you stamp the first sheet.

Insurance agents legally act for the insurer; brokers act for you; direct channels remove the intermediary entirely. All three are paid in ways that shape what they show you. This guide explains what each channel is, how compensation steers incentives, which fits which buyer, and what digital-direct actually changes — so you can choose a channel deliberately instead of inheriting one.

A commercial lessor's liability rarely turns on one policy. The building, the common areas you control, and the businesses your tenants run generate different exposures, and which coverage answers each one depends on control and the lease — not on whose name is on the deed. This playbook maps the five exposures that actually generate claims for owners of commercial property to the liability line each belongs to, who can assert it, and what the lease or the tenant's policy is supposed to do about it.

Insurance at a law firm follows the professional duty, not a catalog. A missed deadline, an uncleared conflict, a breached confidence, or mishandled trust money creates a different allegation than a visitor's injury — and a different liability line must answer it. This playbook maps the five exposures that generate law-firm claims to the coverage each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what a client or court will demand before the matter proceeds.

Managed service providers have access to client systems that few other vendors receive. This playbook maps five resulting exposures: service failures, breaches, gaps between technology E&O and cyber, employment claims, and premises claims. It explains who can bring each claim and which liability policy is meant to respond.

Miscellaneous professional liability — Misc E&O — is the policy every occupation buys when its advice or deliverable can cause a client financial loss but no dedicated malpractice form exists for the work. Physicians, attorneys, and CPAs each get a profession-specific form; consultants, real estate licensees, home inspectors, notaries, marketing agencies, staffing firms, and security firms all land here. This playbook maps the five shapes a Misc E&O claim takes across those occupations, who can assert each one, and where the line turns into malpractice, general liability, or cyber.

Professional services businesses should start with the liability created by their advice, designs, recommendations, or deliverables—not with a package label. This playbook maps the professional-liability, general- liability, cyber, and management-liability decisions to the work you do, the contracts you sign, and the continuity terms that can decide whether a later claim reaches a policy at all.

A SaaS consultant gets sued over the thing they are paid for — advice, code, and deliverables that a client says cost it money. This playbook maps the exposures that actually generate claims when your deliverable is software or you consult into technology companies to the liability line each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what the contract on your desk will demand before it lets you start.

A technology company's insurance is rarely a risk decision. It is a condition of the deals you need to close — the enterprise customer's contract, the office lease, the data you hold, and the products you ship. Those requirements decide most of what you carry. This playbook maps the five exposures that generate technology claims to the liability line each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what the other party will demand before they sign.

Insurance at a venture-backed startup is rarely a risk decision. It is a condition of the deals you need to close — the term sheet, the enterprise customer's contract, the office lease — and those requirements decide most of what you carry. This playbook maps the five exposures that actually generate startup claims to the liability line each one belongs to, who can assert it, and what the other party will demand before they sign.

The insurer had to defend the real-estate brokerage because some allegations could fall within its professional-liability (E&O) policy and outside two exclusions. A duty to defend means paying for the lawsuit’s defense; it does not decide who was at fault or guarantee payment of the claim.