By The Numbers
TLIE currently insures over 6,400 attorneys and judges throughout the State of Texas, in all areas of practice, from solo practitioners to firms of over 100 attorneys.
TLIE is the tried and true source of reliable, responsibly priced legal malpractice insurance for Texas lawyers and judges. We have been protecting Texas lawyers continuously since 1979 with high quality malpractice insurance and best-in-class customer service.
Since 1979, commercial carriers have come and gone from Texas, but TLIE has been a consistent and stable source of high quality professional legal malpractice liability coverage at financially responsible rates for Texas lawyers and judges.
TLIE is owned by its member insureds and is operated by a member-elected board of directors. TLIE’s office is in Austin, Texas and its local presence uniquely aids TLIE in its understanding of the needs of Texas law firms, while supporting its “boots on the ground” mentality of promptly responding to and assisting member insureds navigating the challenges of practicing law.
TLIE has delivered top-tier malpractice insurance to Texas Lawyers and Judges since 1979.
The State Bar of Texas selected TLIE as its only Preferred Provider of lawyers’ professional liability insurance. With this backing, you not only gain TLIE’s proven experience and reliability, but also the trust of the State Bar to provide you with even more peace of mind.
Discover what fellow attorneys are saying about TLIE’s exceptional service and support.
Membership in TLIE starts with the purchase of one of its various insurance policy offerings. Once insured, member attorneys and law firms not only obtain broad insurance coverage, exceptional service and access to all key decision-makers within the company, but also access to extensive resources, including best-in-class loss prevention education provided through on-line and in-person CLE, weekly emails, ethics assistance and a policyholder “hotline.” Of course, most members rave about their ability to receive year-end distributions – a return of excess profits not typically offered by TLIE’s competitors.
In 1997, TLIE created a Risk Management Department to handle all of our risk management and loss prevention activities, including creating and presenting CLE education on-line and in-person, providing content to the State Bar of Texas and local bar associations, authoring weekly TLIE Top Tips emailed to all member attorneys, quarterly articles, and directly consulting with members about best practices, loss prevention, and navigating through difficult issues that arise in the practice of law. TLIE has also created a forms library to assist law firms in various ways, and offers access to member firms to a cyber breach “toolkit” to assist firms in managing this ever-growing area of risk.
The person who submitted your last application is entitled to access to this cyber toolkit resource. You will need your TLIE policy number to register.
If you are already a TLIE insured with cyber security coverage, you can report a claim or access the NAS Cyber Risk Management training site by logging onto your TLIE account.
In general, the Premier Policy provides more comprehensive legal malpractice insurance coverage than the Essential Policy. As a lower cost alternative to the Premier Policy, the Essential Policy has lower limits, lower deductibles and less comprehensive coverage than the Premier Policy. The major differences between the two policies are noted in the adjacent “Compare Policies” section, subject to policy endorsements for unique situations.
Most TLIE policies have aggregate deductibles. This means that the maximum amount of deductible a TLIE insured would be required to pay for all claims made during a policy year is the deductible amount chosen. Other carriers often have “per claim” deductibles which apply to every claim.
Just about all attorney’s professional liability policies are now written on a “claims made and reported” basis. That means it is the policy in effect when the claim is made against you and reported to your insurance company that applies to the claim. If the policy expires before the claim is reported to the insurance company, the policy will not cover the claim. Also, most policies do not cover claims the lawyer already knows about, or should have known about, when the policy was purchased.
Your policy may not provide coverage for your professional services rendered prior to the date your new policy becomes effective. Insurance companies sometimes choose not to cover your prior acts due to previous claims against you or your former law firm. You may not need to purchase prior acts coverage if you are leaving a law firm that will continue to maintain its malpractice insurance. Most policies cover former members of a law firm for their acts on behalf of that firm. However, if your firm is dissolving, you should strongly consider buying extended reporting coverage, often called “tail coverage,” from your firm’s current insurance company. A new policy with prior acts coverage for your former law firm is usually not available.
A Retroactive Date is the earliest date that your policy will provide prior acts coverage. Any claim based on an act or omission that occurred prior to that date will not be covered.
We want to support you
We offer loss prevention services to all members, including on-site consultations, live and online seminars and self-audits.