Insurance Law
Insurance policies are contracts. They are purchased in an effort to provide protection from monetary assessments that result from large medical bills and from the legal consequences of accidents, mistakes, misjudgments, and disasters. Insurance policies provide a pooling of assets from which medical claims or judgments against one or more policy holders can be paid. For example, doctors, accountants, and attorneys obtain insurance to protect them from monetary judgments relating to professional service. Automobile owners purchase insurance to cover issues ranging from monetary judgments from accidents caused by driver error to vehicle damage caused by a sever hail storm. Businesses also obtain insurance to protect them in the case of incorrectly designed or manufactured products, the wrongdoing of employees, or unsafe conditions on the premises, such as a chemical spill in a factory or a slippery floor in the produce department of a grocery store.
Insurance lawyers become involved in many various issues relating to these contracts. Some insurance lawyers work as the defense counsel on behalf of a doctor accused of malpractice or an automobile owner accused of driving at a speed deemed unsafe for weather conditions. Other insurance lawyers focus on questions of insurance coverage-for example, whether an insurance policy purchased many years ago covers acts or problems, such as environmental damage, uncovered many years later. Insurance lawyers also work in the health care industry on issues involving claims and payments, regulatory issues, and contracts with physicians and hospitals for managed care. Examples of the various types of insurance law practice follow.
Coverage Issues: Insurance is based on a contract between the policy holder and the insurer. Sometimes a dispute arises between the insurer and the policy holder over whether the contract provides insurance coverage for a particular incident. In this case attorneys specializing in coverage issues work to resolve the issue, which may end in litigation between the policy holder and the insurance company. In recent years, for example, disputes have arisen over whether environmental law issues involve liability for asbestos, lead paint, or compliance with environmental regulations. (See the environmental Law chapter for further description of these types of issues.) The stakes can be high in these cases, leading to complex litigation in which millions of dollars are at stake.
Insurance Defense: When an insurance policy holder is sued by a third party and the insurance company determines that the contract provides coverage, the insurance company will either use in-house attorneys or hire outside attorneys to handle the defense of the insured. This is often referred to as insurance defense work (interviews with insurance defense lawyers are featured in the Tort Law chapter).
In-House Counsel: Insurance companies employ a large number of attorneys. The attorneys have a wide range of duties, from supervising claims and litigation to advising the company regarding legislative and regulatory matters affecting the industry to advising the insurers on the use of computer technology to manage records and claims. Lawyers might work as in-house counsel for health care insurance companies, setting up contracts with physician groups and hospitals. Lawyers also work for the insurance industry investigating cases of insurance fraud and with government consumer protection agencies in prosecuting such suits.
Insurance Counseling: Corporations seek advice from attorneys when determining how much insurance to purchase for a business and its employees, including liability, health, and property insurance.
Reproduced from The Official Guide to Legal Specialties with permission. (c) 2000 Thomson Reuters/West. For additional information on this publication please visit 
http://west.thomson.com/products/law-students. Copyright granted via e-mail by Donna Gies, September 16, 2008.