The View From the Corner Office

A lot gets written about Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance (LPLI) but most of it discusses claims or risk management issues. It seems to me that those of us in the "Corner Office" neglect the business aspects of LPLI. We all talk about hard markets, reinsurance capacity, "judicial hell holes" and predatory competition when we get together (all with appropriate recognition of our Counsel's anti-trust guidelines, of course). We don't talk to our customers and other consumers about what that stuff all means to folks on "Main Street" who we befuddle with our application processes and who we expect to blindly accept our companies' policy forms, exclusions, endorsements and rate structures without any good understanding of what it all means and why we do what we do.

This Blog is dedicated to all those folks on Main Street with the hope that over time we can demystify some of it and put bits and pieces together that will both explain some of the big picture questions and even provide focus to some local or regional issues as they surface both within ALPS universe, the greater LPLI marketplace and even the property and casualty industry as a whole. I very much hope that "The View from the Corner Office" becomes a place where anybody, not just lawyers, can feel comfortable raising questions, stating propositions and generally creating a dialogue that allows us all to learn a little about LPLI and make more effective decisions about how the industry offers our products and how lawyers make decisions about coverage and utilization. If I accomplish just a little bit of what I hope for, it will be a success and of value.

ROBERT W. MINTO, JR.
President and CEO
ALPS Corporation and ALPS RRG