An independent legal adviser works without a gown and without a disciplinary tribunal: a dissatisfied client does not go to the bar association but straight to the civil court.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
That is the decisive difference from the legal profession. There is no compulsory professional insurance laid down by a bar association, no complaints route that runs past a dean first and no legal professional privilege. A complaint about your advice arrives as a claim for non-performance or tort, with Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code as its basis, and the first question is then exactly what you had undertaken to do.
Your loss is almost always pure financial loss: no injury, nothing damaged, but a financial disadvantage. Ordinary public and employers' liability insurance excludes that. You need professional indemnity cover. That covers only work within the capacity described on the policy. If you also do interim management, board work or mediation, that is not automatically included.
Not insured are: your own fee that a client reclaims, fines, deliberate acts under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, and claims you already knew about when you took out the policy. Report a threatened claim as soon as you know of it. That follows from Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The confirmation of instructions is your first line of defence
Most disputes are not about what you wrote but about what you did not deal with. The client thought the tax side was included, or that you would also check the employment law consequences. Set out expressly in the confirmation of instructions what falls inside and outside the assignment, and which assumptions you are taking from the client. With no disciplinary tribunal to filter matters first, this document is the only thing that limits the scope of your obligation.
Stay within the capacity described
The policy states what you are insured for: legal advice, contract work, perhaps representation in proceedings where that is allowed without a lawyer. If you appear in proceedings where representation by an advocate is compulsory, or take a board position with a client, that work falls outside the description of your capacity and therefore outside the cover. Board work calls for separate directors' and officers' liability cover. Report any extension of your practice before you start it.
A missed time limit cannot be repaired
Objection, appeal, limitation, the duty to complain: once a time limit expires, the right lapses and no argument on the merits is possible any more. Monitor time limits in a system that does not depend on your memory or on a single diary entry, and note for each file the date on which the right lapses. If you find that something has gone wrong, report it to your insurer at once and inform the client; concealing it almost always makes the position worse.
Old advice remains claimable for years
Professional indemnity policies usually work on a claims-made basis: what matters is when the claim comes in, not when you gave the advice. If you change insurer or close your practice, everything notified afterwards falls outside the cover without retroactive or run-off cover. Arrange that before the change. Keep files at least as long as the statutory limitation periods run. Without the file you cannot rebut an allegation.
What does your premium depend on?
Areas of law. Employment law and contract law are weighted differently from financial, tax or corporate law with large sums at stake.
Turnover. The usual basis; it says something indirectly about the number of files and the size of the interests involved.
Representation in proceedings or not. Appearing in proceedings brings a risk around time limits and is assessed more strictly than advisory work.
Consumer or business clients. With consumers you can limit your liability less far in your terms and conditions.
Sum insured with retroactive and run-off cover. Determines whether older advice and notifications after termination fall within the cover.
Excess and claims history. A higher excess per claim reduces the premium; previous claims work the other way.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Because that policy is built around registration with the bar association and the prescribed cover that goes with it. As an independent legal adviser you fall under ordinary professional indemnity insurance, where the description of your capacity determines what is insured. Have that description drawn up precisely: legal advice, contracts, and whether or not you appear in proceedings where that is allowed without an advocate.
Is my fee covered if the client reclaims it?
No. Repayment or reduction of your own fee is excluded. That is not a loss but the reversal of your own work. The same applies to the hours you spend putting your own mistake right. What is insured is the financial loss the client suffers in addition, for example a claim that is lost or a penalty they had to pay a third party.
What is retroactive cover and do I need it?
Retroactive cover covers claims that come in during the policy term relating to work you did before the start date. Without that extension, only work from the start date onwards is covered. If you had already worked as a legal adviser for some years before insuring yourself, or if you move to another insurer, retroactive cover is the point to watch. Known circumstances are never included.
I also do interim work as a director. Is that covered?
Not on professional indemnity insurance. That covers mistakes in the practice of the profession described. Liability as a director of a legal entity is a separate class of risk with its own policy. If you combine the two roles, report it and have it recorded in which capacity you do which work; making that distinction afterwards is difficult and the cover is then uncertain.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
