{"id":2368,"date":"2017-10-31T16:22:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T16:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/?p=2368"},"modified":"2020-11-17T15:02:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T15:02:06","slug":"environmental-risk-managers-business-professionals-series-2-teaming-with-attorneys-to-drive-insurance-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/environmental-risk-managers-business-professionals-series-2-teaming-with-attorneys-to-drive-insurance-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Risk Managers \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d Series #2, TEAMing with Attorney\u2019s To Drive Insurance Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the \u201cbusiness professionals\u201d (i.e. attorney\u2019s, accountant\u2019s, banker\u2019s, realtor\u2019s, environmental engineers) we are highlighting in the ERMI TEAMing with \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d series, attorneys represent the lowest hanging fruit for insurance professionals to TEAM with.<\/p>\n

There are several reasons for this which we will cover in this competitive environmental intelligence but mainly, attorneys tend to specialize in specific areas of law, i.e. general business, estate planning, bankruptcy, patent \/ trademark, environmental, criminal, international, employee, civil\u2026\u00a0 This means an attorney is well versed in their specific area of law but possess very little knowledge about assisting their clients to manage and transfer their environmental exposures.\u00a0 Note:\u00a0 As highlighted in Series #1, TEAMing With \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d, every business and individual is impacted by environmental exposures.<\/p>\n

Historically, once an environmentally reactive business \/ individual calls their attorney to assist them with an environmental liability, the attorney brings in their firm\u2019s environmental specialist to address the issue.\u00a0 This business model will generally lead to some form of litigation and what attorney\u2019s clients have learned over the years about environmental litigation is its very time consuming, stresses resources and desired results are generally not achieved<\/p>\n

Insurance professionals are not going to fix a broken business model overnight, but you can fill a huge gap in most attorney\u2019s work, lack of financial assurance to backstop their legal documents.\u00a0 In today\u2019s business environment, the name of the game for attorney\u2019s is avoid litigation to grow their client base and business.\u00a0 Insurance professionals are armed with an arsenal of products to assist attorneys to grow their business model.<\/p>\n

The bottom line, today\u2019s transparent business environment has changed the way Attorney\u2019s must address environmental exposures impacting their client\u2019s which means opportunity for insurance professionals.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 Education is a vital component to building a TEAM relationship with \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d.\u00a0 Throughout the ERMI \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d series we will offer coaching tips to assist you in building your relationships with \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d.<\/p>\n

ERMI TEAM Relationship Coaching Tip:\u00a0 In some contracts, attorney\u2019s will require financial assurance to backstop indemnifications contained in the contract.\u00a0 They will generally achieve this utilizing standard property and casualty and environmental insurances with coverage being evidenced by a certificate of insurance.\u00a0 The problem this strategy presents in relation to environmental insurance is, an environmental insurance policy will not be issued without the insurance carrier first receiving a completed and signed \u201cwarranty\u201d insurance application.\u00a0 In general terms the application will state that the environmental insurance policy is being issued based upon the signed \u201cwarranty\u201d application and that the application will become part of the policy.\u00a0 The application goes on to say at the time of a loss if it\u2019s discovered the application is not accurate, the insurance carrier can deny coverage.\u00a0 Without first confirming the \u201cwarranty\u201d application is accurately filled out the certificate of insurance may not be worth the paper it is written on and the same is true for the attorney\u2019s financial assurances contained in the contract.\u00a0 Coaching attorneys to understand warranty applications will fill a gap in their financial assurance strategy in contracts and a gigantic hole in their E&O exposure.<\/em><\/p>\n

To support the above statements let\u2019s look at another example.\u00a0 For years, attorneys have utilized environmental indemnifications in real estate Buy \/ Sell Agreements, mergers and acquisitions and many other legal instruments.\u00a0 Generally speaking, attorneys feel content with addressing potential environmental exposures by simply utilizing environmental indemnifications in legal instruments and not backing them up with a financial assurance mechanism (i.e. bond, letter of credit, monies on deposit, insurance).<\/p>\n

Today we know the problems created by this mindset and the fact that environmental indemnifications are a very cursory way of addressing environmental exposures in legal transactions.<\/p>\n

ERMI TEAM Relationship Coaching Tip:\u00a0 Environmental insurance policies pay for defense costs.\u00a0 Do you think an attorney would rather collect their fees from a financially solvent insurance carrier or a client that just found out they have contaminated half their towns drinking water?<\/em><\/p>\n

For decades, our Federal Government has utilized financial assurance requirements for asbestos and lead abatement contractors, regulated underground storage tanks, hazardous & industrial waste haulers, Landfills\u2026, so why not more attorney\u2019s?<\/p>\n

Insurance professionals have a variety of financial assurance products to assist attorneys to reduce their E&O exposure, one of which is pollution liability insurance.\u00a0 TEAMing with ERMI will allow you access to the full menu of the environmental insurance products offered by the major environmental insurance carriers.<\/p>\n

ERMI TEAM Coaching Tip:\u00a0 Talking points with attorney\u2019s.<\/p>\n

To understand why \u201cBest Practices\u201d for attorneys means moving beyond their current litigious business model to possessing a working knowledge of managing and transferring environmental exposures, we first must be on the same page about a few environmental facts.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is a \u201cPollutant\u201d? If you look at an environmental indemnification in a contract, it generally describes a Pollutant as smoke, vapors, soot, fumes, acids\u2026..\u00a0 However, due to the way courts and insurance companies have responded to lawsuits and insurance claims, environmental Strategist\u2122 (eS) has developed a definition that is easier to understand.\u00a0 eS define a \u201cPollutant\u201d as a material, substance or product that gets introduced to an environment for other than its intended use or purpose.\u201d In other words, something that ends up where it does not belong can be a pollutant.\u00a0 eS have examples where fresh water, milk, cheese, fruit, beer and more have all been defined as a \u201cPollutant\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Law firms generally utilize specially trained environmental attorney\u2019s to address their client\u2019s environmental exposures when in reality their biggest environmental exposures are with their other legal specialist\u2019s i.e. general business, health, international, labor, estate planning, merger & acquisition, real estate\u2026. In short, nearly every attorney must possess a working knowledge of proactively addressing their client\u2019s environmental exposures.\u00a0 TEAMing with ERMI insurance professionals can do this.\u00a0 In short, you become the law firms backroom environmental risk manager on managing and transferring their client\u2019s environmental exposures.<\/li>\n
  3. Historically, attorneys have made their money by addressing past environmental problems such as asbestos, lead, mold and so much more. This reactive approach has cost attorneys time, resources, client relationships and much more.\u00a0 TEAMing with ERMI we can coach attorney\u2019s on proactively managing and transferring their client\u2019s environmental exposures to increase productivity and profits while reducing their E&O exposure.<\/li>\n
  4. The inability of at fault parties to meet environmental indemnifications in contracts is a reputational and liability risk for attorney\u2019s. Attorneys not practicing environmental \u201cBest Practices\u201d may find their E&O insurance at risk of claims from disgruntled client\u2019s.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    ERMI TEAM Coaching Tip:\u00a0 You would be amazed how many contracts Environmental Risk Managers (ERMI) reviews that an attorney constructed requiring the wrong pollution insurance.\u00a0 On almost a weekly basis ERMI will assist an attorney with correcting their contract to make sure the proper pollution insurance is being requested and put into place.\u00a0 TEAMing with ERMI we can make sure your legal TEAM members are not opening themselves up to an E&O exposure by requesting the improper environmental insurance. <\/em><\/p>\n

    Today\u2019s business environment is demanding attorneys know if their work is preserving an asset or creating an environmental liability for their client and themselves.\u00a0 Insurance professionals TEAMing with attorney\u2019s to manage and transfer the attorney\u2019s clients environmental exposures will position themselves as a trusted advisor and strategic partner while driving the sales of their insurance products.<\/p>\n

    In Environmental Risk Managers \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d Series #3 we will strategize on TEAM building with Bankers \/ Financial Institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Of all the \u201cbusiness professionals\u201d (i.e. attorney\u2019s, accountant\u2019s, banker\u2019s, realtor\u2019s, environmental engineers) we are highlighting in the ERMI TEAMing with \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d series, attorneys represent the lowest hanging fruit for insurance professionals to TEAM with. There are several reasons for this which we will cover in this competitive environmental intelligence but mainly, attorneys tend to… Continue reading Environmental Risk Managers \u201cBusiness Professionals\u201d Series #2, TEAMing with Attorney\u2019s To Drive Insurance Sales<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,7],"tags":[298,70,262,299,254,301,302,300,292],"class_list":["post-2368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources","category-featured","category-risk","category-webinars","tag-attorney","tag-business","tag-contracts","tag-education","tag-environmental","tag-government","tag-legal","tag-professionals","tag-team","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2544,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368\/revisions\/2544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}