Meet Embroker, The Insurtech Company That’s Turning The Malpractice Insurance Game On Its Head 

Malpractice insurance is one of the most important purchases a law firm can make, but probably one of the last things it wants to think about. Insurtech company Embroker, the leading commercial insurance broker on the market, is on a mission to make the insurance buying process less dreadful, single-handedly offering law firms a better, faster, and cheaper way to get the malpractice coverage they need. We recently sat down with Matt Miller, founder and CEO of Embroker, to discuss how the company is changing the malpractice game and revolutionizing the way firms find and purchase coverage.

Why did you create Embroker?

Embroker was founded in 2015 with the mission of making it radically easier for businesses to get the right insurance coverage at a lower cost. Having served on the board of a large insurance broker, I was well aware of the crucial role insurance plays in our economy, but was taken aback by how little the industry had changed over the last 30 years, particularly for commercial insurance. 

The impetus behind the company was to build technology that would modernize and streamline the insurance value chain and, in doing so, provide buyers of insurance with a much easier, much more transparent way of getting the coverage they need.

What are the main pain points Embroker addresses?

The primary pain points Emboker addresses are well known to anyone who’s had to buy insurance for their company – it’s a highly inefficient, painful process with very little transparency to the buyer on almost every level. From an industry perspective, the inefficiency from all of the manual steps and the layers of intermediation in the value chain means that a higher percentage of the premium goes to paying expenses than it should, and policies, therefore, cost more than they should. By digitizing the entire value chain from end to end, we’re able to provide better coverage at a lower cost, with much less hassle for the buyer. 

How is Embroker different from the traditional ways law firms have applied for malpractice insurance in the past?

Ultimately, the buyer gets better protection and better expertise while spending less money and less time, thanks to technology. 

Let’s be honest – applying and purchasing insurance for law firms is awful. It’s been the same process for the past several decades, with the biggest technological enhancement being the PDF. Law firms are asked to fill out a tedious application year after year. It gets passed to brokers and insurance companies, all who review it, get paid, and settle on a price, often arbitrarily, while passing back to the firm the heavy overhead involved.

With Embroker’s approach, we strip out much of that old process and overhead, which translates to less time spent on purchasing and savings passed to the law firm. The application only asks critical questions that actually affect the cost. Answers are calculated algorithmically and qualified firms get a price immediately. Firms can alter limits, deductibles, and policy features in real time and see how they affect cost. 

They can be assured they’re getting a great deal because our cost structure is fundamentally so much more efficient. We do this without sacrificing the human touch, as our law firm brokers are always available.

Let’s discuss malpractice insurance. Why do lawyers need it and are there differences in coverage that lawyers might not know about? 

The ABA has said that 80% of lawyers will face a legal malpractice suit in their career, and the majority of suits are against small law firms. Without insurance, the lawyer’s personal assets are on the line. For that reason, malpractice insurance is often a new law firm’s first purchase.

Standard insurance has a typical deductible and a regular eroding limit for a set price. Altering limits and deductibles are known to be levers for adjusting price. 

But what about protecting your firm from costs on frivolous lawsuits? Or the exorbitant costs of defending yourself? Our program allows you to assess the price of either of those features by selecting options such as a loss-only deductible or a claims expense in addition to the limit. Unlike other insurance products, we make these risk mechanisms available, and often they’re more affordable than people might assume. Our program is one of the very few where lawyers are offered these features and the ability to adjust them.

What kind of savings do firms see with Embroker in terms of cost and time? 

For pure premium cost, we’re seeing average savings of 20% for qualifying firms. Clio users save an additional 10%.  

On timing, we’re often seeing new firms start and submit an application to purchase in 8-10 minutes. That time goes up slightly as the firm gets bigger, but not by much. Renewals are incredibly easy and even quicker, since all application data is retained and reused.

That said, we also work with plenty of complex firms who like a bit more of a personal consultation, which we absolutely welcome.

Does Embroker offer products other than malpractice insurance?

Yes, Embroker offers all lines of commercial insurance that businesses need, including standard lines like workers’ compensation and general liability, as well as digital specialty lines like Employment Practices Liability (EPL) D&O insurance and cyber insurance. We also offer health insurance and employee benefits through our same advanced digital experience. 

Is there anything new we can expect to see from Embroker in the near future?

We’re always working to improve our offerings. In the near term, we’re going to roll out a number of major improvements to the platform that should make it even easier and more intuitive for our customers to use. 

Why should lawyers turn to Embroker the next time they need malpractice insurance?

Since we launched our legal professional liability offering earlier this year, we’ve signed up hundreds of law firms, and each of them would attest to the benefits Embroker offers: expert service, an average of 25% cost savings, greater transparency on pricing, and a much easier process than what they’re used to.