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[smgsmc]

If you are working as an in-house agent/atty, do you need malpractice insurance?  I'm considering approaching an org (in this case, a university) that currently outsources all their patent prosecution and convincing them that it would be beneficial to have at least some of their work done in-house.  If they bite, do I need to ask them to provide malpractice insurance for me?  Or is there some well established legal principle that an employer can't hold an employee personally liable for screwups, short of deliberate criminal activity, I suppose.  By analogy, I assume that mechanical engineers who work for a car manufacturer aren't personally held liable if they design sticky accelerator pedals?

[smgsmc]

Hi.  Still looking for input from in-house guys here.  Klav?  DogDay?  Thanks.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

It's a good question; one I've been asked before by an fellow who was transitioning in-house.  I didn't know the answer myself, so I polled a bunch of other in-house patent attorneys.  Their response was a pretty uniform, "What fer?  Ever heard of a corporation suing one of their patent attorneys for malpractice?".  Still, not very satisfactory or definitive, is it?  However, I also found out that it's not uncommon for a company's corporate insurance policies to have the GC and his/her entire staff named as specific insureds.  Not sure if you'd be part of the GC staff at a univ., though.  More likely under the tech transfer Director's staff.

Good luck on your target and hopefully it works out.  But I'm not very optimistic on your behalf.  I've worked with maybe 30+ universities over the years and while some of them had in-house patent attorneys, they were mainly focused on research agreements and licensing agreements, along with managing OSC, but the usual model doesn't seem to include any direct prep/pros work.  That might be an additional angle you can exploit, by the way - the idea that what they REALLY need is you, an experienced practitioner, to be employed by the Univ. to monitor the work product of the firm (along with taking some of the work in-house as you mention).  I've got a couple of friends who moved to companies previously without in-house patent coverage, and they both complained that many of the files/cases were real messes.

[klaviernista]

My response is generally the same a Dogday's.  Figures, since I asked him the same question when I transitioned in house.

[smgsmc]

Thanks Dogday and Klav.  I was beginning to think that no one answered because it was an inane question.

[blakesq]

its a good question.  my answer is not very good, but I have never heard of in house attorneys of any type, having malpractice insurance.  However, after a quick google search, i did see that inhouse attorneys are sued for malpractice, at least on occasion.  Therefore, to protect yourself, you can get the company to buy a separate policy covering employed lawyers' professional liability, or “ELP” insurance.  See http://www.bowne.com/securitiesconnect/details.asp?storyID=1706 

Thanks Dogday and Klav.  I was beginning to think that no one answered because it was an inane question.

[decom]

I did not have to buy when I was in-house.  I guess you can buy if you want to sleep well at night.

[jinosbrovens]

There are some circumstances under which the insurance coverage is not adequate to cover the claimed injuries and in those circumstances it is possible that you may face legal exposure above the payout of your full insurance limits.You should consult a local independent insurance agent that will be able to assist you with reviewing your business exposures and advise the best way to provide coverage at a reasonable cost.