We are pleased to report that we had a successful 2024 fiscal year. Our claims were in line with previous years, and of those claims closed, 75% were closed with no loss payments.
Lawyers Mutual – A mission to help. People who care. Protection that counts. In 2024, Client Services expanded our community engagement and spearheaded disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The Enterprise and Operational Risk Management Team operates largely in the background with tasks such as maintaining the technology and security programs, supporting other departments through business analytics, and developing and testing policies and procedures to maintain operations through unexpected events.
In 2024, Underwriting focused on innovation and adding technologies to meet the needs of our insureds and improve how they do business with us.
At Lawyers Insurance, our customers place a lot of trust in us to provide solutions to their benefit and insurance needs.
In 2024, operations of LM Consulting & Services folded into the parent company to consolidate risk management and law practice management services.
LM Title completed a strong second half of 2024 to produce a pre-dividend/pre-tax profit 221% higher than FY2023. We set records for Sales, Total Revenue, and Gross Profit.
We are pleased to report that we had a successful 2023 fiscal year. Our open claim count remained low at 242.
For the fourth consecutive year, we experienced the highest volume of claims reported in Plaintiff’s Personal Injury practice area. Missed deadlines continued to be the primary driver of these errors, with the most common issues being missed statutes of limitations, lapsed alias and pluries summons, mistakes handling underinsured/uninsured motorist cases, and missed discovery deadlines. The other areas of practice with the most reported claims continue to be Residential Real Estate, Family law and Estates & Trusts.
In addition to spearheading Lawyers Mutual’s community outreach, especially with Community Boards and North Carolina legal associations, in 2023 we launched a CLE on demand platform, refocused efforts on in-person CLE, continued to write, evaluate and publish risk management resources, and returned to law offices for speaking engagements addressing practice management topics.
Following the successful launch of the CLE on demand platform, our numbers of on demand views and programs continue to climb.
We continue to work closely with our Claims team to update the Practice Guides available on the company website. These guides help our insureds stay current on evolving best practices and procedures, with the aim of further preventing the errors that have historically driven our highest-volume claims.
The Enterprise and Operational Risk Management Team operates largely in the background with tasks such as maintaining the technology and security programs, supporting other departments through business analytics, and developing and testing policies and procedures to maintain operations through unexpected events.
We understand privacy and information security is important to you and we work to keep our systems and your information protected. We also share tips and lessons learned that may be helpful in your technology journey through live and on-demand CLE’s and website content. Cyber criminals continue to increase their activity and target small and medium sized businesses. We must work together to avoid being an easy target – steps as simple as making a phone call to verify an email is legitimate before opening an attachment or link and utilizing mutli-factor authentication can go a long way in keeping all of us safe.
There is nothing more important than the partnerships we make with our insureds. Our underwriting accomplishments in 2023 were the result of those partnerships:
We continued to support the insurance needs of North Carolina attorneys in 2023 by writing 2,188 policies insuring sole practitioners and 959 policies insuring small law firms consisting of two to five attorneys.
In 2024, we will continue to support North Carolina attorneys by making conservative underwriting decisions that serve all our policyholders and promote the financial strength of the Company. We also plan to bring additional technology to our insureds, by adding the reissue application to our online portal.
Our people are our strength. We hope you’ll get to know our client relationship team.
Adam Pierce and Kelly Gold each have over 20 years of insurance experience. Both are very service-oriented and help lawyers and law firms understand and procure protection from Cyber liability, professional liability as well as placing all the other coverages that a law firm might need.
Ken Hudson has been educating his clients on the transition to Medicare, as well as assisting with life insurance, dental coverage and disability insurance for 25 years.
Delores Hunter has helped countless law firms enroll in the NC Bar Association Health Benefit Trust for more than 20 years and has spent her career in the health benefit arena.
Adam, Kelly, Ken and Delores are personable and dedicated to meeting our customers’ needs. Each is a pillar of strength and stability to our mission to serve our customers.
In 2024, operations of LM Consulting & Services folded into the parent company to consolidate risk management and law practice management services. The mission of the Lawyers Mutual Risk & Practice Management department is to assist insureds throughout the life of the modern law practice: law firm startup, strategic growth and planning, technology innovations, compensation planning, path to partnership, and succession planning.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2024
Law Firm Consultations. 2024 saw the launch of free consulting as an added benefit to our insureds. Erik Mazzone and Camille Stell offered three free hours of consults to insureds in the areas of law firm startup, practice management, marketing, technology, compensation, path to partnership, succession planning and law firm winddown.
In 2024, we spoke with 340+ insureds via individual law firm virtual consults. Approximately one-third of the consults centered on technology issues, one-third on practice management issues (other than technology) such as marketing or process improvements, and one-third on issues relating to retirement and succession planning.
Risk Management Hotline. This resource has been available since the introduction of Lawyers Mutual’s risk management services more than thirty years ago. Insureds can call and speak with risk management professionals or claims attorneys about risk issues such as disaster planning or handling red flag clients. Following the natural disaster of Hurricane Helene, we offered a virtual disaster planning CLE due to the increased risk management inquiries from our insureds across the state.
HELP. Handling Emergency Legal Problems or HELP sprung into action over a decade ago. In the event of the unexpected death or disability of a law firm owner, Lawyers Mutual can assist law firms in triage of sudden emergency situations. The best preparation is to have a disaster plan in place, but if there is no plan, Lawyers Mutual can guide a firm through those initial days and help bring order to chaos.
On-demand CLE Platform. In 2023, Lawyers Mutual launched our on-demand CLE platform. That year our insureds viewed 427 hours of on-demand CLE programming. In 2024, growth spiked 29% with insureds viewing 549 hours. In 2025, we will be increasing our on-demand library significantly with new CLE videos and learning opportunities.
Speaking Engagements, CLEs, Publications. We continue to deliver impactful content on topics that are important to legal professionals. With more than 50 speaking engagements, 50+ articles, risk management alerts, white papers, and risk management practice guides, education continues to be a cornerstone of our mission.
2024 Law Firm Management Conference. In December, we hosted a virtual practice management conference with 118 attorneys and 29 paralegals and staff in attendance. The conference was well received and will be offered again in 2025.
We enjoy collaborating with our insureds and encouraging them in their journey. In a world where change takes place lightning fast, Innovation in your law office is more important than ever.
LM Title completed a strong 2025, achieving record performance across key operational areas, including total revenue, sales activity, and gross profit.
In 2025, total file volume increased meaningfully compared to the prior year, with consistent year-over-year growth throughout each month of the calendar year.
Industry activity remains below both pre-pandemic and peak-pandemic levels, hampered by elevated interest rates and subdued real estate transaction volumes, particularly as declines in existing home sales continue to impact the overall industry. As part of our long-term growth strategy, we made targeted investments in personnel and marketing throughout the year.
Operationally, we continue to evaluate opportunities to improve efficiency and scalability through technology enhancements and workflow automation. While not all initiatives progressed as planned, we remain focused on identifying solutions that will enhance productivity and position the company for long-term success.
Our online continuing legal education (CLE) programs remain a cornerstone of our marketing strategy, with strong participation levels continuing into 2026. These programs support both client engagement and brand visibility across our markets.
We are proud of our performance in 2025, particularly given ongoing market headwinds. The results reflect the dedication and execution of our team, as well as our disciplined approach to growth. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued market challenges but remain confident that our strategic investments and operational focus will support long-term stability and value for our policyholders.
