I slept great last night, knowing that LM was handling this. I have been telling all my lawyer friends, "Pay LM, because they take care of you."
- Heidi, LM Insured
In 2025, overall claims experienced a slight increase to 260 claims compared to 249 in 2024.
Claims were concentrated in a handful of practice areas. Residential Real Estate (36 claims) and Family Law (30 claims) led the way, followed by Plaintiff Personal Injury (26), Estates and Trusts (22), and Other Litigation (14). Notably, Plaintiff Personal Injury claims declined from the prior year.
One of the most significant developments in 2025 was the continued rise in cyber and fraud-related claims. This category has shown consistent growth over the past several years and remains an area of heightened concern for the profession.
From a claims resolution perspective, outcomes remained favorable. Of the claims closed in 2025, 75% were resolved without any loss payment, meaning 25% resulted in indemnity or loss payments.
Our experience in NC is similar to that across the legal malpractice industry, the vast majority of claims close without an indemnity payment, but they still require careful investigation, communication, and defense resources. While frequency remains stable in NC and beyond, claims severity and defense costs remain major concerns.
Looking Forward
We anticipate that cyber and fraud-related risks will remain a significant driver of claims activity in 2026. For our insureds, these trends reinforce the need to strengthen internal controls, especially around real estate transactions and cyber security protocols.
Highlights of 2025
In 2025, Lawyers Mutual continued to deliver practical guidance, measurable value, and meaningful support to our insureds and the broader legal community.
200+ Law Firm Consultations Delivered
We provided more than 200 consultations to insureds on law firm startup, practice management, marketing, and succession planning. Each insured continues to have access to three complimentary one-hour sessions—a $900 annual value.
On-Demand CLE: High Engagement, High Value
Insureds completed 2,302 hours of CLE through our platform, with 1,200 lawyers and paralegals registered. With 75+ hours of available programming, insureds can easily meet their CLE requirements at no cost—another $900+ annual value.
Solo & Small Firm Conference: Practical, Affordable, Impactful
Our October conference delivered 9 hours of CLE ($675 value) for just $199, providing accessible, high-quality education tailored to small firm needs.
Risk Management Hotline: Trusted for Over 30 Years
Insureds continue to rely on our hotline for real-time guidance on ethics and risk issues – from disaster planning to navigating difficult clients – connecting directly with experienced risk management and claims professionals.
Giving Back to the Legal Community
We proudly supported legal associations across North Carolina through speaking engagements, articles, and sponsorships totaling more than $150,000.
We continued to be a trusted partner for North Carolina attorneys.
We introduced small law firm credits in 2025 – premium discounts – to show our commitment to eligible sole practitioners and small law firms who choose us to help them manage the risks of practicing law. We issued 2,117 policies to sole practitioners and 919 policies to law firms of 2 to 5 attorneys.
The Enterprise and Operational Risk Management Team operates largely in the background maintaining the technology and security programs, monitoring current and emerging risks, supporting other departments through business analytics, and developing and testing policies and procedures to maintain operations through unexpected events.
Privacy and information security remain of critical importance to us all 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 remain busy improving phishing emails, monetizing compromised accounts, and exploring other avenues such as texts, QR codes, and AI model poisoning. Artificial Intelligence tools can provide excellent opportunities for efficiencies for law firms and businesses alike but also allow for better scams including audio and video cloning, which create additional challenges for us all. It is crucial to stop and take steps as simple as making a phone call to verify that an email or text is legitimate before opening an attachment or link and utilizing multifactor authentication to help keep all of us safe.
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.
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.
