Billable hours and what they cost you
Legal work rarely injures the body in a single moment. It wears it down. Late nights before completion, court deadlines, difficult clients and the weight of getting advice right all add up, and many solicitors feel it in their sleep, their mood and their posture.
When a solicitor cannot work for a long stretch, the cause is far more likely to be depression, anxiety, burnout or a spinal problem than an accident. Income protection is designed for those months away, paying a share of your earnings until you return, the policy ends or you reach the end of the payment period.
Associate, salaried partner or equity partner
Associates and salaried partners are employees. Your contract will set out sick pay, which can be generous at bigger firms and thin at smaller high street practices. Read it closely, along with any group income protection and death in service benefits in the benefits pack.
Equity partners and members of an LLP are self-employed for tax and have no sick pay. Your profit share may continue for a while under the partnership deed, or it may not. Personal income protection fills that gap, and partnership or LLP member protection can fund a buy-out of your share if the worst happens.
- Check the partnership deed for what happens to drawings during illness
- Ask whether the firm already holds group life or income cover
- Match your deferred period to the point your income drops
How insurers judge a legal career
Insurers place every occupation in a risk group that shapes both the premium and the incapacity definition. Solicitors usually land in the more favourable groups. That makes own occupation cover realistic: the insurer assesses whether you can do your job as a solicitor, rather than any job you might be suited to.
If you move into a non-practising role, a management position or a different career, tell your insurer. Policies differ on whether a change of job affects your cover, and a broker can check before you switch.
Moving firms and changing your cover
Lateral moves between firms are common in law, and each move can change your sick pay, group cover and death in service. A personal policy stays put, so you do not lose protection while you wait for a new firm's benefits to start.
When you make partner, revisit your cover. Your income usually rises, sick pay disappears and the deferred period you chose as an associate may now be far too long.
Life insurance and how we help
Most solicitors with a mortgage or children want a lump sum or family income that does not depend on staying at one firm. Personal life cover written in trust gives you that, and critical illness cover can add a payout on diagnosis of a serious condition listed in the policy.
We take time to understand your role, your firm's benefits and your partnership arrangements before recommending anything. We then compare the insurers on our panel, help you answer the health questions fully and stay on hand if you ever need to claim.