Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Jeanine M. Donohue back to our pages. Click here if you’d like to donate to MothersEsquire.
There is a moment in many business crises when the next question should be: do we have insurance coverage for this?
The lawyer who understands the answer to that question — not vaguely, not conceptually, but structurally — immediately has leverage.
Yet insurance literacy is one of the most powerful career advantages in the legal profession, and almost no one teaches it.
Law School Teaches Doctrine. Clients Need Strategy.
Most law schools treat insurance law as an elective, if they offer it at all. Coverage issues are framed as niche or technical — the province of specialists tucked into separate practice groups.
But in practice, insurance is not niche. It is economic oxygen and an invaluable underappreciated risk management asset.
Commercial litigation. Real estate disputes. Construction defect claims. Employment cases. D&O exposure. Professional liability. Environmental issues. Cyber incidents. Almost every significant business dispute eventually intersects with an insurance program.
The lawyer who understands how those programs function — and how to read them — sees the case differently from day one.
Insurance Changes The Risk Calculation
Clients make decisions based on risk and cost. Insurance fundamentally alters both.
Does the policy provide a duty to defend?
Is defense inside or outside limits?
Are there eroding limits?
How many policy years are implicated?
Are there additional insured endorsements?
What exclusions will be invoked?
May I chose my own counsel?
These are not abstract coverage debates. They shape litigation posture.
A client with a funded defense and meaningful limits may approach settlement differently than one facing uncovered exposure. A developer with additional insured rights under a subcontractor’s policy may have leverage others do not recognize. A board member with D&O coverage may have personal protection that changes strategy.
The lawyer who understands insurance is not merely reacting to the case — she is modeling the financial architecture behind it.
That is strategic power.
It’s Not Just For Coverage Lawyers
There is a misconception that “insurance” belongs only to coverage specialists. In reality, baseline insurance literacy benefits litigators, transactional lawyers, and even business development partners.
Litigators who understand coverage can:
• Spot tender opportunities early.
• Avoid admissions that jeopardize coverage.
• Frame allegations strategically.
• Anticipate insurer-appointed counsel dynamics.
Transactional lawyers who understand insurance can:
• Draft indemnity provisions with real-world enforceability.
• Structure risk transfer effectively.
• Advise clients on additional insured status and priority of coverage.
• Prevent disputes before they occur.
Even corporate advisors benefit. When clients perceive that you understand how their insurance program interacts with their risk, you move from “lawyer handling a dispute” to “advisor managing exposure.”
That distinction matters.
Insurance Literacy Makes You Indispensable
Clients often assume their broker or carrier will “handle” insurance. But brokers are not litigators. Carriers have their own interests. Coverage counsel is frequently brought in later.
The lawyer who can translate policy language into practical implications becomes indispensable in moments of uncertainty.
And importantly, insurance knowledge builds cross-practice credibility inside firms.
When you can walk into a room and explain:
• Why a particular exclusion will be contested,
• How defense costs are eroding limits,
• Whether a reservation of rights letter signals real risk,
you shift the dynamic. You are no longer simply executing tasks. You are shaping decisions.
Insurance literacy often distinguishes midlevel lawyers who advance into strategic roles from those who remain tacticians.
No One Teaches The Business Side Of Risk
Law firms excel at teaching motion practice and drafting skills. They rarely teach associates how clients actually finance risk.
But sophisticated clients think in terms of:
• Risk allocation,
• Insurance towers,
• Retentions and deductibles,
• Self-insured structures,
• Captives.
Understanding these concepts is not about becoming a coverage litigator. It is about speaking the language of sophisticated risk managers and general counsel.
When you can discuss retentions and limits with fluency, you signal that you understand how their business operates — not just how the law reads.
That builds trust.
It Is Also A Career Hedge
Insurance touches nearly every industry. It remains relevant in boom cycles and downturns. It applies in litigation, transactions, and regulatory matters.
Lawyers who develop fluency in insurance positioning become more portable. They are valuable in multiple practice settings because they understand the connective tissue between disputes and dollars.
In a profession that can be cyclical, that versatility matters.
Why It’s Overlooked
Insurance is technical. It requires reading dense policy language. It often involves arcane terminology. It is less glamorous than trial work.
But it is also deeply practical.
And because it is undertaught, developing literacy in this area creates differentiation. When few lawyers understand something well, the ones who do stand out quickly.
A Modest Proposal
Firms should teach insurance literacy as a foundational skill. Associates should be trained to read policies early in a case. Transactional lawyers should be exposed to how indemnity provisions intersect with actual coverage.
But until that happens, individual lawyers can take ownership.
Read the policy.
Attend coverage CLEs.
Ask coverage colleagues to walk you through exclusions.
Understand how defense costs are paid.
The goal is not specialization. It is fluency.
In a profession where many lawyers compete on similar credentials and similar skills, insurance literacy is a quiet differentiator.
It allows you to see risk others miss.
To advise beyond the complaint.
To shape outcomes instead of reacting to them.
And no one is going to hand you that advantage in law school.
Jeanine M. Donohue is a member of Buchalter’s Litigation Practice Group and Wineries, Vineyards and Breweries Practice Group. She practices in the firm’s St. Helena and San Francisco offices. With over 30 years of experience, Jeanine is a big picture strategist who quickly appreciates the 30,000 foot major issues, while also being attentive to the nuances and important details of each matter she handles. Jeanine maintains a broad litigation practice that includes insurance recovery, commercial, real estate and products liability.
The post Insurance Literacy Is A Career Advantage — And No One Teaches It appeared first on Above the Law.