Although educators usually prevail in litigation alleging educational malpractice, plaintiffs' attorneys continue to pursue this legal theory. Thirty years ago it was rare for a social worker to be sued for malpractice. Today it is a common occurrence. One of the risk management strategies I suggested was maintaining social work liability insurance to cover social work teaching activities.
Academics typically are uninsured or underinsured for their professional work.
This article focuses on issues related to properly insuring a professional academic. Even though plaintiffs have not been terribly success-ful thus far with allegations of educational malpractice, the number of lawsuits alleging educational malpractice is growing. No matter how un-likely the success of a suit or how unfounded its allegations, all lawsuits require a response. A lawyer typically makes that response. Professional liability insurance provides two specific types of coverage.