Compulsory indemnity coverage
All lawyers must maintain professional liability indemnity coverage on the terms and conditions offered by the Law Society through the Lawyers Indemnity Fund or be eligible to claim an exemption under Law Society Rule 3(43).
To apply for a change to your current coverage or an exemption, you must submit an application form in advance as the effective date cannot be backdated.
Your indemnity coverage must reflect your practice circumstances with four categories of coverage available to BC lawyers:
Pursuant to Law Society Rule 2-105(1), the annual indemnity fees are paid in two instalments, in November and May.
A lawyer who has not paid the indemnity fee and has not been granted an exemption is prohibited from practising law as per section 30(7) of the Legal Profession Act and Law Society Rule 3-39.
Apply for full-time indemnity coverage
Lawyers engaged in private practice for more than 25 hours per week must maintain full-time indemnity coverage. If you are currently exempt from the requirement to maintain coverage or are covered for part-time practice only and are now applying for coverage for full-time practice, you will automatically be subject to the returning to practice rules.
Practising lawyers
If you currently hold practising membership with the Law Society and only wish to change your indemnity status, you can submit an online application via the link in the sidebar or the Member Portal. If your application is approved, you will be invoiced for the difference in fees (see Schedule 2 – note that GST will be added to the listed fees).
Non-practising and retired lawyers
If you currently hold non-practising or retired membership with the Law Society and wish to return to practising membership, you must submit an application for Return to Practice rather than an online application for a stand-alone indemnity change.
Applicants for admission or reinstatement
If you are applying for admission to the Law Society or seeking to reinstate your membership, you must submit the relevant paper-based application rather than a stand-alone application for indemnity coverage. Please see the related page on our website for more information on the application process for admission and reinstatement: