Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance (E&O)
Professional liability insurance — also called errors and omissions (E&O) — covers claims that your professional advice, services, or work caused a client financial harm, including legal defense costs, settlements, and judgments. The policy lists the insurer, policy number, coverage limits, the retroactive date, and term, and is essential for consultants, agencies, and licensed professionals.
Written & maintained by the Granite team · Last updated June 2026
Overview
Professional liability is issued to a business or licensed professional and is usually written on a "claims-made" basis — meaning the policy must be active both when the alleged mistake happened and when the claim is filed, often only back to a retroactive date. That retroactive date is the single most important detail: it determines how far back covered work reaches.
E&O responds to negligence, mistakes, missed deadlines, misrepresentation, or bad advice — the financial-harm gaps general liability doesn't touch (GL covers bodily injury and property damage). Doctors' version is malpractice; agencies, accountants, lawyers, and consultants carry E&O.
When you’ll get your Professional Liability Insurance (E&O)
- You provide professional advice or services a client relies on
- A client contract requires E&O coverage before you can begin
- You're a licensed professional (consultant, agent, accountant, designer)
- You renewed E&O and need to track the retroactive date
- You switched carriers and need to confirm continuous coverage
What’s on your Professional Liability Insurance (E&O)
These are the fields Granite reads and extracts automatically the moment you upload one.
- Named Insured
- The professional or firm the policy covers.
- Carrier & Policy Number
- The insurer and unique policy identifier.
- Coverage Limit
- The most the policy pays for covered claims.
- Retroactive Date
- The earliest date of work the claims-made policy will cover.
- Policy Term
- The effective and expiration dates of coverage.
- Deductible / Retention
- What you pay per claim before coverage applies.
How long to keep it
Keep every E&O policy permanently — especially the declarations pages showing the retroactive date.
Because E&O is usually claims-made, a gap or a lost retroactive date can leave old work uncovered. Keeping the full chain of policies proves continuous coverage back to the retroactive date — which is exactly what an insurer or claimant will scrutinize years later.
How Granite handles your Professional Liability Insurance (E&O)
Granite reads your E&O declarations — insured, carrier, policy number, limit, and the all-important retroactive date — and files the full chain of renewals together. Because it keeps every year, you can prove continuous claims-made coverage back to your retroactive date, and it reminds you before a term lapses so you never create a coverage gap.
FAQ
Professional Liability Insurance (E&O): common questions
- What is professional liability insurance?
- Professional liability insurance, or errors and omissions (E&O), covers claims that your professional advice, services, or work caused a client financial harm — negligence, mistakes, missed deadlines, or bad advice. It fills the gap general liability leaves: GL covers physical injury and property damage, while E&O covers the quality of your professional work.
- What does professional liability insurance cover?
- It covers claims of negligence, errors, omissions, missed deadlines, and misrepresentation in your professional services — plus the legal defense costs, settlements, and judgments that follow, even for frivolous suits. It does not cover bodily injury or property damage (general liability), employee injuries (workers' compensation), or intentional or dishonest acts.
- Who needs professional liability insurance?
- Any business or professional that gives expert advice or specialized services a client relies on. Common examples include consultants, accountants, architects and engineers, lawyers, real estate agents, and healthcare providers (whose version is usually called malpractice). Many client contracts also require proof of E&O coverage before work can begin.
- What is a retroactive date on an E&O policy?
- The retroactive date is the earliest date of work a claims-made E&O policy will cover. Work done before that date isn't covered, even if the claim arrives while the policy is active. Keeping this date consistent across renewals is critical — canceling, lapsing, or switching insurers without prior acts coverage can reset it and leave years of past work uninsured.
- What's the difference between E&O and general liability?
- General liability covers third-party bodily injury and property damage — a client tripping in your office. E&O covers financial harm from your professional work — a missed filing deadline or flawed advice. Many businesses need both: GL for physical risks, E&O for the work itself. They respond to entirely different kinds of claims.
- How long should I keep professional liability policies?
- Keep every E&O policy permanently, particularly the declarations pages showing the retroactive date. Because the coverage is claims-made, you may need to prove continuous coverage back years to show old work was insured when a late claim arrives — a single missing year can break that chain.
Sources
This page is checked against primary and authoritative sources:
Keep your Professional Liability Insurance (E&O) in one place.
Drop it in once. Granite reads it, files it, and makes it findable forever — by you today, and by the people who'll need it later.