(CLIA's) Founding Principles.

  • to provide a reliable and permanent source of insurance on a non-profit basis

  • to ensure the availability of reasonably priced and effective excess insurance

  • to stabilize premiums in both mandatory and excess layers

  • ​to ensure premium rates reflect the loss experience of Canadian lawyers

Our History.

Welcome to The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association!

Our name says it all - we provide insurance to lawyers and law firms in Canada.

We are also so much more than that! Our purpose is to provide lawyers and law firms peace of mind to protect law firms and the public.

Our work is never complete until we provide innovative, convenient, best-of-class insurance products with unequalled responsiveness.

We know that our clients need easy, quick solutions that fit their unique needs exactly.To achieve that we fully embrace technology and form solid relationships built on trust.

We have an incredible story that all started in 1988. The association came into being as a direct response to a need for more effective professional liability coverage for Canadian lawyers.

By banding together to form an insurance company, the law societies would have access to direct insurance markets (akin to shopping wholesale) that would recognize the years of Canadian-specific claims history the law societies had built. Stable and fair rates and a permanent source of coverage were now within reach, and the Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association ("CLIA") was formed as a reciprocal insurance exchange.

Our subscribers now include Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador and Northwest Territories.

CLIA continues to issue a master policy to each member society to benefit its practicing insured members. The participating societies agree on standard limits and policy terms, and each selects a member society retention appropriate to their circumstances. Most member societies manage their own programs, including claims management, within their retained limits. CLIA administers claims exceeding society deductibles and performs a coordinating role.

We also are equipped to answer the need of providing higher insurance limits to those lawyers who want them. Accordingly, CLIA created its voluntary excess program offering limits above the mandatory requirements.

Our story has both a solid history and an exciting future. We hope you will be part of it!

Our Partners.