What to Look for in Your A&E Professional Liability Insurance Provider

Posted by & filed under BDP Blog.

By Paul Dillon
Senior Vice President, Executive Underwriter
Berkley Design Professional, a Berkley Company

September 10, 2025

In the professional liability market for design firms, the value of an insurance provider extends well beyond price. It lies in thoughtful underwriting, proactive risk management and a claims team that genuinely understands the industry.

At Berkley Design Professional, we’ve worked closely with agents and brokers across the country who serve the unique needs of architects and engineers (A&E). Over time, we’ve listened carefully to what they say makes an insurance provider stand out and what keeps them coming back with new business and renewals.

Based on our brokers’ feedback and ongoing industry insights, here are three qualities that distinguish Berkley Design Professional as a trusted partner in the A&E professional liability insurance marketplace.

1. Creative and Flexible Coverage

A solid policy form is the key to dependable coverage. At Berkley Design Professional, we adopt a flexible and innovative approach to underwriting that meets the real-world needs of A&E firms. For example, we recently issued an enhanced primary policy form with significant updates, including:

  • Definition of insured: Now covers independent contractors
  • Waiver of subrogation: May apply to parties with a written agreement with the insured (excluding their subcontractors or sub-consultants)
  • Extended reporting period: New option to extend reporting up to five years
  • Cannabis coverage: Clearly included in the policy to address an emerging risk

We also clarified our definitions of claim, contractors pollution coverage, professional services and deductible credits, making it easier for agents and brokers and their clients to understand how our policy works and how coverage applies.

For an additional premium, our policies feature several elements that agents, brokers and clients appreciate:

  • Project limits enable firms to allocate specific coverage to individual projects. This helps manage liability, meet client requirements and maintain the overall policy limit.
  • Run-off 3 Year policy providing ongoing protection for work completed before a firm closes or changes ownership, ensuring claims related to past work are still covered.
  • Separate defense limits allocate funds specifically for legal defense, so indemnity coverage isn’t depleted by high legal costs.

Berkley Design Professional also offers admitted follow-form excess policy options, which provide coverage above the primary policy, following the same terms. This is especially beneficial for A&E firms handling complex or high-value projects.

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Public-private partnerships and the design firm

Posted by & filed under BDP Blog, Published Articles.

By Andrew D. Mendelson, FAIA, Chief Risk Management Officer, Berkley Design Professional

April 11, 2019

Adapted from an article authored by Suzanne H. Harness, J.D., AIA for Berkley Design Professional

Recognizing that traditional public funding will not always be available, governmental agencies are using innovative public-private partnership (P3) models to incentivize their private-sector partners to deliver much needed local projects. For many engineers, P3 is already a familiar method of project delivery for infrastructure such as roads, bridges, tunnels, and transit. Architects are now finding that local communities are also considering P3 for other types of building projects, including athletic facilities, museums, convention centers, parking garages, courthouses, libraries, and affordable housing.

Simply stated, a P3 exists when a public entity retains a private entity to finance, design, and build a project that will deliver a benefit to the public. Often, the P3 consortium will be responsible for maintenance and operations over an extended period of time, up to 30 years. One thing is certain: private entities—and their investors and lenders—will only support P3 projects when they have confidence that the revenue stream will deliver an acceptable return on investment. The developer is then under tremendous pressure to deliver the promised financial return to investors.

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