Professional liability insurance—sometimes called malpractice insurance or errors and omissions insurance—is insurance that may be purchased by attorneys and law firms to pay the costs of defending legal malpractice claims, and the costs of settling such claims or paying the judgment awarded to a plaintiff on such a claim. Most states do not require attorneys to purchase professional liability insurance, but some states require attorneys who do not carry professional liability insurance to provide notice to their clients of that fact. Some states require attorneys to have their clients sign a written disclosure that the attorney does not have professional liability insurance.

In Rhode Island (RI), attorneys are not mandated by state law to carry professional liability insurance, also known as malpractice insurance or errors and omissions insurance. However, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has established rules that require attorneys who do not maintain such insurance to inform their clients of this lack of coverage. Specifically, Rule 1.4(c) of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules of Professional Conduct stipulates that a lawyer must inform a client if the lawyer does not have professional liability insurance of at least one hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and three hundred thousand dollars in the aggregate, per year, unless the client is provided with such information by other means or the legal services are provided to the client without a fee (pro bono). This disclosure must be made at the time of the client's engagement of the lawyer, or as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable, and must be acknowledged in writing by the client.