.
I would like to thank Mike for his willingness to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to readers of the blog. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Mike’s guest post.

************************************************* 

D&O insurance is a must-have for every public company.  The risks and costs of private lawsuits or government investigations are too great for any rational person to serve as an officer or director of a company without a solid D&O insurance policy.  After nearly twenty years of defending officers and directors in securities litigation, I have experienced firsthand the hardship caused by inadequate or inappropriate D&O insurance.  Contrary to public perception, most officers and directors of public companies are not extraordinarily wealthy – the cost of financing the defense of a securities class action, derivative lawsuit or government litigation (much less of funding a settlement) is too great to bear for most individuals without D&O insurance.

The following are the top ten mistakes that I’ve seen companies make in selecting D&O insurance.  Although some of these mistakes concern complex insurance coverage issues, I’ve prepared this article for the non-lawyer, stripped of legalese, so that officers and directors can discuss these issues with their insurance brokers to avoid these mistakes.  D&O insurance is a competitive industry.  While the core language of a standard D&O policy is generally fixed, companies can, and often do, negotiate better terms in endorsements to the policy. 
Continue Reading Guest Post: Ten Mistakes Companies Make When Buying D&O Insurance –A Securities Litigator’s Perspective