The Bar's member benefits - saving costs during a lean economy.

• Author: White, III, John G.
• Position: President's page

Plummeting stocks. Soaring foreclosures. Crashing real-estate markets. World recession. Corporate layoffs. Bank bailouts. No raises. Nobody's hiring. In these bleak economic times, just about everyone is feeling the pinch and hunkering down to weather the financial storm. We Florida lawyers are no different. How about a bit of good news for a change?

As we all try harder to stretch a dollar, it's a fine time to remind you about member benefits available to lawyers of The Florida Bar.

* Our newest member benefit is provided by Celedinas Insurance Group and underwritten by Fireman's Fund. This year, the Bar will begin offering group excess personal liability insurance coverage. This member benefit, as explained by Terry L. Hill, director of the Bar's Programs Division, "will allow Bar members to secure higher limits of coverage than what is typically available in individual excess personal liability insurance at discounts of up to 60 percent. The excess personal liability insurance provides excess coverage over existing lines of personal insurance, essentially acting as an umbrella policy. The unique quality of this insurance is that it also acts as an excess policy over an existing umbrella policy." In addition to the extremely competitive rates, this coverage includes both uninsured and underinsured motorists and a totally new coverage known as uninsured and underinsured third-party liability for bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury resulting from occurrences for which a third party is at fault (i.e., slip and falls, dog bite, slander, etc.).

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* One of our most popular benefits is Florida legal research from Fastcase absolutely free of charge and conveniently available by clicking on the link on the Bar's home page at www.floridabar.org. LexisNexis helps lawyers reach more prospective clients though lawyers.com and offers flexible research at big savings.

* Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co. offers lawyers professional liability insurance created by The Florida Bar. This insurance company just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

* To help boost your bottom line on express shipping, The Florida Bar has teamed up with FedEx for savings of up to 26 percent on select FedEx shipping services. (FedEx recently replaced DHL, as DHL is vacating the domestic air and ground market.)

* We've also enhanced our relationship with UPS for savings of up to 26 percent on express shipping for Bar members.

*From the...