I’m an insurance sales agent, and will attend law school after I graduate. Will my experience in insurance help me land a job as an attorney after I graduate law school?
No, I can’t see how it would. Maybe knowing how policies work would help you enter insurance defense, but you don’t want to do that anyways. As for attending law school, you should post your GPA and LSAT if you have one. Those are the real determiners as to whether law school is a smart bet.
Familiarity with policy language and underwriting standards would be more helpful for someone looking to work in insurance coverage or “bad faith” defense. I know of several firms in California that specialize in these fields, and most “big law” firms have a few attorneys that practice in this field.
@AlexanderIII: People do that kind of policy work at my firm. None of them care about having a background in insurance because it’s the way lawyers read the contracts that matter, not the way sales agents do.
I’m guessing, based on this statement, that you don’t actually practice coverage or bad faith defense. There is a world of difference between people who sell insurance policies and people who underwrite those policies or work as claims adjusters. I spent many years working at a firm with a large coverage and bad faith practice group (over 30 attorneys), and 100% of my practice was in those fields. When hiring new associates, we absolutely considered it a plus if an applicant had underwriting or claims handling experience.
Most published decisions on coverage or bad faith involve cases where the court has to look beyond the plain language of the policy to determine whether the policy was ever intended to cover the type of claim in question. Any policy form used in California must be preapproved by the DOI, and when an insurer submits a proposed form for approval, that form is accompanied by volumes of underwriting material discussing exactly what the policy language is and is not intended to cover. Those documents are very relevant in declaratory relief actions concerning coverage, and I never had a problem getting those materials admitted into evidence at trial or on a summary judgment motion.
@AlexanderIII: I’ve done a few cases, but I generally try to steer clear as I don’t find the work particularly interesting. Also, I think you may be a bit confused. You say that there “is a world of difference between people who sell insurance policies and people who underwrite those policies or work as claims adjusters?” Well, the OP was a sales agent. It’s all well and good that you might value an underwriter or claims adjuster, but that wasn’t the question.
^^^ and if you had read my initial post, you would have seen that I said sales experience wasn’t likely to be helpful but underwriting or claims handling experience could be.
@AlexanderIII: No you didn’t. You said “Familiarity with policy language and underwriting standards would be more helpful for someone looking to work in insurance coverage or “bad faith” defense. I know of several firms in California that specialize in these fields, and most “big law” firms have a few attorneys that practice in this field.” Nothing in there about sales agents not likely to be helpful.