

Ask HN: Please advise me on liability insurance and on finding a lawyer - anon_45

I have a CA single-member LLC through which I perform Ruby / Rails / JavaScript consulting for a couple of clients (income of around $100k / year).  I also run a couple of web properties through the LLC that are based around aggregated content and mashups.  Combined they make about $15k-$20k per year from advertisements.  Finally, I have a couple of new projects in the works, all also through the LLC.<p>I have recently heard that LLCs don't offer as good liability protection as I had previously thought.  I don't currently have liability insurance.  If I run my LLC responsibly (separate bank account, everything in the company's name, etc.), will it shelter my personal assets in the case of a lawsuit?  Should I have liability insurance, and if so, what kind?  I have liability from consulting, and from my web properties which could be candidates for copyright infringement or deep linking lawsuits, although I haven't had any problems in the four years of their operation thus far, and I run them in good faith.<p>It seems like I should talk to a lawyer, or at least a good insurance agent.  Does anyone have recommendations on how to find a good, but affordable one?  Any specifics in / around San Francisco?
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jacquesm
You're a busy bee :)

An LLC is not ironclad but enough for most needs, you are getting in to an
income range where a full 'inc' is probably smart (tax wise too!).

Talk to a lawyer, but don't be too worried about the insurance unless you are
really exposing yourself to a specific liability (such as being responsible
for a customers data).

Regular corporate liability insurance should be enough for almost all cases,
you may want to add an insurance for corporate legal assistance on to that (in
case you ever get sued).

If you want your personal assets to be secure and you are married one simple
way is to put all the assets in the name of your spouse (not such a good idea
if you ever get divorced...).

The way I found my lawyer while we ran an office in Toronto was to ask friends
that also ran businesses in the same town for a good reference.

good luck!

