Until you are left reeling from the untimely death of a loved one, you may not fully understand or appreciate the importance of life insurance and the critical role it can play during that difficult time. Your children, spouse or significant other, parents or other family members, are the ones whose futures you want to…
Read MoreResource Type: Newsletter
An Architect’s Guide to Virtual Practice
Today, a new reality in architectural practice is that most architects are no longer interacting across their workstations. Instead, they are ‘virtually’ sharing ideas and drawings across digital platforms. Nearly every practicing architect engages in some form of “virtual practice” because the pace and practicalities of life demand it–employees travel or relocate, must limit work…
Read MoreBecoming a Firm Principal?
If you’re invited to become a principal in your firm, do you know what that requires? A recent study on internal ownership transition sheds light on how architecture firms are handling the ownership succession process when founding principals near the end of their tenure. If you’re tapped to become a principal in your firm, this…
Read MoreBusiness Coverage Professional Liability
Quick Risk Review
As a risk management resource for AIA Members, the AIA Trust develops risk reports on topics of critical and evolving risks for architects. If you don’t have time to read the risk reports, new synopses give you the important facts. Check them out now—so you stay out in front of critical risks. Some of these…
Read MoreFacts You Need About Disability Insurance
For most architects, the idea that one could become disabled due to an illness or injury seems pretty remote. No matter how many times one may say, “It will never happen to me,” there’s no getting around the fact that it does happen—everyday—to people just like you. So what should you know about disability insurance?…
Read MoreUnderstanding the Standard of Care
Published by AIA’s Risk Management Committee (RMC), below are two articles to explain how the standard of care applies to your practice. Often the actions of the architect are measured against the applicable “standard of care.” Perfection is not the standard of care for the practice of architecture and while the common law standard of…
Read MoreYou’ve Got the Wrong Idea About Our Relationship
The typical complaint against an architect starts with the plaintiff laying out his story of what happened, and then listing the laws that the conduct allegedly violated. Architects are familiar with many of them–malpractice, negligence, breach of contract, and the like. But sometimes the complaint alleges that the architect is a “fiduciary” and has breached…
Read MoreProfessional Ethics: Balancing Obligations
The practice of architecture can be extremely rewarding. But like any profession, the practice of architecture must include attention to a host of various business and legal issues. For many architects, dealing with the myriad of requirements and the complexities they impose can be challenging, and there is a related subject that is often overlooked–ethics.…
Read MoreBeat the Rap! Exonerate Yourself with Effective Documentation
The compelling risk report, Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Claims Defense Documentation, addresses documentation by the architect, centering on the presumption, “If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen.” The paper is a guideline for managing your documentation with helpful suggestions for beneficial recordkeeping and documents retention and retrieval for an effective claims response in the…
Read MoreDon’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Architect
The risk report, Bulletproof Contract Administration: Managing Risk during Construction, addresses documentation procedures that can be advantageous in managing risk during the construction phase. Although considered cumbersome in this often complex phase of services, the suggestions put forth can serve as valuable defense documentation in the event a claims bullet is fired. Beginning with the…
Read MoreDon’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Architect
