Sargent elected president of FLMIC
The insurance company was created by The Florida Bar during the professional liability insurance crisis of the 1980s.
Cathleen M. Sargent
Cathleen M. Sargent is now president and chief executive officer of Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, which was created by The Florida Bar during the professional liability insurance crisis of the 1980s.
Sargent, who has overseen the company’s day-to-day operations as executive vice president and chief operations officer from February 2021, succeeds President William E. Loucks, who served as chief executive for several periods throughout the company’s nearly 35-year history.
Loucks, a founding member of FLMIC’s Board of Directors who has served on the board continuously since 1987, will remain on the company’s board.
Prior to joining FLMIC, Sargent spent 34 years at Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company of California (LMIC), where she developed decades of leadership experience and expertise in the field of lawyers professional liability insurance. During her tenure at LMIC, Sargent served as vice president of development and outreach (two years), vice president of underwriting and marketing (19 years), and general counsel for claims (13years).
“I am incredibly honored to lead a mutual insurance company that has the respect of our statewide legal community and has served Florida lawyers for more than 30 years,” said Sargent. “We are in the midst of great momentum as a company, all of it aimed at enhancing service and value to our members, including our first-ever member dividend, a new education library that gives our members 33 hours of cost-free CLE, new easy online payment options, an automatic cyber liability endorsement, and so much more.”
Loucks sais he “incredibly proud” that the company is entrusting its leadership to Sargent, a graduate of the Loyola Law School where she worked in the Domestic Violence Clinic and served as certified student district attorney, a trial advocate, and as a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals extern. She also served as defense counsel in a California law firm handling legal malpractice claims and coverage disputes.
“I have had the pleasure of witnessing first-hand her outstanding and momentous management of our operations since she first joined us, and I can say with tremendous confidence that Florida Lawyers Mutual is in great hands,” Loucks said.
“Ms. Sargent’s knowledge of all aspects of lawyers’ professional liability insurance positions Florida Lawyers Mutual for an even brighter future in service of its members,” said Ray Ferrero, Jr., chair of the company’s board, adding her appointment further fortifies FLMIC’s reputation for “relationship, strength, and value for the Florida lawyers the company insures.”
During the professional liability insurance crisis of the 1980s, a large number of Florida lawyers found themselves without professional liability insurance or faced rate hikes as high as 70 percent. Leadership at The Florida Bar answered the crisis by forming the captive insurance company “for lawyers, by lawyers.” FLMIC’s primary objective is to provide to qualified attorneys practicing in Florida a financially sound, stable, and perpetual source of attorney professional liability insurance. Florida Lawyers Mutual is the state’s only direct-write lawyers’ professional liability insurer.
