Check what your insurance policy really says before a problem arises

Many businesses only look closely at policy wording once something has gone wrong, but by then the main issue is often whether the policy actually responds to the event in question. A legal review can help identify broad exclusions, narrow definitions, conditions attached to cover, and wording that may leave room for disagreement later. It can also show whether the policy appears to match the operational risks of your business. That is particularly useful where the policy schedule looks reassuring but the detailed wording tells a more limited story.

We usually look at the insuring clauses, key definitions, exclusions, conditions, excess provisions, notification requirements and any endorsements or special terms attached to the policy. The review also considers how those provisions interact, because the practical effect of cover often depends on more than one clause. For example, a broad cover statement may be narrowed by exclusions or by conditions that apply before cover responds. The written summary highlights the terms that appear most important and points out wording that may deserve closer attention or follow-up.

The level of complexity often depends on the type of policy, the nature of your business activities, and whether the policy sits alongside other insurance documents such as schedules, endorsements or broker correspondence. It also matters whether you want the review for general risk awareness or because a specific issue has already emerged. If there are multiple related policies, overlapping cover questions, or industry-specific operational risks, that can affect whether one fixed-fee review is enough or whether a broader scope would be more suitable for the work involved.

A summary sheet or broker overview can be helpful, but it is not the same as reviewing the policy wording itself. The real position often turns on the detailed language in the policy, including carve-outs, conditions and endorsements that are easy to miss in a high-level summary. A template comparison also may not reflect the way your actual policy has been customised. Legal review is useful where you want a closer reading of the document you are relying on, especially if a clause seems unclear or the business risk is significant.

No. This service is for review of the policy document and advice on the wording and risk points identified in that review. It does not include ongoing representation in a live claim, negotiations with the insurer, or management of the broader insurance process after the review. If you need help beyond the policy analysis itself, such as further advice on a dispute or review of additional insurance documents, we can discuss separate support and confirm the next steps before any extra work is started.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Insurance Policy Review service, pricing starts from $200.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.