Swantek Advisory Services Independent risk advisory
Fee-based risk advisory · Chicago, Illinois

Risk advisory for companies whose exposures have outgrown their insurance program.

Every policy read exclusion by exclusion against what the business actually does, by a coverage lawyer who has also brokered and underwritten these lines. Fee-based, no carrier commission on advisory mandates, and incumbent brokers are directed rather than displaced.

Begin with a coverage diagnostic See the work product
Practice foundation
Coverage counsel Insurers and policyholders in professional, management, and employment practices liability coverage matters.
Specialty broking Large-account cyber and technology errors and omissions programs at Marsh.
Specialty underwriting Pricing and binding authority across professional and management liability lines at Markel.

Where the firm is engaged

Growth-stage technology

Enterprise contracting obligations, cyber and technology errors and omissions structure, and exposure arising from product change between renewals.

Professional services firms

Professional liability programs built around a prior service model, tested against current delivery, subcontracting, and client engagement terms.

Sponsor-backed companies

Pre-close insurance diligence, post-close integration of add-on programs, and portfolio-level review of total cost of risk.

Engagements

Scope and terms in full
Coverage diagnostic Fixed fee

Three to four weeks. Every policy in force read exclusion by exclusion against current operations, contracts, and revenue. Delivered as a program page.

Credited in full against a retained or renewal mandate.
Renewal engagement Fixed fee per cycle

Commences ninety days before expiry: exposure and contract update, submission construction, market strategy, broker instruction to a timeline, and comparison of quoted wordings.

Includes verification of the issued policy against the terms quoted, and availability off-cycle.
Retained advisory Monthly retainer

The risk management function on a continuing basis: program strategy, renewal execution, broker oversight, contractual review, and claim advocacy.

No carrier or broker compensation is received on a retained account.
Program of record Monthly subscription

The program page kept current: schedule of insurance, renewal calendar, decision register, and a defined number of contract reviews each year.

For companies not yet requiring a continuing mandate.

Project work — contract insurance requirement review, diligence support, and claim advocacy on a specific matter — is scoped individually. Placement is available under a broker of record appointment, in place of and not alongside an advisory mandate.

Compensation

Disclosed in writing at engagement. No contingent or volume-based carrier compensation, and no commission on any account under an advisory mandate.

Fixed fee Diagnostics, renewal engagements, and project work. Quoted against a written scope and delivery date before work commences.
Retainer Continuing mandates and the program of record subscription, scoped by program complexity rather than by hours.
Commission Only where the firm is appointed broker of record. Where both are contemplated, commission received is credited against the fee.
Work product

Every engagement produces a maintained program page.

Coverage schematic, premium summary and total cost of risk, retained versus transferred exposure, observations, contractual alignment, and a single register of decisions and scheduled actions.

Review the sample
Contents Coverage schematic and premium summary Total cost of risk and retained exposure Observations, by priority Insurance required by contract Program management and notice protocol

Background

Mark Swantek. Licensed Illinois attorney and licensed Illinois insurance producer, resident in Chicago. Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, UIC John Marshall Law School. CIPP/US.

Curriculum vitae on request
Coverage practice

Advised insurers and defended policyholders across directors and officers, errors and omissions, professional, and employment practices liability, including coverage opinions, reservation of rights positions, and claims monitoring.

Marsh

Structured and placed large-account cyber and technology errors and omissions programs, including tower construction, manuscript wording negotiation, and market strategy for complex risks.

Markel

Underwrote specialty professional and management liability risks, with authority over pricing, attachment, retention, and wording.

Applied technology

Founding commercial hire at an insurance technology company building coverage analysis and underwriting systems for brokerages and carriers, with responsibility for solution design and enterprise diligence.

Insights

All publications
[DATE] Autonomous software conduct and the limits of the current technology errors and omissions form [SUMMARY] [DATE] Insurance requirements in enterprise contracts as unpriced balance sheet liability [SUMMARY] [DATE] Submission quality and what determines terms at renewal [SUMMARY]

Engagements begin with the program in force.

Provide the policies in force and the most recent renewal summary. The firm will identify the three most material observations and the sequence in which to address them. The initial consultation is without charge.

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Chicago, Illinois. Mandates accepted nationwide.