With great power and influence comes great responsibility
As business owners navigate their core constituencies such as customer satisfaction, social perception, company culture and growing revenue, the quality of advice they receive from business consultants can serve as an accurate GPS or a costly detour.
However, regardless of the initial level of rapport you have with a client, relationships can deteriorate rapidly based on substantive faces that advice you provided caused a financial loss or even the simple perception that it did. In today's highly litigious and entitled society, lawsuits can happen in an instant which can disrupt cash flow, time and potentially lead to financial ruin for any business owner, especially a veterinary consultant.
Association insurance discount
Since 2010, active members of Vetpartners can obtain a discount on professional liability. This offer includes not just consultants but many other members that offer specific or regulated services like accounting, appraisers, architects, brokerage, IT, legal, etc.
For more information on how to become a member of Vetpartners go to https://vetpartners.org/.
Even the innocent gets sued sometimes
As client expectations of performance increase, lawsuits against professionals are becoming more common. Defense costs alone can erode a company's bottom line. Not only can a veterinary consultant be sued by a client, but they can also be sued by any third party that suffers or allegedly suffers economic damages as a result of acts, errors, or omissions in their performance of professional services.
Consultants Errors & Omissions (E&O)
Professional liability insurance, often called errors and omissions insurance or "E&O," is one of the most important types of insurance to have if you are a business consultant. The reasons are various, but none more important than the fact you offer recommendations, advice, and strategies for clients who need help running their business, gaining more profit, accomplishing various goals, or even selling their business.
Those recommendations, advice and strategies may lead a client to believe your guidance was flawed, resulting in a loss of profit or a significantly lower valuation of their business.
Specific vs. Non-Specific E&O
Many professional service providers have a specific type of professional liability designed for them or their industry. Like veterinary, many of these professionals hold a state license to provide services, which also requires continuing education. Many but not all are also regulated professions and governed by state boards. Examples of specific professional services include:
- Health and Wellness: Doctors, dentists, chiropractors, psychologists, nurses, pharmacists, veterinarians.
- Legal and Financial: Attorneys, certified public accountants (CPAs), financial advisors and insurance agents & brokers.
- Property & Design: Real estate agents, appraisers, architects, engineers, land surveyors and interior designers.
- Personal Services: Cosmetologists, barbers/stylists, and massage therapists
- Technology: IT
Consultants, for the most part, are considered to be a non-specific professional service because they can provide a wide range of services to any industry, from petrochemical to veterinary. There are no governing state boards, CE requirements, or licenses.
For example, a veterinarian could decide to start a consulting business advising other independent veterinarians on how to be more efficient, manage their hospital better, grow EBITDA and maximize the sale value of their hospital. However, even though they are offering these services in the veterinary industry and they are a veterinarian themselves, does not mean their veterinary professional liability would extend to these services. Veterinary professional is providing licensed veterinarians who provide veterinary services to the general public with regard to their pets. Providing business advice in a B2B environment has just changed everything. They have shifted from doing surgery to providing a business advisory role
If your business functions as a consultant offering managerial advice, efficiency, financial growth, maintaining confidential information or even things truly quantitative helping hospital owners sell their practice, and you do not currently have insurance to protect yourself, your business could suffer a catastrophic financial hardship.
Example in vetmed how they are different
To paint an accurate real-life picture of how specific and non-specific professional liability services can differ, let's use an example of a veterinarian who has recently decided to sell their veterinary hospital.
After the sale of their business, the veterinarian had more time to enjoy life, travel or do whatever they wanted. But after a while, they missed being in the hospital each day. They miss being part of the industry and wanted a way back in but were not looking for a 9-5 role nor did they want to start a new hospital. They wanted to help other veterinary hospital owners grow their business, sell it and experience life in a more free and profound way so they decide to start a veterinary consulting business.
During the time since the sale of the business, they maintained their license, went to CE events and even kept their individual veterinary professional liability insurance. However, individual veterinary professional is not designed for B2B business consulting. It's designed for providing care to animals and advising pet owners on the health of their animal.
The moment the vet moved away from providing care to animals and embraced providing business services to other business owners and managers, everything from a risk perspective has changed. Simply working as a vet with a pet is a small risk exposure financially as animals are considered personal property in most states. Advising a business owner in a capacity to help them make financial decisions about their business is completely different and brings with it the risk, exposure and possibility of being sued because the advice provided to a business owner allegedly caused them a significant financial hardship. As such, a different type of professional liability is now required.
© 2026 Vetinsure. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2026 Vetinsure. All rights reserved.