Insurance law specialist Beachcroft Wansbroughs is introducing a new risk management service called Risk Counsel at this week's Airmic conference.
A spokeswoman for the firm said that recent events such as the Enron collapse meant that interest in risk management was higher than ever, and often contained a legal element.
"Growing competition, international business and a greater focus on corporate responsibility have put the effective management of risk at the heart of business operation," she said.
"The Enron collapse very publicly highlighted the need for independence as there were divergent interests and agendas. Additionally, the misfortunes of Arthur Andersen, Equitable Life and Railtrack provide the more recent examples of failure of manage elements of risk.
"In each case, the underlying problem was a legal one, be it contractual obligations, statute and regulation or general common law liabilities."
Risk Counsel will work in seven stages, so clients can choose how much legal support they need, from risk assessment to the integration of a total risk management solution.
The stages will start with a presentation meeting and go through evaluating risk transfer options and provision of claims services.
The spokeswoman added that lawyers were advantageous as risk management advisers because they did not have the conflict of interest that other advisers, such as brokers, often suffered.
"However, the key factor is that when organisations involve lawyers in risk management early, rather than after the crisis has already occurred, they enable us to practise preventative law," she said.
