Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance (England and Wales)

We offer a range of services and products to cater for solicitors professional indemnity insurance. This page tells you how to obtain a quote from us for solicitors indemnity insurance and also provides background to both the solicitors professional indemnity insurance market and the markets we use.

How to obtain a quote

Complete your on-line proposal by clicking here for sole traders and new-start firms OR by clicking here for firms with 2 and more partners.  Alternatively, we may be able to utilise a form you have already completed – send it to us by fax on 08702 201048 or by email to solicitors@blackfriarsgroup.co.uk and we will let you know. 

If you would prefer to speak to someone directly please call us on 0845 838 7960.

In Brief – The Solicitors’ Professional Indemnity Season 2007

As we approach the 1 October 2007 renewal season, it is useful to take a look at what we saw in 2006. To do so in a meaningful way, we must look at 2005 also.  In 2006 insurers talked of ‘necessary’ increases however in reality this is what actually happened, with several insurers offering surprisingly low premiums:

The list of approved insurers stood at 30 for 2006, however 5 insurers did not actually participate and individually 12 insurers took under 10% of the market share, with 2 of them taking less than 1%, 8 taking 1 - 5% and 2 taking between 5-10%.  The largest participant in terms of market share took just under £44m in premium income, representing just under 21% of the market share.

The total premium spend fell from £244,797,982.68 in 2005 to £211,376,222.62 in 2006.

It does not take a genius to work out that large claims could really hurt these figures, not to mention insurers individually.  Of course, insurers have other PI and insurance ‘pools’ to dip into but this downward trend cannot, surely, continue.

So the fact that several firms will have benefited from competitive premiums in 2006, a respectful word of caution – this should not be a reason for complacency when considering solicitors’ professional indemnity or when approaching the 2007 renewal.  Insurers are likely to look very carefully at wordings, and whilst they are bound to honour valid claims, they are also permitted in some circumstances to seek recourse from the responsible person or persons.

Remember the ‘aggregation’ rule and ensure your limit is sufficient (multiple claims may be treated as one) and make sure any terms limiting liability meet the grade.  Ensure your procedures for claims and circumstance disclosure, involving ALL staff, are as tight as possible. 

History is demonstrating that most firms leave it until the last two weeks to renew, either by choice or necessity, but one just cannot help but think this level of premium spend can continue for much longer.  Watch this space – what will we report next year?!

Solicitors Indemnity Insurance Rules 2007

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will now deal with all such issues.  The Rules will be revised and moved to the SRA’s new website, which we hope will be as comprehensive as the pages that used to be posted by the Law Society.  http://www.sra.org.uk/home.page

Risk Management for Solicitors and the new Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct at last received statutory approval and will be in force from 1 July 2007.  Business continuity planning will be a statutory requirement for solicitors in England and Wales when the new Code of Conduct comes into force.  In addition, all solicitors in England and Wales will have to have procedures for risk management with such procedures requiring a mechanism for review.  The Lexcel standard will also have been amended to require firms to have a plan. 

We are, at the time of writing, imminently to ‘test drive’ a system to help firms of all sizes in this respect.  Do ask us about this service.

How is Solicitors Risk Management viewed? 

No longer is it felt that the professional indemnity policy constitutes the firm’s risk management.  We have experienced the widespread fact that solicitors’ attention to risk management has increased significantly since 2000, so if one good point has arisen from the demise of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, this has.

The ‘whole’ - professional indemnity, anti-money laundering, conflicts, merger & lateral hire due diligence, training in risk management  - appears to continue ‘on the up’, which will be rewarded within those firms that have taken heed…It’s not just about ticking boxes to reach regulatory compliance, neither is it only about learning from mistakes -  it’s about actually trying to prevent problems from happening in the first place, by addressing all the issues in an holistic fashion – the substance is in the very culture of a firm.

We are committed to providing help towards clients’ risk management needs.  Certain insurers offer a free risk management consultancy, as an integral component of their professional indemnity programme and we recommend you use this, if available.

It takes one to know one… 

Whatever your choice, it remains our belief that solicitors make the best risk management partners for solicitors.  We offer advice ‘to a point’ but the solicitor risk managers can advise you in a much more productive way, on the most effective techniques for reducing the risk of claims, including:

• the underlying causes of claims

• developing a risk management strategy

• common pitfalls in your principal areas of work

• management structures for reducing risk

• new and emerging risks

• staff training

Solicitor risk managers regularly address seminars and workshops on claims prevention and related themes and often you can gain CPD hours also. Themes can often be designed to fit the specific practice of your firm.  Certain insurers produce fact sheets, newsletters and hold seminars that will help to alert you to frequently made mistakes and methods for controlling claims. 

Ask us about the risk management service / Lexcel service / Anti-Money Laundering / compliance services.

Management Liability Risks Insurance

…should also be considered as vital by all incorporated practices (equivalent of Directors & Officers Liability) to cover the personal liabilities of the directors & members of the incorporated practice.  Ask us for a quote; this often costs less than you might imagine – a small price in any event for further peace of mind. 

Completing the Solicitors Professional Indemnity Proposal Form

The advice: Try to continue the relationship with your insurer this year.  If changing, select your insurer carefully.  Do some research – ask of them their ‘CV’ details relevant to writing solicitors professional indemnity insurance for your firm! (We’ve been doing it for about 20 years!)

Please take time to complete your form correctly.  Please ‘vet’ your form before you send it to us and ensure all information is present.  Missing information i.e. claims details and SIF summaries; disciplinary reports; area of Practice not totalling 100%.  This will save time in the long run as if you do not present a full and complete proposal it will be rejected.  The insurers are understandably short of resources - imagine looking at potentially 10,000 proposal forms and some of them more than once!

Solicitors Professional indemnity Insurance Markets Available to You

At the time of writing the 2007 list has not been published, however we already have a good idea of how this will pan out.

Last year’s list, as we have written, finished with a membership of 30 Qualifying Insurers.

The reality, when you research the list, is that you didn’t have a choice of 30 at all.  Some are unable to quote for sole practitioners; some will only quote for firms with over 4 partners; some will not quote for any new firms, choosing to concentrate on and consolidate the existing client base; some are one and the same; some only wrote policies for ‘top up’ insurance; some have a minimum premium of £10,000 which may not suit you! – and so on…

The Blackfriars Group Mission

To help all firms from new - starts to sole practitioners (including those with no support staff), to larger firms, to include ‘distressed’ firms - to obtain compulsory professional indemnity insurance coverage, based on the minimum terms wording with a Qualifying Insurer, offering guidance as and when required.