It had been due to close to new claims from 30 September 2020, but there is a lack of alternatives on the open market.
Although solicitors moved to a market-based system of professional indemnity insurance two decades ago, SIF has continued to provide run-off cover for firms that have closed in order to protect clients and lawyers involved.
Simon Davis, president of the Law Society said: ‘We had all hoped that a market would develop for reasonably priced post six-year run-off cover, but a hardening market has meant that the industry has been reticent to take on new risks. That means that there was a real danger that the closure of SIF at the end of September could leave former principals personally exposed to claims relating to work that their firm had done, perhaps decades in the past.’
