Solicitors Indemnity Fund: far from a done deal?

28 May 2021 / Andrew Stovin

Issue: 7934 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Regulatory , Insurance / reinsurance

Retired solicitors could be left out in the cold with the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, as Andrew Stovin explains

I refer to a recent NLJ news article, ‘New claims risks for shuttered firms’, which treats the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) as a fait accompli. The question is: why should it be a fait accompli, or more fundamentally, why should it close at all?

Crunching the numbers

Let us look at some facts taken from SIF’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 October 2020.

In the introductory narrative, there is the heading ’Purpose and principal activities of the fund’. One of the stated purposes is:

‘Manage new claims and settle the associated liabilities arising from firms insured in the open market and which have ceased without successor from 1 September 2000 and where the requisite six-year run-off period provided by their last market insurer or the Assigned Risks Pool has elapsed (“post six-year run off claims”)’

This

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

Solicitors Indemnity Fund: far from a done deal?

Retired solicitors could be left out in the cold with the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, as Andrew Stovin explains

Crunching the numbers

Let us look at some facts taken from SIF’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 October 2020.

In the introductory narrative, there is the heading ’Purpose and principal activities of the fund’. One of the stated purposes is:

This

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

SourceURL:

Links:

E-newsletter Sign-Up

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS

Read All

Tribute to Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC

Human rights lawyers, social justice champion, co-founder of the law firm Bindmans, and NLJ columnist Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC has died at the age of 92 years

NLJ this week: Shareholder secrecy sunk

Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'

NLJ this week: The expanding remit of national security law

In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains

NLJ this week: Trauma-informed pro bono

In NLJ this week, Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre marks Pro Bono Week by urging lawyers to recognise the emotional toll of pro bono work

NLJ this week: When leases last hours

Can a lease legally last only days—or even hours? Professor Mark Pawlowski of the University of Greenwich explores the question in this week's NLJ

Error message

Solicitors Indemnity Fund: far from a done deal?

Crunching the numbers

Crunching the numbers

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith