header-logo header-logo

Solicitors snap up indemnity bargains

11 October 2007
Issue: 7292 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
printer mail-detail

News

Professional indemnity insurance rates for solicitors dropped this year—but experts have warned that such premium prices are not sustainable.
Sandra Neilson-Moore, European practice leader for law firms’ professional indemnity at Marsh, says the 1 October renewal deadline saw competition-driven reductions in rates for most law firms in England and Wales.
Top 100 firms saw drops of 10% or more, with their gross revenues allowing insurers to hold premiums relatively steady, while granting generous reductions in terms of rate on revenue. For smaller firms the competition was even keener.

Andrew Jackson, managing director in Marsh’s UK professional indemnity practice, says: “The singular renewal date is unique to the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance market and, as a result, firms can achieve reduced premiums as the market strives to preserve its share in the closing days of the process.”

He adds, however, that these competitive pressures have resulted in significantly lower premiums which, although good news for firms, may not be sustainable in the longer term.

Frank Maher, a solicitor with Legal Risk, suspects these premium levels are not sustainable beyond next year at most.
“There are a lot of property and mortgage fraud related claims, and conveyancing firms seem to have forgotten the Law Society’s green and blue warning cards and the lessons learned from claims in the 90s which threatened to empty out the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.”

Some firms, he says, have been declined cover by leading insurers because of claims issues, forcing them to take specialist advice and place cover with insurers who would not otherwise have been their first choice.
“I believe the issue in a couple of years will not be one of price but whether some firms can even get cover at all,” he adds.

Issue: 7292 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll