Indemnity insurance

Unrated insurers continued to share more than a fifth of the professional indemnity insurance market at the last renewal round, while the Solicitors Regulation Authority mulls whether to force them to ‘get rated or get out’ of the business.

A global law firm has been knocked back by a judge quoting Karl Marx, after seeking a waiver from the Isle of Man Law Society’s indemnity insurance requirements.

Leading London law firm Withers has been ordered to pay £1.6m in damages after the High Court upheld a claim of professional negligence over the drafting of an LLP agreement.

QBE has taken over as the leading insurer of solicitors, figures released yesterday by the Solicitors Regulation Authority have revealed. Between QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd and two Lloyd’s syndicates, the Australian-based insurer secured 18.2% of the premiums paid.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed that around 10 firms have failed to close after failing to secure professional indemnity insurance and are heading for intervention, as the fallout resulting from last year’s renewal season enters its final phase.

There have been some angry reactions to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s publication last Friday of the names of 136 law firms which did not secure professional indemnity insurance by 29 December.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to perform a u-turn on allowing unrated insurers to offer solicitors cover after discovering that they do not always have the same protections as rated insurers.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a list of 136 firms that failed to renew their professional indemnity insurance since October, but said a small number have failed to close properly.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority should this week publish a list of those law firms which were to have closed on 29 December because they failed to secure professional indemnity insurance, Legal Futures has learned.

It is unclear how many of the 116 firms that were meant to have shut down last week for failing to secure professional indemnity insurance have actually done so, the Solicitors Regulation Authority admitted yesterday.

The toll of firms failing to renew professional indemnity insurance continues to rise, with another 34 people losing their jobs after home counties firm Hilliers HRW LLP called in administrators.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has found a further 17 firms that have still not secured professional indemnity insurance, taking the current total facing closure next week to 117.

A “substantial” number of law firms have failed to tell the Solicitors Regulation Authority whether or not they have professional indemnity insurance, the regulator admitted today. The SRA would not reveal how many had not declared their insurance position.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to investigate the likely impact of criminal legal aid fee cuts on the viability of law firms amid warnings that the cost to the profession of collapses could spiral.

Law firms are facing thousands of claims for professional negligence over their involvement in ‘right to buy’ work, it has emerged. Last week the judiciary issued a new right-to-buy practice direction to deal with the potential deluge of cases.