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There is a lot to cram into this week’s round-up of other regulation and Legal Services Act stories on the web. First of all, we should direct you to Legal Futures Editor Neil Rose’s Guardian blog that just being part of the high street network should not be enough to protect law firms – access to justice cannot be judged purely by quantity.

A new insurer today entered the professional indemnity market for small law firms, having taken over the run-off claims-handling function of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.

When the profession ditched the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF), a compelling reason for the move was that many good firms were paying for the failures of the few. Now, a decade later, solicitors are back in exactly the same position. Only, the ‘few’ could become substantially more over the next few months.

A rising tide of claims against solicitors and a huge increase in the number of firms falling into the assigned risks pool means law firms should prepare for a 10% jump in professional indemnity premiums this year, broker Lockton has warned.

The Law Society has told the 2,911 law firms which have their professional indemnity insurance with Quinn that they do not need to take action at the moment, despite a warning that they may have to seek fresh cover within four weeks of the company’s provisional administration being confirmed.