- What is the deadline for obtaining solicitors professional indemnity insurance?
- What limit of indemnity must I buy?
- Are all professional indemnity insurers offering the same policy terms?
- Can I obtain different levels of policy excess?
- What is Travelers' relationship with the Law Society?
- When should I notify a matter to my insurers?
- What happens if I cease to practise?
- Is my firm covered for work carried out abroad?
- I am just starting up. How can I obtain insurance?
- Which firms are entitled to access Travelers' risk management service?
eProp Help
- How do I use the eProp tool?
- How will eProp save time?
- What are its main advantages?
- Why does it ask for so much detail?
- Why does it ask about subprime and conveyancing activity specifically?
- Why is so much financial detail being requested? - No one else asks for this.
- Why do you ask for so much detail about audits and risk management?
- 1. What is the deadline for obtaining solicitors professional indemnity insurance?
The last working day for all law firms in England and Wales to obtain professional indemnity insurance is 30th September 2011 to be effective from 1st October 2011.
- 2. What limit of indemnity must I buy?
The minimum limits of indemnity required under the Law Society’s Minimum Terms and Conditions are as follows:
- All Firms (except as in b below) - £2,000,000 any one claim
- Limited Liability Partnerships and other 'Relevant Recognised Bodies' - £3,000,000 any one claim
Our quotation will satisfy the Minimum Terms and Conditions requirements according to your firm's declared status. We can also quote for a limit of indemnity of up to £10 million.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority publishes the Indemnity Rules and Minimum Terms and Conditions annually. This can be found on the SRA's website
- 3. Are all professional indemnity insurers offering the same policy terms?
Every Solicitors professional indemnity policy underwritten by a Qualifying Insurer must meet the requirements of the Law Society's Minimum Terms and Conditions. In addition, our standard policy offers free benefits such as Personal Accident cover (for policyholders with between 2 and 15 partners), cover for loss of documents and compensation for court attendance.
- 4. Can I obtain different levels of policy excess?
Yes and you can select the level of excess that best suits your firm. Our minimum excess is 1% of gross fees or £1,000, whichever is greater
- 5. What is Travelers' relationship with the Law Society?
Travelers entered into a joint venture arrangement with the Law Society in 2000 and is able to provide PI insurance to law firms of any size. Whilst we are one of several Qualifying Insurers, we are unique in that we have undertaken to insure law firms of every type until at least 2013. This gives you the assurance that we remain committed to this class for the long term. Please note that we may refuse to provide terms to individual firms for any reason specific to that firm.
- 6. When should I notify a matter to my insurers?
All claims and all circumstances that may give rise to a claim (even where you believe the matter was unjustified or resolved without costs) should be notified to your professional indemnity insurer as soon as possible. This is a requirement of your policy. It also helps our claims handlers to deal with potential claims as effectively as possible.
- 7. What happens if I cease to practise?
We provide run-off cover for a further six year period from the end of the existing period of insurance for firms that close without a successor practice. An additional premium equivalent to three times the annual premium is payable to cover the entire further six year run-off period. Firms can now elect to go into run-off where there is a successor practice, but must pay a premium in advance to trigger this option. Contact our helpline on 0700 22 22 999 for further assistance.
- 8. Is my firm covered for work carried out abroad?
Our professional indemnity policy will cover your fee-earners for civil liabilities arising from advising on the law of England and Wales, irrespective of where they may be located. If your fee-earners are advising on the law of other jurisdictions, then we may be able to provide cover subject to the outcome of an underwriting review first.
- 9. I am just starting up. How can I obtain insurance?
You can download a proposal form from this website. We will also need to see supporting documentation which should include your business plan, financial projections and CVs for all partners, directors, principals or members.
- 10. Which firms are entitled to access Travelers' risk management service?
All firms insured with Travelers are entitled to access our risk management services. This includes our risk management factsheets available on request, and our annual On Risk programme, including seminars and our quarterly On Risk ezine.
Clients can also access our free Risk Assessment (ERA) facility - a confidential online questionnaire designed to help improve efficiency and risk awareness within your firm, and reduce the risk of negligence claims. Upon completion users receive a certificate for one hour of Continuing Professional Development.
Furthermore, our risk managers can provide our client firms with telephone advice and, where appropriate, will conduct visits to advise you of the best ways to reduce the incidence of claims.
- 11. How do I use the eProp tool?
We've created the interactive eProp tool to make purchasing and renewing your professional indemnity insurance as quick and easy as possible. There are step-by-step guidelines to help you complete the form - simply visit the eProp page on this website.
- 12. How will eProp save time?
Incomplete proposal forms are commonly received during the renewal period. Typically around 30-40% of the forms we receive contain insufficient information to allow us to quote. This means that we have to go back to brokers and direct customers and ask them to give additional information, which takes up time for us and wastes valuable fee earning time for customers. Given the volume of proposals received runs to thousands and thousands, by getting the right information first time we are aiming to reduce the number of times a submission has to be looked at by a customer and by us. Our intention is to reduce the overall end-to-end time taken to generate a quote for customers.
- 13. What are its main advantages?
- The eProp can be saved locally part way through if you get interrupted.
- It can be emailed easily.
- Once received by us the data is transferred automatically into our systems saving time and preventing keying errors enabling faster turnaround.
- 14. Why does it ask for so much detail?
The form is broken into sections and only asks for detail in the areas in which firms practise; the level of detail is no more than last year and all the questions are relevant to the firm's risk profile.
- 15. Why does it ask about subprime and conveyancing activity specifically?
These areas carry a very high risk of claim because this kind of lending has lost large amounts of money, and lenders are looking at the work law firms have done very closely to see if any error can be found to support a claim; in addition lenders have been the victims of mortgage fraud rings which have processed multiple loan applications sometimes aided and abetted by legal and other professionals.
- 16. Why is so much financial detail being requested? - No one else asks for this.
A good number of firms have shut down in the recession and many are finding it difficult to survive. If a firm closes down, the Minimum Terms require us to provide six years run-off cover even if we receive no premium. We are also liable to pay proven claims in full to third parties - whether the excess has been paid or not. Whilst we may be able to seek recovery of premium and excesses from personal assets, our aim is to avoid this situation and instead have a clear picture of a firm's finances and be confident they are proceeding on a solid financial footing and managing their own finances prudently.
- 17. Why do you ask for so much detail about audits and risk management?
Regulatory requirements have increased in these areas over the last few years. However, not all firms have adapted and we need to have evidence that firms are complying with requirements. More than that, we believe that most risk management is just good management and good for business in the long term. So we are keen to help firms adopt good practice as we think they will perform well in the long term. We have refined the audit question to make it simpler.
0700 22 22 999