Law Society and Aon join forces to help with solicitors guide on professional indemnity
The Law Society is preparing its members for the 2010 professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal process early with the launch of a PII market intelligence service in conjunction with broking firm Aon Limited.
In an early move to assist solicitors as much as possible in the PII renewal process, which must be completed by October 1 2010, the Society has launched the first edition of Insurance Matters, a free of charge market intelligence guide, which will be published three times a year to members.
Insurance Matters is one of a series of initiatives to be launched to further assist the profession in relation to PII.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson says: “The Law Society is determined to assist all of its members to obtain PII at the lowest possible price.
“Many firms do not have the resources to research and understand market trends or to retain specialist advisers.
“In recent years there have been a number of instances where lack of communication between market participants has left many firms unaware of and unprepared for changes to the qualifying insurers and their underwriting approaches. We perceived there to be a clear need to provide our members with a service to close this gap.
“By linking with Aon we can ensure Insurance Matters contains up to date and informed content that will help our members.”
Insurance Matters will contain a number of articles designed to inform and guide solicitors involved in the insurance renewal process, covering a range of topics, including the current state of the PII market, risk management, advice on the renewals process, understanding the market and qualifying insurers.
The launch of Insurance Matters comes on the back of Law Society initiatives last year, which included a comprehensive Practice Note offering advice on managing the renewal process and presenting a firm to insurers in the best way possible, and a PII Buyer’s Guide in association with the insurance industry.
The Society also staged an extensive free PII seminar series across the country and provided a dedicated PII Helpline for solicitors during the renewal period.
IIn 2010, in addition to Insurance Matters, the Society will again run its seminar series and will be conducting a survey of the renewal experiences of members to better inform how the Society can best support members, as well as assessing all aspects of the current arrangements.
Hudson says: “Although most of the profession experienced no problem last year, the renewal period was not easy for some members. We want to build on the initiatives last year to provide as much information for our members in relation to PII and better equip them for renewals as possible.”
