Marsh is set to offer law firms the opportunity to renew their professional indemnity (PI) insurance in May and June of this year. Market experts say this could cut premiums by up to 20%.

There is widespread discontent across the industry about the current arrangement, where all UK law firms renew their PI cover on one date -1 September.

One regional PI broker said more renewal dates for law firms would enable them to spend more time negotiating policies with insurers.

"If there were more renewal dates, law firms would be able to spend more time talking to their
insurers in order to get the best policy," he said.

"At the moment, we're seeing around 60,000 quotes going out around the month of the renewal
date and insurers can 't really cope."

"If law firms had more time to negotiate policies with insurers, they may be able to save around
15%-20%in premiums."

Marsh senior vice-president Jason Wells said that the broker was offering earlier PI renewal dates for solicitors in order to make the process more manageable.

"We're aiming to unbundle the renewal process," he said. "This approach will separate the
insured 's broking appointment from their appointment with the insurance company."

"We 're aiming to build partnerships with our solicitor clients in order to offer them a wider choice
of policies and insurers."

"We also hope that this approach will help solicitors avoid the difficulties they experience in finding capacity under the current system," Wells said.

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