Insurance wordings simplification receives international innovation award
It is not common for insurance policy wordings stories to hit the mainstream press but that is exactly what happened last week, when our Head of Insurance Tim Johnson was named by the Financial Times as the most innovative lawyer in Europe for his work on the simplification of insurance policy wordings.
The award, which recognises innovation in the legal profession, was based on Tim’s and the firm’s scientific and data-led approach to simplifying policy wordings and insurance communications generally. The awards recognised that, whilst simplifying legal documents is nothing new, Browne Jacobson has taken a fresh approach by engaging with linguists and behavioural insights specialists to understand — and test — specific linguistic features that impede comprehension and to develop tools that are scientifically proven to improve customer understanding.
The results from our research and customer testing show that, whilst most existing wordings do have a high degree of complexity, such complexity is not inevitable. There are steps that can be taken to improve the readability of almost all policy wordings to the benefit of insurers and customers alike.
Whilst it is obviously an accolade we are extremely proud of, the fact that Tim’s work on policy readability gained so much traction with the Financial Times shows how customer comprehension of insurance policies (and financial services more generally) has become a mainstream issue and one that insurers cannot ignore.
For more information about these services, do get in touch with Tim Johnson directly.
Contents
- Insurance Insights: The Word, September 2025
- What does the new offence under the ECCTA 2023 mean for corporate accountability and insurers?
- E-bikes and e-scooters in the UK: New research challenges safety assumptions
- Exploring bi-directional charging: The future of EV technology
- Marine insurers face coverage uncertainty as GPS spoofing incidents rise
- The insurance industry’s battle with jargon: The fight continues
- London shopfront vandalism: Rising criminal damage and insurance implications for retailers
Contact
Tim Johnson
Partner
tim.johnson@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)115 976 6557
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