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Professional indemnity

professional indemnity

Hear Ceri-Sian Williams discuss the implications of the NA (Armes) v Nottinghamshire County Council judgment

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We understand that a negligence claim against a professional requires sensitive and careful handling given the significant reputational risks for the professional. Our experienced team of professional indemnity lawyers work closely with our client from the moment we are instructed to gain an understanding of their views on the claim, as well as the commercial considerations in play so that we can form a strategy that leads to a good outcome for our client and their insurer.

Our lawyers are experts in the professional services sectors in which they operate, allowing them to quickly identify the most pragmatic and commercial solutions to claims. Our specialist experience also means that we can provide value-added risk management support to our insurer clients’ policyholders, focused on mitigating the emerging exposures within the relevant professional sector. Our team has a substantial presence in London but the majority of our professional indemnity team is based in Nottingham. This allows us to provide dynamic claims solutions that offer genuine value for money, with a central base and five office network that gives our specialist lawyers national reach.

what we do...

Our clients – major professional indemnity insurers, Lloyd's syndicates, managing general agents, third party administrators, professional services firms and policyholders.
Bespoke claims handling schemes – providing fixed fee cost effective claims solutions.
Our experience – over 25 years acting for insurers and indemnifiers of a wide range of professions:
- from the traditional; solicitors, accountants, surveyors,architects, construction professionals,insurance brokers, IFA's and other financial services professionals
- all the way through to the emerging; management consultants, recruitment agencies, health and safety professionals and agronomists.

Specialist services - including professional liability claims defence, advising on institute ‘minimum terms’, coverage and indemnity disputes, claims handling, policy drafting, risk management advice and auditing, fraud and dishonesty investigations, and professional disciplinary enquiries.
Extension of your team - our clients regard us as an extension of their own team – whether we are working with underwriters on innovative new products, helping them win new business by attending risk presentations, or working with claims teams in mapping exposure to high value liabilities across entire books of business, such as those arising from mass mis-selling claims.
Industry membership – Forum of Insurance Lawyers, British Insurance Law Association, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, International Bar Association, Lloyd’s Market Association.

related resources

Legal updates

Contingent loss in negligence claims

Contingent loss is relevant to limitation; specifically, the date at which a claimant’s cause of action accrues for the purposes of a claim in the tort of negligence (as many claims against professional advisers are framed).

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Legal updates

Freelance Solicitors not subject to Minimum Terms

As part of the SRA’s ‘Looking to the Future’ programme, from November 2019 solicitors who provide reserved legal activities who wish to practise on their own have the option to go freelance. Freelance solicitors will be a new class of solicitor.

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Legal updates

Future Professional Indemnity Forum (PIF) panel round up: operating in a hard market

On 23 January, the Future Professional Indemnity Forum of the IUA invited three industry experts to discuss the practicalities of operating in a hard market.

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Legal updates

W&I insurance and sell-side due diligence

The purpose of this note is to highlight the difficulties with vendor due diligence in the context of W&I insurance.

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what our clients say....

High quality and very responsive, with leading client service.

James Pilgrim-Morris, Head of Claims, Hiscox UK and Ireland

Highly knowledgeable, accessible and quick to understand key issues.

Sally Lodge, Hiscox

what the directories say...

Clients say: 'They are very good and user-friendly, while also being very pragmatic, solution-focused and commercial.'

Chamber 2018

Browne Jacobson LLP 'has a very distinguished, and highly capable set of professional discipline practitioners'.

Legal 500 2018

Others add: 'They are very approachable and formed good relationships with us. They also try to put themselves out there in terms of added value.'

Chamber 2018

The ‘pre-eminent’ practice at Browne Jacobson LLP provides a ‘tailor-made’ service and ‘very strong’ level of industry knowledge, particularly on complex high-value policy issues, acting for financial institutions, corporates and insurers.

Legal 500 2017

They are really keen and really responsive.

Chambers 2017

They go out of their way to understand their clients’ issues to ensure that a true working partnership is developed to the mutual benefit of the parties involved.

Chambers 2016

Browne Jacobson LLP stands out for its ‘exceptional insurance industry acumen and businessfocused approach’.

Legal 500 2016

recent experience

Acted in relation to a £253m D&O/professional negligence claim against non-executive directors of an investment company which collapsed in 2010 leaving liabilities to creditors and investors in excess of £300m.
Advising on a £17m claim against a firm of actuaries arising from the defective amendment of the benefit rules of the occupational pension scheme of a FTSE250 listed company. A claim has also been made against a top 25 firm of solicitors who acted in relation to the transaction.
Defending a firm of accountants in relation to a potential claim arising from the tax compliance of a UK based investment fund, caused by a change to its accounting policies in the US leading to a failure to disclosure £10m of relevant income.
Acting on behalf of a finance broker which faced a multi-million pound claim for losses incurred by a property developer arising out of a development alleged to have failed due to negligent advice in relation to the structure and terms of a bridging loan facility brokered by the insured.
Acted on behalf of a professional indemnity insurer in relation to claims advanced by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme under the Third Parties Rights Against Insurers Act 1930 following the insolvency of an IFA network.

our people

related opinions

Valuing a claim following professional negligence

Mrs Jean Edwards v Hugh James Ford Simey (a Firm) (2018 EWCA) is an interesting case involving solicitor’s negligence in the bringing of a disease claim under a vibration white finger scheme against the Department of Trade and Industry by the estate of a former miner.

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Are your communications with an expert disclosable?

The Court has ruled in the case of Allen Tod Architecture Ltd (C) v Capita Property and Infrastructure Ltd (D) [2016] EWHC 2171 (TCC) that as a condition of being granted permission to instruct a new expert (having lost confidence in the first expert instructed) C had to provide disclosure of the first expert’s preliminary report.

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Enterprise Act 2016 - late payment of insurance claims

The Enterprise Bill was granted Royal Assent last week and comes into force on 4 May 2017.

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Insurance Act a year to go

The Insurance Act 2015 (the Act) comes into force a year today, bringing with it the most significant reform of commercial insurance law in over 100 years.

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