Proposal for a UK Solicitors-only IP Group

If you practice as a solicitor in England and have not been contacted by Shireen - get in touch.

Sadly regulation seems set to divide even SOLO IP practitioners. Creating a practising solicitor-only group allows you to concentrate on things like Investors in People and Lexcel accreditation that may bring down the cost of the dreaded professional indemnity insurance. Lexcel is run by the Law Society and accredits practice management. I agree that practice management is the key to managing risk but I don't agree that paying someone else to confirm that I manage my practice well is a good idea - especailly in these times when it is difficult to persuade clients to pay their bills. The process of accreditation usually requires the production of a lot of paperwork and manuals - the sort of thing that is needed to communicate across an organisation so for true SOLOs its a bit redundant.

One of the most important things for good practice managment is a good database and mine MARCO helps me enormously. Special 2009 deals are available for group members. OK thats an advert as my company aims to make a profit out of licensing the software - haven't got anywhere near it yet - but there's always hope. Meanwhile I would hate to see anyone exposing themselves to risk because they cannot afford practice management system.

Happy Holidays

What's going on with Professional Indemnity insurance?

It is always interesting to compare notes when meeting other practitioners. So, it was reassuring on Wednesday when chatting with other sole practitioners to discover that the vast majority have yet to receive a Professional Indemnity renewal proposal. At least I'm not the only one I thought.

I have since asked around and found out that some SPs have already received quotes, but they are invariably clients of Zurich or Travellers. I gather there are only 3 insurers for IP solicitors - QBE, Zurich and Travellers.

Zurich seems to have been quick to tell those SPs they were not going to offer terms to. They were given at least 2 months notice. Other Zurich clients seem to have received their terms already.

However, it was only today following a lunch of (non IP) sole practitioners, that I discovered that no one has received a quote from AON. What is going on at QBE (AON's tied insurer)?

I know AON dropped some SPs only last week, which is appallingly short notice. But who knows whether it is just sole practitioners who have been kept waiting by AON.

It may comfort the sole practitioners who were there on Wednesday, and were clearly extremely worried, to know that IP lawyers are not the only ones who have yet to receive renewal proposals.

AON is certainly cutting it fine to leave law firms dangling for this long - especially given that some people filled in their proposal forms back in July. Whatever is going on - we will find out in due course. However, in the meantime, one has to question the wisdom of having the entire legal market renewing on the same date. Most firms I am coming across do not feel the current rules are satisfactory or make for a competitive framework.