Top legal expenses insurer DAS is to set up its own law firm once the Legal Services Bill is enacted, the Gazette's sister publication, Litigation Funding, has revealed.


Joining the likes of the AA and Co-op in going public, chief executive Paul Asplin said that 'ownership of a law firm is not a luxury, but a necessity' as the market faces a huge upheaval once non-lawyers can own legal practices.



DAS has hired solicitor Kathryn Mortimer, formerly head of legal services at outsourcing specialist Capita, to take the same role in DAS's senior management and lead the work on the DAS law firm.



Mr Asplin said the provision of legal expenses insurance and of legal services

would move closer, and that 'we want to be able to run our own cases'. DAS will initially concentrate on personal injury (PI), 'but we would also hope to offer a range of legal services'.



Around 15,000 PI claims a year go through DAS, and Mr Asplin said 'we would probably want something in place' to handle a quarter of them as a starting point. This would require around 40 staff, he speculated. With a growing employer's and public liability caseload, DAS's PI caseload is expected to reach 20,000 a year over the next 12 months.



Mr Asplin said he was 'absolutely convinced' that other legal expenses insurers are planning similar moves, with some already working around the current solicitors' practice rules to put arrangements in place.



However, even with the DAS law firm, there would still be work for panel firms. Some clients would want to choose a different solicitor, he explained, while there would also be conflict and geographical issues that would demand a panel.



Mr Asplin predicted that most panel firms were 'realistic' enough to know that 'this kind of thing is going to happen'.



Neil Rose