Indemnity Insurance

I am a sole principal in Leicester dealing mainly with conveyancing and my premium for last year with the Solicitors Indemnity Fund with shortfall and without VAT was 25,000.

My fees have increased on last year and we were told by the Law Society to vote for the retention of the SIF because it was suggested that sole practitioners might find difficulty in getting insurance in the open market.

I accepted the advice of the Council and voted to keep the SIF, but fortunately the majority of the profession voted against.

The Council now says that we should use the preferred broker St Paul International, which has sent me a quote of 31,500.

Lawinsure has quoted me 10,600 and AON 11,000.

In view of the fact I am going to pay much less than the SIF and St Paul quotation I put the following questions:

l Why did the Law Society recommend St Paul International?

l Why did the Council advise me to keep the SIF?

l If the SIF charged me so highly why can Lawinsure and AON be so much cheaper?

l Why did the Law Society not get Lawinsure and AON to quote for the business years ago?

It makes me wonder where all of the premiums we have paid have gone to.

If I as a small practitioner am regarded by Lawinsure and AON as an acceptable risk, which firms are unacceptable risks? Are they the big City firms who have multi-million pound claims settled?

A J Bingham, Bingham & Co., Leicester