Mutual friend

I beg to differ with the view expressed by Neil Jopson (see [2003] Gazette, 3 July, 18).

Solicitors carrying out high-risk work with high volume, such as conveyancing, may well have had their indemnity premiums brought down to a more appropriate level, but the majority of solicitors are now paying the same if not more in the commercial market than they were in the last year of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF).

With the hardening market, it is probable that premiums will increase this year and therefore most of us will be no better off in the commercial market than we were under the SIF.

The honeymoon period, when the commercial market reduced its premiums to obtain market share is now over, and since the commercial market has to make a profit on top of covering its expenditure, premiums are bound to increase to a higher level than they would with a mutual fund.

The better answer for the profession would have been a properly organised mutual fund run on a commercial basis.

David O'Hagan, Barry and Blott, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol