Solicitors need to contribute 67.1 million to the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) next year, the Law Society's ruling Council will be told this week.The money to be collected for 2000-2001 is needed to cover the SIF shortfall and new claims arising from principals of law firms who have retired without leaving a successor practice before 1 September 2000, when the SIF will go into run-off and solicitors must find indemnity insurance elsewhere.The Council decided in 1998 to collect the shortfall over seven years.

Under the original plan, five more instalments of 39.5 million need to be collected to cancel out the shortfall.The SIF board will recommend that the Council continues along the seven-year plan.

However, the Society's indemnity taskforce will oppose this, saying it would be preferable to collect the sum over a shorter period.

It believes that the shortfall will become increasingly difficult to collect after SIF ceases to exist; that the original seven-year collection plan was purely arbitrary; and that insurance available on the open market will be cheaper for the first couple of years, as insurance companies compete for the market share.Meanwhile LawNet, the nationwide group consisting of 52 law firms made up of about 2,000 lawyers, has announced that it is to launch a group affinity scheme for its members.

Over 500 million of professional indemnity cover will be placed on the market on behalf of LawNet members to replace their SIF cover.The scheme will be put in place by brokers Marsh, and LawNet said it will offer its members 'substantially lower premiums compared with the old SIF rates for primary cover', by taking advantage of the good risk profile of its members and bulk buying.Jeremy Fleming