Solicitors are leaving their professional indemnity renewals to the last minute and could miss the deadline, insurers warned this week in the wake of a survey showing that 40% of firms either had not received a quotation or did not even know if they had been sent one.

But firms were warned not to accept the first quotation they receive just because time is running out before the 1 September renewal deadline.

A survey of 250 law firms by Zurich Professional - the biggest insurer of solicitors' indemnity - also found that more than one-third of solicitors do not know when they should report circumstances and claims to their insurers.

David Coughlan, head of Zurich Professional, said: 'With the cost of insurance rising, solicitors are in real danger of not having enough time to source competitive quotes with their preferred insurer.'

Jon Davies, the product manager at The St Paul, the second largest insurer, said: 'Every year we see a large percentage of law firms which leave sending their proposal forms in until the last minute.

Some even manage to miss the deadline however much they are reminded.'

Trevor Moss, executive director with broker Alexander Forbes, added: 'Not all practices have exercised a pro-active approach...

some law firms leave it until after the summer holidays to deal with.'

However, one specialist who preferred not to be named said solicitors should not be frightened by insurers into accepting the first quote they receive just because time may be running out.

A Law Society spokeswoman said: 'In the main, solicitors manage to renew their insurance by the set date.

However, to avoid the last-minute flurry of activity, which occurs in the summer when many people are on holiday, we have decided to move the renewal date to 1 October [from 2004].'

On reporting claims, Peter Farthing, chairman of the Law Society's indemnity insurance committee, said: 'If you have to ask the question "should I notify these circumstances to my insurer?" the answer is almost always yes.

If a claim materialises, then you will have done the right thing, and if no claim materialises then it doesn't matter.'

Meanwhile, broker PYV claimed last week that insurers view solicitors as 'fickle customers'.

Group development director Nick Pointon said: 'Solicitors are more likely to switch insurers than other professions, with many happy to change year on year, which makes insurers nervous.'

However, he said premium rises this year were lower than expected.

Jeremy Fleming