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Anon 13.26 - I disagree with your notion that the cost of PI restricts new entrants. As long as not practising in high-risk work areas, eg residential conveyancing, a firm with a modest turnover of say £200 - £250K would expect to have a PI premium of around £7 - £7,500. That's 3.75%. You can usually get a funder to advance this and pay it monthly to make it more affordable from a cash perspective. It's when you start getting into high risk work areas, or where the principals lack relevant legal or managerial experience, or insurers feel exposed, that the premium starts to take off.

I'm with Arthur on this - a 'pile it high, sell it cheap' model is very dangerous. That is not the same as having a lean approach, where you ensure that everything you do is done for client benefit, and if it isn't then you don't do it at all. You should be sure not to confuse the two.

Nor do I agree with the blanket statement that people on modest means don't use solicitors 'because they simply cannot afford to' - for example, some will writers and family law operations are considerably more expensive than a Solicitor. It's perfectly true that some can't pay, and the near-abolition of legal aid has been a travesty, but others have different spend priorities, and others still wouldn't use a Solicitor in the first place, possibly because they don't even realise that there's an issue, or otherwise they go to an accountant or someone else.

I hope you do well, but with respect you might need to refine your business model.

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