Professional Indemnity Insurance for Solicitors
Professional Indemnity Insurance is a fundamental requirement for SRA-authorised law firms.
Qualifying Solicitors PII policies must comply with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Minimum Terms and Conditions and be provided by a participating insurer.
The cover is designed to protect the firm and insured persons against civil liability arising from private legal practice, subject to the applicable terms and SRA requirements.
Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance is a specialist insurance market. The way your practice is presented to insurers can therefore be particularly important.
At SRS Insurance, we take the time to understand your practice before approaching insurers.
Who Can We Help?
SRS Insurance can assist with Professional Indemnity Insurance for:
- Sole practitioners
- Partnerships and LLPs
- Limited company law firms
- Small and medium-sized practices
- New-start law firms
- Conveyancing practices
- Commercial law firms
- Established firms approaching renewal
- Firms experiencing significant premium increases
- Firms with previous claims or circumstances
- Firms requiring additional insurer consideration
Rather than simply forwarding a proposal form, we aim to understand the business behind the application and help present your practice clearly to insurers.
Solicitors PII Renewals
Your Professional Indemnity renewal is an opportunity to review whether your existing insurance arrangements continue to represent the right solution for your firm.
The cost and availability of Solicitors PII can be influenced by numerous factors, including:
- Annual fee income
- Areas of practice
- Conveyancing exposure
- Number of partners, directors and fee earners
- Claims and circumstances
- Risk-management procedures
- Regulatory history
- Lender work
- Client profile
- Fraud prevention procedures
- Cybersecurity and payment controls
- Previous insurance arrangements
- Changes within the practice
A well-prepared submission can help underwriters properly understand your business rather than relying solely on headline figures.
Already Have Your Renewal Terms?
If your existing broker or insurer has provided renewal terms, SRS Insurance can review your requirements and consider whether alternative options may be available.
Professional Indemnity Insurance for New Law Firms
Starting a New Solicitors Practice?
If you are establishing a new law firm and applying for SRA authorisation, arranging appropriate Professional Indemnity Insurance will form an important part of the process.
You don’t need to wait until your firm begins trading to speak to us.
SRS Insurance can work with you during the planning and authorisation stages to understand:
- Proposed areas of law
- Anticipated fee income
- Directors and partners
- Previous legal experience
- Client profile
- Proposed conveyancing exposure
- Risk-management procedures
- Business plan
- Compliance arrangements
- Required indemnity limits
We can then approach appropriate participating insurers to seek terms for your proposed practice.
Planning a new law firm? Speak to SRS Insurance about your PII requirements at an early stage.
Solicitors PII for Conveyancing Firms
Conveyancing is an important consideration for Professional Indemnity insurers because of the potential severity of claims and exposures associated with property transactions, mortgage lenders and fraud.
A substantial conveyancing practice does not automatically prevent a firm from obtaining competitive PII terms. However, insurers may want to understand your procedures and controls in greater detail.
This can include:
- Residential and commercial conveyancing split
- Average and maximum property values
- Lender panel work
- Identity verification procedures
- AML procedures
- Source-of-funds checks
- Stamp Duty procedures
- Cybersecurity and payment controls
- Partner supervision
- File auditing
- Previous conveyancing claims
SRS Insurance can help ensure this information is clearly presented as part of your PII submission.
Solicitors PII Following Claims or Circumstances
Previous claims or circumstances do not necessarily prevent a law firm from obtaining Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Insurers will generally want to understand not only what happened, but also what the firm has done to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident occurring again.
We can help you provide insurers with appropriate context covering:
What happened → Why it happened → Financial outcome → Remedial action → Risk-management improvements
Providing a clear explanation can give an underwriter considerably more information than simply presenting a claims figure without context.
If you have claims or circumstances and are concerned about your next PII renewal, speak to us as early as possible.
What Does Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance Cover?
Subject to the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions and applicable policy provisions, Solicitors PII provides protection against civil liability arising from private legal practice.
Claims may arise from matters including:
- Professional negligence
- Errors and omissions
- Incorrect legal advice
- Failure to follow instructions
- Missed deadlines
- Conveyancing errors
- Drafting errors
- Failure to register documents
- Loss of documents
- Breach of professional duty
- Acts or omissions of employees and other insured persons
Solicitors PII is a specialist form of Professional Indemnity Insurance and should not be confused with a standard professional services PI policy.
How Much Does Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance Cost?
There is no standard price for Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Premiums are individually underwritten and can vary significantly between law firms.
Insurers will consider factors such as:
Fee Income | Areas of Practice | Conveyancing Exposure | Claims Record | Number of Fee Earners | Risk Management | Regulatory History | Client Profile
For this reason, SRS Insurance prefers to understand your practice properly rather than advertising headline premiums that may bear little relationship to the eventual terms available.
Additional Insurance for Law Firms
Although Professional Indemnity Insurance is a fundamental requirement for an SRA-authorised practice, law firms can face a much wider range of business risks.
SRS Insurance can also discuss:
Protection against insured cyber incidents, data breaches, ransomware, business interruption and associated cyber liabilities.
Law firms hold significant amounts of confidential and financially sensitive client information and can be attractive targets for cybercriminals.
Management Liability & Directors and Officers Insurance
Protection against certain claims made against directors, officers and the business arising from the management of the firm.
Crime Insurance
Cover for certain losses arising from employee dishonesty, fraud and other insured crime events.
Cover can include office contents, computer equipment, business interruption and other property exposures.
Employers’ Liability Insurance is generally required where a law firm employs staff, subject to the applicable statutory exemptions.
Our aim is to consider your wider insurance requirements alongside your Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Why Choose SRS Insurance?
Solicitors PII isn’t a commodity insurance product.
Two law firms with similar fee income and practice areas can represent very different risks.
The experience of the partners, supervision, risk management, financial controls, cybersecurity procedures and circumstances surrounding previous claims can all provide important context for an underwriter.
Our role is therefore more than simply obtaining a premium.
We aim to understand your law firm, identify the important underwriting information and present your risk clearly to appropriate insurers.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the insurance industry, SRS Insurance combines specialist broking expertise with a personal approach to arranging insurance for professional businesses.
Request a Solicitors Professional Indemnity Insurance Quote
Whether you are:
- Approaching renewal
- Starting a new law firm
- Looking for an alternative PII quotation
- Facing a significant premium increase
- Changing broker
- Dealing with previous claims or circumstances
SRS Insurance would be pleased to discuss your requirements.
Already have renewal terms?
Send us your existing renewal information and ask us to review your requirements before you renew.
SRS Insurance — Because we care, as if it’s personal.
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