header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
28 May 2021 / Andrew Stovin
Issue: 7934 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Regulatory , Insurance / reinsurance
printer mail-detail

Solicitors Indemnity Fund: far from a done deal?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
49939
Retired solicitors could be left out in the cold with the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund, as Andrew Stovin explains

I refer to a recent NLJ news article, ‘New claims risks for shuttered firms’, which treats the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) as a fait accompli. The question is: why should it be a fait accompli, or more fundamentally, why should it close at all?

Crunching the numbers

Let us look at some facts taken from SIF’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 October 2020.

In the introductory narrative, there is the heading ’Purpose and principal activities of the fund’. One of the stated purposes is:

‘Manage new claims and settle the associated liabilities arising from firms insured in the open market and which have ceased without successor from 1 September 2000 and where the requisite six-year run-off period provided by their last market insurer or the Assigned Risks Pool has elapsed (“post six-year run off claims”)’

This purpose has not ceased and will not

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

NEWS
Read All
Legal notice: Notice under the Trustee Act 1925

NOTICE UNDER THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925

HERBERT SMITH STAFF PENSION SCHEME (THE “SCHEME”)

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER SECTION 27 OF THE TRUSTEE ACT 1925
Emergency lawyers on call as international regulatory actions soar
Law firm HFW is offering clients lawyers on call for dawn raids, sanctions issues and other regulatory emergencies
NLJ this week: Employment law’s fine margins
From gender-critical speech to notice periods and incapability dismissals, employment law continues to turn on fine distinctions. In his latest employment law brief for NLJ, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School reviews a cluster of recent decisions, led by Bailey v Stonewall, where the Court of Appeal clarified the limits of third-party liability under the Equality Act
NLJ this week: Promises broken on non-molestation orders?
Non-molestation orders are meant to be the frontline defence against domestic abuse, yet their enforcement often falls short. Writing in NLJ this week, Jeni Kavanagh, Jessica Mortimer and Oliver Kavanagh analyse why the criminalisation of breach has failed to deliver consistent protection
NLJ this week: Assisted dying under the legal microscope
Assisted dying remains one of the most fraught fault lines in English law, where compassion and criminal liability sit uncomfortably close. Writing in NLJ this week, Julie Gowland and Barny Croft of Birketts examine how acts motivated by care—booking travel, completing paperwork, or offering emotional support—can still fall within the wide reach of the Suicide Act 1961
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll