A single firm operating in Belfast and Dublin sits inside two regulators, two compulsory PI regimes, and two civil procedure systems — and one PI policy that needs to recognise all of it.
The Irish land border is the only one the UK shares with an EU member state, and for many professional firms — solicitors, accountants, surveyors, engineers, consultancies — the practical reality of operating across it has only become more complex since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Brexit ended automatic mutual recognition of professional qualifications, complicated the enforcement of judgments, and removed the UK from the Lugano Convention regime. The PI policy is one of the places where these issues land, and the firm that does not engineer its programme to address them properly can find itself uninsured for the half of its work it cares about most. This guide sets out the practical framework.
A firm operating in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland is regulated separately on each side of the border. On the southern side, solicitors are regulated by the Law Society of Ireland, with PI provided through the open market in compliance with the Solicitors (Professional Indemnity Insurance) Regulations made under the Solicitors Acts. Accountants in Ireland are typically regulated by Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI), which sets its own PII regulations for member firms in practice. Surveyors who hold dual membership of RICS and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) face overlapping requirements.
On the northern side, solicitors fall within the Law Society of Northern Ireland Master Policy regime, accountants who are registered with ICAEW remain on ICAEW PII Regulations, and CAI-regulated accountants based in Northern Ireland operate under CAI’s PII regime — CAI is the all-island chartered accountancy body. The PII obligations therefore travel with the regulator, not the geography.
The commercially significant point is that the territorial limits and jurisdiction clauses on a PI policy define where work is undertaken and where claims can be pursued under the cover. A standard UK PI wording will typically be written with worldwide territorial limits but with jurisdiction limited to the courts of England and Wales (or Scotland, or Northern Ireland, depending on the placing broker’s default). A claim issued in the High Court in Dublin against a Belfast firm — perfectly possible for work performed there — may fall outside the jurisdictional perimeter if the wording is not extended.
There are three policy clauses to focus on for cross-border practice. The first is territorial limits, which defines where the insured may carry on professional services. A “UK and Ireland” extension, or worldwide, is essential for any firm with work on both sides of the border.
The second is jurisdiction, which defines which courts’ judgments the insurer will respond to. A policy limited to the jurisdiction of UK courts will not respond to a claim pursued in the Irish High Court. Most specialist brokers will extend jurisdiction to the Republic of Ireland for clients with dual-jurisdiction work, sometimes as a sub-limit and sometimes at the full policy limit. Some markets will write “worldwide excluding USA/Canada” jurisdiction for an additional premium.
The third is applicable law. The policy itself may be governed by English law (or the law of the country in which it is issued), but the substantive law applicable to the underlying claim is the law of the jurisdiction where the work was performed. An Irish-law claim being defended under an English-governed PI policy is normal; the question is whether the insurer’s appointed defence panel can resource it properly.
Brexit removed the UK from the Brussels Recast Regulation regime for jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments within the EU. The UK applied to accede to the Lugano Convention but at the time of writing has not been admitted. The position on cross-border enforcement therefore depends on the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005 (to which the UK acceded independently in 2020) and on residual common law and bilateral arrangements. The practical effect is that judgments are still enforceable both ways across the border, but the route is less automatic than it was pre-2021, and insurers are alive to that risk.
Notification rules under both UK and Irish regimes follow the same claims-made architecture, but the two policies may have different notification triggers, different definitions of “circumstance”, and different aggregation language. A circumstance notified properly under one wording is not automatically notified under the other.
Take a hypothetical mid-sized accountancy firm with offices in Newry and Dundalk, registered with CAI and with combined fee income of £6m. The firm acts on a cross-border restructuring and is later sued in Dublin by the receiver for negligent advice on a transaction valued at €4m.
The firm holds a single PI policy through its CAI placement with worldwide territorial limits and jurisdiction extended to include the Republic of Ireland at the full £5m limit. Notification is given in the period of insurance. Defence is run through Irish counsel under the policy, with the UK-based insurer’s claims team coordinating. The settlement of €2.6m is paid by the insurer in euros, with the firm bearing its self-insured excess.
Had the firm held two separate policies — a UK PI policy capped at jurisdiction of England and Wales only, plus an Irish placement at €1.5m — the Dublin claim would have fallen outside the UK policy’s jurisdiction clause and exhausted the Irish policy. The shortfall would have come out of partners’ capital.
Apex’s view: Cross-border PI is the area where we see the largest gap between what firms believe they are buying and what the wording actually delivers. Most NI firms with Dublin work have the territorial limits right and the jurisdiction wrong. We would rather extend jurisdiction by endorsement at a modest premium than litigate a coverage dispute in two jurisdictions after the fact. If your current broker cannot explain in one sentence how your jurisdiction clause reads, that is a sign.
Apex Insurance Brokers serves UK professional services firms and commercial businesses. Call 0117 325 0027, email hello@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk, or request a quotation.
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