Professional indemnity broker · Solicitors · UK

Professional indemnity insurance broker for solicitors

SRA-compliant professional indemnity for sole practitioners, partnerships, LLPs and ABS firms — placed by a named broker who re-markets your risk rather than rolling it over.

Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex

In short

Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for solicitors and law firms across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue. For solicitors that means Minimum Terms and Conditions cover from an SRA participating insurer — £2m or £3m any one claim depending on your structure — plus top-up layers, run-off and successor-practice advice where you need it.

Who this page is for

Sole practitioners, partnerships, LLPs and alternative business structures regulated by the SRA.
Firms whose renewal has been rolled over for years without a proper re-marketing exercise.
Firms with a claims record, a high conveyancing proportion, or an insurer that has withdrawn or non-renewed.
New firms needing their first SRA-compliant policy before they can be authorised to practise.
Firms merging, acquiring, or closing — where successor-practice and run-off questions need answering before the deal, not after.

What solicitors’ PI has to do

Solicitors’ PII is the most prescriptive professional indemnity market in the UK. Every firm must hold cover that meets the SRA’s Minimum Terms and Conditions, placed with a participating insurer that has signed up to those terms. The wording is fixed; what varies is the insurer, its financial strength, the excess, the premium, and how the firm is presented.

Underwriters price on fee income, the proportion of conveyancing and commercial property work, claims and circumstances history, supervision and file-review arrangements, and controls against payment-diversion fraud. A firm that presents these well is a different proposition from the same firm on a bare proposal form.

Top-up layers. Many firms carry £5m, £10m or more above the compulsory layer. Top-up cover sits outside the Minimum Terms, so its wording, its insurer and its price all deserve real scrutiny.
Insurer strength. Several unrated insurers that wrote solicitors’ PII have failed over the years. Check the insurer’s financial-strength rating before you bind; it belongs on the quote comparison next to the premium.
Successor practice. Taking over another firm’s clients, staff or name can make you its successor practice and put its past work on your policy. Check this before you agree anything.
Run-off. A firm that closes without a successor must have six years’ run-off cover. The run-off premium is a one-off charge and it needs planning for well ahead of closure.

The minimum cover the SRA requires

Under the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules the compulsory layer must provide at least £3m any one claim for relevant recognised bodies and licensed bodies (LLPs and companies), and at least £2m any one claim for all other firms, including sole practitioners and partnerships. Cover must be on the SRA’s Minimum Terms and Conditions with a participating insurer. There has been no common renewal date since 2013, so a firm can renew — and move — at any point in the year.

A firm that cannot find cover at renewal gets a short extended and cessation period under the SRA’s rules (currently 90 days in total) rather than being uninsured overnight — but it must stop taking new instructions partway through. That is why we start re-marketing early, not in the last fortnight.

How Apex places professional indemnity for solicitors

A short fact-find, not a 40-question form. We ask about your work as solicitors and law firms: what you do, who for, fee income, staff, contracts, claims and anything unusual.
A written presentation to insurers. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you have a duty of fair presentation. We help you meet it — and a well-presented risk gets better terms than a bare proposal form.
Quotes set out to compare. Usually three or four, with limits, excesses, retroactive dates, exclusions and premium side by side, and our recommendation in plain English.
No gap in cover. If you are moving from another broker, insurer or scheme, we put the new policy in place before the old one lapses and check the retroactive date protects your past work.
The same person afterwards. Mid-term changes, contract queries, certificates for clients, circumstance notifications and next year’s renewal all go through your named broker.

Why solicitors move their PI to Apex

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

When it is worth getting a second quote

You have outgrown a professional-body or adviser-network scheme, or an online-only policy, and nobody has re-marketed your risk in years.
A client, lender, framework or regulator now requires a higher limit, a different basis of cover, or evidence your existing broker cannot produce quickly.
Your insurer has non-renewed, withdrawn from your profession, or imposed an exclusion you were not warned about.
Your renewal rose sharply with no explanation, or the person who knew your firm has left, retired, or been absorbed into a consolidator.
You have a claim, a circumstance, a CCJ or something else non-standard, and your current arrangement treats it as a tick-box decline.
Your broker has been bought by a consolidator or a global broker and the independence you chose them for has gone.

None of these needs a falling-out with your current broker. Send us the renewal, we tell you plainly whether you are well placed. If you are, we say so. How switching broker works without a gap in cover →

When we are not the right broker

You want the cheapest possible policy bought online in five minutes with no conversation. An online-only product may suit you better, and we would rather say so than waste your time.
Your regulator or professional body requires you to use one specific scheme with no alternative. That is rare, but where it applies we will tell you.
You are outside the UK, or your firm is effectively a US-domiciled business with a UK office.

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Frequently asked

Can Apex place SRA-compliant PII for a firm with claims?

Usually, yes. A claims history narrows the market but rarely closes it. We present the claims with context — what happened, what changed, what controls are now in place — to insurers who underwrite the firm rather than the headline figures. We cannot guarantee terms, and we will say so early if the market is not there.

Do you arrange PII for new law firms?

Yes. A start-up firm needs a compliant policy in place before the SRA will authorise it. We help with the presentation, the choice of participating insurer, the excess and the timing so the policy starts on the day you need it.

When should a law firm start its PII renewal?

Eight to ten weeks before expiry if your circumstances are straightforward, earlier if you have claims, a large conveyancing book, or an insurer you know is leaving the market. Late presentations get worse terms.

Is the cheapest participating insurer the right choice?

Not necessarily. The compulsory wording is identical, so the differences are the insurer’s financial strength, its claims handling, its appetite to stay in the market next year, and the excess structure. We show you all of that alongside the premium.

Do you arrange run-off cover for closing firms?

Yes. Six years’ run-off is compulsory if there is no successor practice. We can quote it, explain how the premium is calculated, and check whether a merger or sale would make another firm the successor instead.

Can we move our PII to Apex mid-term?

You can appoint us as your broker at any time. The existing policy usually runs to its expiry with us handling it, and we re-market it properly at the next renewal. Nothing lapses in between.

Get your firm’s PII re-marketed properly

Send us your renewal presentation, schedule and claims summary. A named Apex broker will tell you plainly whether you are well placed and what the wider market would offer — no obligation to move. Or call 0117 325 0027.

Get a solicitors’ PII quote → Request a callback

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about professional indemnity insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.