US & Canada jurisdiction

Professional indemnity and cyber for UK firms with US-based clients

Yes — Apex places professional indemnity and cyber insurance for UK firms whose clients are based in the United States, on worldwide territorial limits and jurisdiction that includes the USA and Canada. If your clients can bring a claim in a US court, this is the cover you need — and it is exactly what a UK-only or ‘worldwide excluding USA/Canada’ policy leaves out.

Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex

Yes — we place USA and Canada jurisdiction

The confusion that stops firms enquiring is the difference between two things a policy defines separately:

• Territorial limits — where the work is done or the incident happens. A UK firm working entirely from the UK often assumes UK territorial limits are enough.
• Jurisdiction — which courts can hear a claim against you. If your client is in New York or California, a dispute is likely to be brought in a US court, whatever your territorial limits say.

So a UK firm doing all its work from the UK for US clients still needs US and Canadian jurisdiction — not just worldwide territorial limits. The two are explained in full in our guides to territorial and jurisdiction limits and worldwide jurisdiction cover. The short version: check the wording, because ‘worldwide excluding USA/Canada’ is common, and for you it is the exclusion that matters most.

Why US jurisdiction changes the placement

US jurisdiction is placed differently from UK-only cover, and it is worth understanding why rather than being surprised by it:

• The US legal environment. Larger awards, class actions, contingency-fee arrangements and a more claimant-friendly system mean insurers assess US-facing risks more carefully.
• Not every insurer writes it. Some standard UK schemes simply exclude USA and Canada, which is why a firm with US clients can be told ‘no’ by a market that was never going to help.
• It is a specialist, not an exotic, placement. Lloyd’s syndicates and specialist insurers write UK professional indemnity and cyber with US jurisdiction every day — the job is to take your risk to the ones with genuine appetite for it.
• It usually costs more. Reflecting all of the above, expect US-jurisdiction cover to be rated above UK-only cover. We return competing terms so you can weigh them.

None of this makes the risk unplaceable. It makes the choice of insurer, and the way the risk is presented, the thing that decides whether you get sensible terms.

Who this is for

This is the cover for any UK firm invoicing US clients. The service you provide shapes the exposure:

UK firm	Why US jurisdiction matters
Marketing, creative and content agencies	Campaign, advertising and IP claims from US clients, brought in US courts
Management and strategy consultants	Advice acted on by a US business, with US-scale losses alleged
Software, SaaS and IT consultants	Performance, integration and data claims from US customers
Designers, engineers and technical consultants	Deliverables relied on by US clients under US-law contracts
Recruiters, researchers and other B2B services	Contractual and negligence claims under US client agreements

If you work in technology specifically, our technology professional-indemnity guide covers how limits are set, and if you are expanding overseas more generally, the same jurisdiction question runs through the whole programme.

Cyber cover for US clients and US data

US clients change your cyber exposure as much as your professional indemnity, and for the same reason: a US data subject or client can pursue you under US rules.

• US breach-notification and privacy regimes. If you hold data on US individuals, a breach can trigger state notification duties and regulatory exposure that a UK-focused policy may not contemplate.
• US-style liability. Class actions and third-party claims following a breach are a real feature of the US market, so cyber for US-facing work is written with that in mind.
• Placed alongside your PI. Professional indemnity and cyber are separate policies with different insurers, but we arrange both together so the jurisdiction and the exposures line up. See cyber insurance.

What we need to place it

To take a US-jurisdiction risk to market, an insurer wants a clear picture. The more complete your presentation, the better the terms — so we help you put it together:

• Your fee income split by territory — UK, Europe, USA/Canada and rest of world — so the US exposure is clear.
• What you actually do, in plain terms, and the contracts and indemnities you sign with US clients.
• Who else touches the work — subcontractors or overseas contractors with access to client systems or data.
• The data you handle on behalf of clients and their customers.
• Any claims or circumstances across your liability lines — declared fully and in writing, which protects you as much as the insurer.

For firms with genuinely international client bases, our guide to cross-border PI for UK professionals with international clients goes wider still.

Why place US-jurisdiction cover through Apex

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 UK firms serving clients in the United States and Canada 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.

• 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.

Frequently asked

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 and cyber insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.