Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 8 July 2026
If you have received a letter of claim, a Preliminary Notice under the Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence, an SRA-related complaint that could develop, or you have identified something in a file that may amount to a circumstance, this entry sets out what a solicitor needs to think about in the first day or two. It covers how notification works under the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions, why the timing is unforgiving, what the regulator expects from you, and what your broker does at this point. Read it once, then pick up the phone.
Solicitors' PI cover is written on a claims-made basis. That means the wording responds to claims and circumstances notified during the period of insurance, not to matters that arose during it. If a circumstance surfaces on the last day of the policy year, it must be notified within that policy year to attach to that year's cover. The Insurance Act 2015 sits underneath this: section 3 imposes the duty of fair presentation at inception, renewal and any material variation, and section 13A gives the insurer a remedy for a breach of the implied term to pay claims within a reasonable time. Late notification is the single most common technical reason claims run into trouble. The point of notifying quickly is not to admit anything — it is to preserve the cover you have already paid for.
A claim under the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions does not have to be a court proceeding. It can be a letter, an email, a demand, a telephone call from a client or their new solicitor, or an internal note that a reasonable partner in the firm would read as a possible claim. The wording standard is that a fact, matter, event or circumstance which may reasonably be expected to give rise to a claim must be notified. The test is objective. Once someone in the firm has spotted it, the clock has effectively started. If in any doubt, notify. Circumstance notifications do not automatically become claims and they do not automatically move a firm to a higher premium tier at renewal.
The SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC) sit at the centre of solicitors' PI. Every qualifying insurer must write to them. The MTC set the minimum limit of indemnity, the aggregation wording, the run-off requirement for closed firms, the successor practice rules, and the position on notification and defence costs. Alongside the MTC, the SRA Standards and Regulations govern how you handle the underlying client relationship and complaint (see paragraph 3 and 8 of the Code of Conduct for Solicitors), and the SRA's disciplinary and enforcement processes may run alongside a civil claim. Where the matter touches on money laundering, the Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) guidance and the SRA's AML thematic reviews frame the regulatory response. A notification to your insurer and any parallel report to the SRA are separate exercises — both may be needed.
Do not respond to the claimant, or the claimant's new solicitor, on the substance until you have notified your broker. Preserve every file, every email, every attendance note, every voicemail. Do not backfill a note or "tidy up" a matter file. Do not admit liability, make an ex gratia payment, or float a settlement figure in correspondence. Notify your broker straightaway; the broker handles the notification to the insurer under the MTC wording and manages what happens next. If there is a live limitation or court deadline in the underlying matter, tell the broker in the first conversation — that changes the sequence. If the same conduct may need reporting to the SRA under the reporting rules, treat that as a separate track and take it seriously in parallel.
A named broker who has run solicitors' notifications before will take the summary from you, prepare and submit the notification to the insurer in the form the wording requires, protect your position against arguments about scope and late notification, and manage the appointment of defence solicitors from the insurer's approved panel. From there the broker deals with the reservation of rights letter (if one is issued), the reserve conversation and any coverage questions that arise as the file develops. On aggregation questions under the MTC — where similar acts or omissions across multiple client matters are treated as one claim — the broker frames the argument with the insurer at the earliest stage. Apex is a broker, not an insurer or a defence firm; the broker handles the notification and manages the process with the insurer's appointed defence panel. That is the technical work where broker experience earns its keep.
Not because Apex clients do not have claims. Solicitors have claims — the profession is exposed by design. Apex clients renew because when a matter arose, the notification was made properly, the year's cover attached, and the firm reached the next renewal in a position to place terms on the merits rather than under a cloud. That is what the notification stage is for.
Notification urgent?
If a matter has just arisen, call now. Late notification is one of the largest single reasons claims get declined. A named broker will pick up the phone and start the notification with you.