The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) last month confirmed the names of the 136 firms which have been forced to close since 29 December, having not secured professional indemnity insurance (PII).
The list of firms, which the SRA said it published in the interests of protecting consumers and third parties, includes Alastair J Brett, the London-based firm set up by the former legal director of The Times newspaper, who was recently suspended over the Nightjack case.
The SRA says it is carrying out a ‘full analysis’ of all those firms that entered the 90-day extended policy period (EPP), which kicked in on 1 October, with firms still without PII on 1 November unable to take on new work. ‘The majority of these firms have closed properly, dealing with client files and monies appropriately, and have fully co-operated with the SRA. There is no evidence that these firms practised without indemnity insurance.
‘There are a small number of firms that failed to close properly and they are subject to ongoing robust action,’ it said.
The EPP was introduced for the first time last year to replace the assigned risks pool (ARP).
The list published by the SRA has since been criticised as misleading, after some law firms listed said they did not take insurance cover for other reasons, such as plans to merge or sole practitioners with retirement plans.