PII, Run-Off Cover and the Consultant Solicitor

Professional indemnity insurance is the most expensive item on every law firm's budget and the least understood by most fee earners. As a consultant solicitor practising through a platform firm, you don't arrange your own primary cover — the firm does — but the implications of that arrangement reach into your work, your fees, and what happens if something goes wrong years from now.

The SRA minimum terms

Every SRA-regulated firm in England and Wales must hold PII on the SRA's minimum terms and conditions, which set the minimum cover at £2 million per claim (£3 million for firms structured as LLPs or limited companies). This is the floor, not the ceiling. The minimum terms also dictate things that can't be excluded, the run-off obligations on closure, and the position of the insured firm versus the insurer. The full minimum terms and conditions are published by the SRA — the current version is available at sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/indemnity-insurance-rules.

What your platform firm covers

On every reputable platform firm, the consultant is named on the firm's policy and benefits from the firm's PII cover for work done within the firm's authorisation. The limit of indemnity is whatever the firm has bought — usually substantially more than the SRA minimum, often £10 million, sometimes higher depending on the firm's practice mix. Check the limit. If your work routinely exceeds it (very large transactions, high-value litigation, multi-jurisdictional commercial work), you may need top-up cover and the firm may require it.

What is — and isn't — covered

The minimum terms cover claims arising from the practice of law within the firm's authorisation. Things consistently outside cover: work done outside the firm (this is why you cannot do private side-projects without telling the firm), work outside reserved or authorised activities, fraud, criminal conduct, and certain categories of regulatory penalty. The grey area, and the area that catches consultants out most often, is “was this matter done as part of the firm or not?” If you're unsure, the answer is always “tell the firm and put it through the file opening process.” Doing favours off the books is the single fastest way to find yourself uninsured.

Run-off cover

This is the bit nobody enjoys talking about. Run-off cover is the PII that continues after a firm closes, covering claims that arise from work done before closure but notified afterwards. The SRA minimum is six years of run-off, and the cost is significant — typically two to three times the annual premium, payable in advance on closure.

For a consultant on a platform firm, this matters because you are not the one buying run-off — the firm is. But your work is covered by it. If your platform firm closed tomorrow, your liability for the work you have done in their name continues, and the run-off cover is what protects you. This is one of the strongest practical reasons to choose a platform firm with a healthy balance sheet, a long track record, and no realistic prospect of closure. It is also a reason to be cautious about smaller, newer platforms that might struggle to fund a run-off premium if they ever needed to.

What happens if you leave the firm

When a consultant leaves a platform firm, the firm's PII continues to cover the work the consultant did while they were there — that's how claims-made policies work. You don't need to buy your own run-off when you leave; the firm's policy responds. But if you move to a new firm, you should make sure the new firm's policy doesn't carry exclusions for prior acts (most don't, but check), and you should keep records of your time at each firm in case a claim ever needs to be allocated.

The excess and what it costs you

Every PII policy has an excess — the amount the insured firm pays before the insurer steps in. Some platform firms absorb the excess centrally; others allocate it to the consultant whose matter triggered the claim. This is one of the most important questions to ask before joining a platform: who pays the excess if there's a claim on my matter, and what is it? It can be tens of thousands of pounds per claim. The answer should be in your consultant agreement.

The boring but essential discipline

The single biggest determinant of whether you ever face a claim is your file discipline. Clear engagement letters with scope of retainer. Written advice for everything that matters. Proper handover notes. Confirming oral advice in writing. Keeping proper records. None of this is glamorous; all of it works. The consultant who is rigorous about these things rarely faces a claim, and if they do, the file usually defends itself.