Firebond woo solicitors

Caught up in Cambridge with David Hinks, managing director of specialist and affinity broker Fircbond Plc and his colleague Ian Sadler, special products manager, who is masterminding the launch of their new legal expenses and rehabilitation policy under the Fast + Aid brand.

An enthusiastic

Mr Hinks claims the new product will open up this market by providing plaintiff legal firms and solicitors with the financial muscle to address claimants' needs for medical and rehabilitation services at the time they are needed. "The insurance industry and the legal profession have been discussing proactive rehabilitation for years, but until now no-one has provided the plaintiff with the magic ingredient - money up front."

He says it's all very well for the defendant insurers to offer their own services, but these present an obvious potential for conflicts of interest and the removal of control clearly dilutes the abilities of the plaintiff legal advisor to provide best advice and service to their client. "Rehabilitation should not be a bargaining chip in the cut and thrust of litigation, and its delivery should not be wholly dependent on the defendant's acceptance of liability and views as to its content. It must be based on need and best practice and as such be liability neutral. This new low cost policy provides the first tangible solution to the problem, as well as addressing shortcomings in the current provision of legal expenses insurance and some so called 'accident management' facilities."

Mr Sadler took up the theme of the recent ills of the LEI market place, but I won't steal his thunder since I may be able to persuade him to put pen to paper for a future article. The more immediate proposition he advocates is that the legal fraternity have a tremendous opportunity to take control of the future distribution of LEI products and associated services by getting together with specialist insurance intermediaries - in this case Firebond - and taking advantage of the impact that incoming FSA regulation will make on the market place. "The changing face of insurance distribution will, in my opinion, have an unavoidable impact on the high street broker landscape - simply look at the fare of HHH. But, the clients still walk the same streets and a high percentage still want a client relationship with a trusted, local and professional advisor. Which high street professional now meets the profile?" he asks provocatively.

"The future lies in solicitors, specialist intermediaries, and insurers looking closely at the links in the current supply chain, and cutting out those that do not add value, or are not compliant. This cull will include a large number of existing legal expenses coverholder and claims management companies who frankly have no role in the delivery of regulated insurance products. Remove these single purpose organisations that add little or no tangible value to the transaction, concentrate on fulfilling the requirements and expectations of the real client, and the products will become cheaper to buy, more transparent in construction and profitable to operate."

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David Hinks and Ian Sadler

He adds that LRI is just part of the product on offer. "The goal is to give any legal practice a tangible relevance in the minds of clients, who up until now have been in large part treated as a disposable resource, of value only for the single transaction introduced by a claims management or legal expenses company. Solicitors need to seek out insurance intermediaries who have made the necessary investments in skills and technology delivery necessary to support their propositions, and who stand ready to offer access to new income streams, and a readymade range of compliant personal insurance products in the solicitor's own brand, with no added expense or additional burden."

Hmm... that reference to treating clients as a 'disposable resource' is a reminder that it was not that long ago that many high street brokers thought the same way about their callers.

So how does Mr Sadler see the current LEI product evolving? "The UK market will never mirror the established continental European model. There is simply no perception of either need or worth in the UK consumers' mind and the market has been price conditioned by low value ULR and 'funded - no win no cost' ATE solutions. The answer lies in a flexible contract, a hybrid of BTE and ATE, aimed at elements of need, realistically costed, and funded by a combination of rational risk premium, transparent commission earnings, and solicitor payments via introducer payments and/or fee sharing. This will work thanks to the development of new routes to market, supported by serious ICT resource that removes the historic administrative road blocks, that are fully in tune with regulation, and not reliant on intermediary sector ULR , or freelancing and transient accident management operations."

Contact: Ian Sadler Tel. 07966 479213

Website: www.fastaid.biz