Experts in Professional and Management Liabilities

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Professional and Management Liabilities: Helping insurers and insureds minimise their exposures

We are experts in a wide range of financial sector professional indemnity claims. Our specialist lawyers and qualified accountants are also well versed in company law and have extensive experience of handling claims that arise from management liabilities.  Combining our corporate expertise with legal knowledge allows us to manage claims in a way that helps insurers and insureds minimise their exposures.

We deal with these claims internationally.  In addition to the UK, we have experience of legal systems in off-shore jurisdictions including the British Virgin, Cayman and Channel Islands, and on-shore, particularly across Europe, the Middle East – served by our Dubai based lawyers – and Latin America.

We deal with claims involving

Accountants

IFAs

Investment and fund managers

Pensions professionals

Misselling reviews and FCA investigations

Insurance brokers

Solicitors

IT and media professionals

Public officials

Design and Construction Professionals

Professional Indemnity: Helping insurers achieve the best solution with less incidence of litigation

The professional expertise and experience of our team allow us to offer an integrated claims handling service for professions claims. By ensuring that we have all the necessary skills in-house, including qualified solicitors and accountants, we provide a multi-disciplinary approach that minimises spend on other professional input.

When dealing with these claims, we are always aware that the insured’s business may be at stake. We also seek to address any reputational issues effectively. As fellow professionals we are able to understand how an insured’s problem has arisen and then engage with them to resolve the issue.

We take a proactive approach to the investigation and handling of claims aimed at achieving cost effective results and, where appropriate, early resolution. Overall claims spend is always a focus. Some claims are, of course, to be robustly defended and for those matters that do progress to litigation we are accustomed to managing those claims through to resolution. We often work closely with insurers’ appointed solicitors and external counsel, encouraging a collaborative approach to dispute resolution. Our experts provide practical assistance and guidance to insureds and insurers in the pre-action stages of litigation. This includes advice on navigating the Pre-Action Protocol processes for resolving disputes under the Civil Procedure Rules and either drafting correspondence on behalf of insureds or engaging directly with claimants and/or their solicitors.

We frequently participate in mediations and other forms of ADR where this is the best way of resolving a claim. Our experienced staff have excellent communication skills and will defend the insured’s position with tact and tenacity. We are happy to take a lead or supporting role depending on the requirements of the case. Typically, we work in tandem with solicitors where cases are in litigation or arbitration in order to provide fast and effective advice.

Our expertise comes from our professional qualifications and our experience, which is long-standing and wide-ranging.

Our capabilities in the professional indemnity arena

We help defend third party claims against insureds. We assess the initial complaint and assist with discovery and document production; we analyse and advise on the quantum providing insight and recommendations to assist the litigation strategy; we also assist with the review and preparation of evidence and the management of other professional experts. Our aim is to help our clients present the most persuasive case possible based on the available evidence.

We advise on policy coverage, having expertise in issues such as year of attachment, the scope of cover under the insuring clause, aggregation, mitigation costs and the application of exclusions.

We also frequently consider the extent of cover in the context of FCA and other regulatory investigations. We have extensive knowledge of Past Business Reviews, typically overseeing the work being undertaken and working to reconcile the interests of the regulator and insurers. We do so in the UK and have also participated in international arbitration proceedings in other jurisdictions.

Types of management liability claims we deal with:

Directors and officers liability

Employment practices liability

Types of management liability

Warranty and indemnity insurance


For directors and officers claims we work closely with the insured persons, their brokers and counsel to monitor the defence strategies adopted. As well as advising on coverage, we assist insurers in managing defence costs, ensuring those Directors and officers liability.

Our capabilities in the management liability arena


  • Advising insurers on complex coverage issues, including year of attachment, aggregation, allocation, and the application of exclusions
  • Maintaining bordereaux to manage indemnity payments efficiently within policy limits
  • Management and administration of defence costs, including reviewing invoices for reasonableness and ensuring that costs are covered by the policy and remain within appropriate budgets
  • Monitoring developments in the underlying litigation or official investigation and working closely with brokers and counsel regarding the defence strategies adopted
  • Claims arising under PL extensions
  • Facilitating the settlement of claims where appropriate
  • Assisting insurers with multiple notifications involving the same insured individuals
  • Reporting clearly, with an appropriate level of detail and at appropriate intervals, all agreed in advance with the insurer
  • Identifying and dealing with reputational issues, by reference to the policyholder, their directors and insurers
  • Managing multiple defence counsel to streamline the defence of claims and to avoid the duplication of costs
  • Promoting cooperation between insured individuals in instances of divergence and conflicting defences

It is our unique ability to blend accountancy and legal skills that gives us the edge. We have extensive experience of regulatory investigations in the financial sector both in the UK and overseas. We are experienced in HMRC and CMA investigations into directors' conduct. We assist insurers with Environment Agency claims against both individual directors and corporate entities. We also assist insurers regularly with off-shore trust matters, minority shareholder disputes, claims against corporate service providers and claims involving directors' duties in the context of insolvencies and administrations.

Members of our team have acted as expert witnesses in a range of disputes. We fully understand the extensive work involved in preparing expert testimony and can communicate complex information confidently and concisely.

Our team

Meet the Professional and Management Liabilities experts

Hetle Soni

Director

Hetle Soni is a true specialist in financial crime losses, management liability and professional indemnity claims.  She deals with matters in the UK, offshore and internationally.

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Edward Maddison

Director

Edward Maddison is ASL’s senior commercial director. Insurers have long benefited from his unrivalled experience and expertise on some of the largest and most complex notifications in the financial lines market.

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Elinor Lamerton

Associate Director

Elinor Lamerton is a lawyer with commercial acumen and long-standing experience of professional and financial risks. Elinor joined ASL’s London office from RPC, where she managed complex and often multi-party litigation and arbitration disputes.

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Erika Hinojosa

Director

Insurers choose Erika Hinojosa to resolve some of the most complex and high value claims sustained by leading banks and corporations in Spain and across the Americas.

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Stephen Ixer

Director

Stephen Ixer handles financial sector crime and liability assignments across Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Robert Lloyd

Director

Robert Lloyd is recognised across the financial lines market for his problem solving and for delivering exactly what ASL’s client insurers want.

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James Vincent

Director

James Vincent leads the multi-disciplinary loss adjusting team at ASL’s office in Dubai and is responsible for the firm’s business throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions.

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Ruth Willmington

Director

Ruth Willmington leads ASL’s crime offering, having market leading experience of investigating, analysing and reporting on complex crime.

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Kunal Benodekar

Associate Director - Dubai Office

Kunal Benodekar specialises in financial institutions, crime and cyber claims throughout the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia Pacific. He is based in ASL’s Dubai office.

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Claudia Houlihan

Associate Director

Claudia Houlihan deals with first party losses and third party exposures sustained by financial institutions in every continent. She is bilingual in English and Portuguese.

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Sandy Kapoor

Head of Dubai Office

Sandy is Head of our Dubai Office and has extensive experience handling financial institutions, crime, cyber and professional indemnity claims throughout the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe.

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Joanne Raby

Associate Director

Jo Raby is a chartered accountant who works across a wide range of financial crime, professional indemnity, cyber and forensic accounting assignments.

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Alison Horne

Associate Director - Dubai Office

Alison Horne is a qualified solicitor, with long-standing experience of the most complex of financial institutions, crime, cyber, professional indemnity and political risk claims.

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Alexandra Fielding

Senior Adjuster

Alex Fielding is an experienced lawyer specialising in professional liability. Alex joined ASL from Kennedys’ London office.

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Ayda Hajihosseinloo

Senior Adjuster

Ayda Hajihosseinloo qualified as a solicitor with Norton Rose Fulbright, before joining ASL’s London-based team.

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Jolanta Wichtowski

Associate Director

Jola is a member of ASL’s multi-disciplinary loss adjusting team dealing with crime and other financial sector losses.

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Maxime Gross

Adjuster

Max Gross is part of ASL’s multi-disciplinary team based at our London office. He handles a wide range of financial lines and cyber claims on behalf of insurers around the world.

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