The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has produced a consultation on possible changes to its professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover for conveyancers and probate lawyers which raises the issue as to whether stand-alone cyber insurance should be made to be mandatory .
The last review of CLC PII arrangements was undertaken in 2016, prompting the move to an open market scheme based on standard Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC) and governed by a Participating Insurers Agreement (PIA). The agreement means that CLC-regulated practices can seek cover from any insurer who is part of the scheme, with a £2 million minimum level of cover for every claim including run-off cover should firms close.
The issue of cyber cover is one which has also been raised recently by the SRA who consulted on the matter earlier in the year and whose comments following that consultation were published in October 2021.
Over the years, the risk of cyber-attacks on individuals and businesses has increased and, year on year, the size and scale of these attacks has changed with law firms being exposed to increased cyber risks because, for example, they hold and transfer large sums of money and hold sensitive corporate and personal data. Some PII insurers already requiring their insureds to take out stand-alone cyber insurance to cover the costs of restoration and their have been suggestions in many quarters that the cover should be compulsory.
For those Infolegal subscriber firms that have, or are considering, cyber cover we are in the process of producing a policy for the authorisation of electronic funds authorisation which will be available from the InfoHub shortly.
The CLC PII proposal can be found here and the SRA consultation here.