Master Policy

For the majority of practice changes (eg - the assumption of a new partner, the retiral of a partner, the opening of a new office) there will be no mid-term premium adjustments.

Where you have given a 'Criminal Court Undertaking' and that is revoked during the course of the Insurance Year, there WOULD be an additional premium payable - on a pro-rata basis. 

Similarly, in case of a merger, de-merger or closure, there may be mid-term premium implications.  You should contact us at the earliest opportunity to discuss your particular circumstances in more detail.

You should let us know, as broker to the Master Policy, of any concerns you have regarding any claim reserves.    Thereafter, you can either liaise directly with the relevant insurer or through Lockton if you prefer.

If the matter is not resolved, there is provision for arbitration.  If your dispute relates to a reserve that was used to calculate your Master Policy premium for the current Insurance Year, you should note that there a time limit for invoking arbitration - currently 31st December immediately following the relevant Master Policy renewal. 

Please note - there is a 'snap shot' taken of the claims position for each firm as at 1st June each year, which is used as the basis for determining any premium discounts or loadings as may apply. 

Intimating a claim does not necessarily have any impact on your premium, and, for the avoidance of doubt, it will never cause you to have to pay an additional premium mid-term.

Your premium is calculated in accordance with the Rates & Rating Rules, as summarised in our Master Policy Guide.  A 'snapshot' of the claims position is taken as at 1st June prior to renewal. 

Only notifications which are actual claims (rather than precautionary circumstances) and have a positive amount either paid or reserved, as at 1st June, will impact on your premium.

Yes.   It is a requirement of your Master Policy certificate that you notify all claims/potential claims (via Lockton) "regardless of any Self-Insured Amount". 

Notifying all such matters promptly not only protects you, in the event that the claim becomes more costly that you envisaged, it also means that the intimation 'falls off' your 5 year record earlier.   

Precautionary notifications, and claims with a zero reserve, have no impact on your Practice's loss ratio (and therefore do not negatively impact on your premium) so we would always encourage firms to intimate matters early

If you are a Principal in an existing legal practice covered by the Master Policy, you will have a copy of the Schedule of Insurance for your firm's Master Policy cover saved on your secure Lockton client portal.  We will have sent details of this to our principal insurance contact at your firm.

You can download a copy of the full Master Policy wording from the logged-in pages of our website.  If you do not already have a log-in, contact us, and subject to some checks, we can set you up with log-in details.

Lockton is the sole broker, appointed by the Law Society of Scotland, to place and administer the Master Policy on your behalf.  We are paid for this on a fee basis - details of which are set out in the Master Policy Rates & Rating-factor Rules, and our Terms of Business.  Our Terms of Business also govern any other insurances or services that we provide you with.