The Problem
When a solicitors practice ceases to trade, it is required to acquire ‘Run-off’ insurance cover. This is a regulatory requirement imposed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that ensures consumers are compensated for claims that arise after a firm has closed.
Unless there is a successor practice in place, solicitors who cease practice require to buy six years’ run-off cover of £2m (or £3m for LLPs or companies) on an ‘each and every claim’ basis, at a premium typically twice or thrice the annual premium.
So for the retiring solicitor, money put aside for a nest egg becomes money that has to be spent on a regulatory liability.
A Law Society survey of 560 firms, published on 29 April 2016, found Professional Indemnity insurance renewals in 2015/16 had reduced in cost by an average of 8% but that the median cost of Run-off cover went up from last year’s 250% to 300% of the annual premium.
Source: The Law Society Gazette
The Programme
Coplexia is announcing the development of the Legal Services ‘Continuum’ (LSC) Programme to help solicitor practices improve the quality of legal service delivery and ensure economic success–working together as #VirtuallyOne practice.
The LSC will also utilises the provisions of the Legal Services Act 2007 to enable LSC Programme Partners to work together as virtually one practice, bound to a single Alternative Business Structure (ABS). While the programme provides Coplexia with ‘owner’ and ‘manager’ duties (as defined by the SRA), solicitors will be regarded as ‘internal customers’ and provided with the co-operational support and services required to succeed through a non-profit focused Shared Services Centre (SSC).
Under the mentorship of senior solicitors sitting on the LSC Programme Steering & Commissioning Boards, the SSC will help programme participants to continually improve productivity, efficiencies and quality of service through a portfolio of change and transformational projects designed with the busy legal professionals’ constraints in mind. Coplexia Collaborative-Business Readiness Assurance (Co-BRA) Consultants will help participants to align their people, platforms (real and virtual workplaces) and operational processes behind a shared vision of success, working together for both their collective and respective interests.
LSC programme partners continue to practice under their own respective trading names, require no major investment to join the partnership (they simply reapportion existing operational expenditures as capital introduced), and retain up to 85% of earned fees – making the LSC Programme the most attractive option for solicitors practices of any size and legal professionals of any age.
The LSC programme has been particularly welcome news for senior solicitors with long-established practices who enjoy the idea of mentoring a young dynamic team of junior partners and trainees, while gradually reducing their own workload as part of an overall exit strategy and personal retirement plan. Solicitors are particularly happy about ensuring their loyal customers continue to be well looked after under the familiar they have grown to trust.
The Promise
Amongst the many Programme Outcomes & Benefits mutually agreed by the Programme Partners, the LSC programme promises:-
- PII and other compliance needs professionally taken care of;
- Practice succession as an inherent benefit;
- Referral business opportunities from across the LSC and other collaborative structures; and
- Focus on growth and economic success for all.
Programme Enrolment
To ensure your privacy and the confidentiality of all other programme partners, a standard Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (MNDA) will need to be exchanged prior to in-depth talks.
In the first instance, we ask that interested parties simply use the contact form below for a member of the programme management team to get in touch.