By David Pipkin, Non-Executive Director
(Estimated reading time: 2 minutes 45 seconds)
Below we take a brief look back at 2022 to give you a sense of where we might be headed during the coming months. There’s the “Paul” case, the retirement of Paul Bonner, new beginnings and plenty more.
In what was a very busy 2022, a considerable amount of time was spent visiting law firms and attending events throughout the year discussing topical issues impacting the future of clinical negligence litigation. On many occasions it became clear how disbursement funding was becoming ever more important for claimants in these tough economic times.
We gave our take on what we heard at various conferences and continued to comment on issues such as proposed regulatory and procedural changes. We also highlighted a number of significant case decisions, notably the secondary victims’ case of “Paul” – one which Temple insured and has continued to insure for the forthcoming appeal hearing. There was also a multimillion-pound settlement for a case previously abandoned before being taken up by new solicitors and insured by Temple.
We published several newsletters during the year focusing on what we felt were important and practical issues that might affect the ATE insurance market. This included fixed costs for lower-value clinical negligence claims, other potential litigation reforms and the developing position for mediation, especially for clinical negligence cases.
Elsewhere, it was the end of an era when our Senior Underwriter Paul Bonner announced his retirement. Paul had been one of the pioneers of ATE insurance underwriting and with Temple for two decades! However, we were pleased to welcome several new members to our team including John Durbin as a senior Business Development Manager. John has a wealth of experience in the ATE market. You will hear more, much more from him and all the new members of the team over the coming months.
By the end of last year, and continuing into this year, it became clear that Temple is now working with more top quality clinical negligence lawyers than ever before. We have also increased our volumes of work with personal injury and industrial disease lawyers; overall maintaining a diverse book of business – something reflected in Temples’ appetite for clinical negligence risks of all types.
So, what about the year ahead from Temple?
- Following a thorough review of our cover and processes and having listening to our many law firm partners our new Optimum clinical negligence ATE insurance is ready to go. In a rapidly evolving marketplace for claimant clinical negligence law firms we hope this product ‘ticks all the boxes’ for you.
- We look forward to continuing to deliver excellent service to our customer law firms, as well as developing new business partnerships – whilst ensuring we remain one of the leading ATE insurance providers offering disbursement funding for personal injury and clinical negligence cases.
- Our online systems will continue to be developed, so they continue to deliver even quicker and easier access for coverholders, with minimal reporting obligations.
For the bigger picture, we do not have a crystal ball to predict when and which legal reforms might change the landscape but by working collaboratively with our partners we aim to be ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.
Why not talk to Temple about your ATE insurance and disbursement funding requirements? Call our Senior Business Development Manager, John Durbin on 07917 146290 or email to arrange an in-person or virtual meeting.
David Pipkin
Non-Executive Director
David Pipkin
David was Director of Temple’s Underwriting Division for 14 years during which time he supported Temple’s coverholders with his exceptional knowledge, expert guidance and friendly countenance.
He is now a Non-Executive member of the board supporting the strategic direction of the company and attending key events and meetings with our customers.
David has spent over 40 years as a Legal Executive specialising in personal injury litigation. Initially, he was a claimant litigator pursuing leading industrial accident and disease cases.
As an Associate at Davies Arnold Cooper for over a decade he managed a team of lawyers and acted for defendants in personal injury and general insurance litigation. In this role, he became involved in the early development of the ATE market, assisting the ABI in their involvement in the Court of Appeal test cases such as Callery v Gray.
As the London representative for FOIL he was involved in the liability insurers’ approach to ATE and worked with the government and judiciary in several key consultations. He was a member of the CILEX National Council for over 15 years and was CILEX President in 1995/6.
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