By David Pipkin, Underwriting Director
(Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 14 seconds)
In their most recent in-house roundtable event, The Law Society Gazette reported delegates commenting on the increasing amount of litigation and the size of claim. One factor was said to be increased litigation funding with the funders wanting large value cases with high prospects of success. But did no mention of After the Event (ATE) insurance mean an apparent but substantial knowledge gap among in-house lawyers?
It was a surprise there was no mention of ATE or Litigation insurance, which has been available for over 20 years. Traditionally, private law firms have taken up this insurance for selected clients but it has not gained a mainstream place in law firm’s offerings until recently. Now we are seeing a significant number of commercial lawyers realising the potential of such insurance to protect their clients.
Undoubtedly though there still seems to be a substantial knowledge gap with in-house lawyers. Here at Temple we are keen to engage with in-house lawyers; this is in order to provide them with the knowledge and our experience in finding a solution to the adverse costs of pursuing commercial litigation.
We encourage in-house lawyers to get in touch and start a dialogue to see how we can help. If you are commercial litigator in a private practice but on a corporate legal panel – are you exploiting the potential of ATE insurance with your in-house client lawyers?
Please call our Commercial Underwriters on 01483 577877 to find out more about the benefits of ATE/litigation insurance for your firm.
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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