Spotlight On...

Nicholas Robson, Commercial Litigation underwriter at LawAssist Q

Please introduce yourself, your role and your firm.

My name is Nick Robson. Originally from Australia, where I trained as a Lawyer, I joined LawAssist in 2009 as a Commercial litigation underwriter responsible for assessing all the Commercial and Insolvency claims submitted to us, as well as providing support to our Solicitor clients with the running of their cases.

LawAssist provides After the Event (ATE) insurance for a full range of litigation claims undertaken by individuals or businesses. We work closely with Solicitor firms so that we understand each client case and provide the right insurance protection.

As extra benefit and security, LawAssist is owned by DAS, the UK's leading legal expenses insurance company. DAS is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is A- rated with Standard and Poor's, which underlines their financial stability and security.

Q What is After the Event Insurance?

After the Event insurance or ATE is a type of insurance that protects the client against the financial risk involved with bringing a Civil or Commercial litigation claim. ATE insurance provides a level playing field enabling small businesses to pursue claims against much larger/richer organisations without the fear of cost implications should their claim be unsuccessful.

Q

How does After the Event Insurance work?

The first port of call for any legal assistance should be through a solicitor who has a responsibility to explain all the funding options including the benefits of ATE insurance. If the solicitor feels that the client has a good case, the details will be sent to LawAssist for a free insurance assessment. If the case is suitable for ATE insurance a quotation is provided for the client to consider. Once the quotation is accepted, the client is fully protected no matter what happens. The cost of the insurance premium is only payable on the conclusion of a successful case and is recoverable from the losing party.

Q Q

What does an After the Event Insurance policy cover?

In the event a case is lost or abandoned, an ATE policy will pay out the defendant’s costs and disbursements which the client would normally be liable for, as well as refunding the cost of the client’s own disbursements. Usually the insurance premium is covered by the policy and it is also possible to arrange for the insurance policy to cover any shortfall in premium recovered from the defendant, as well as to protect against non recovery of costs and/or disbursements.

Q

Why would a business need After the Event (ATE) insurance?

ATE insurance removes the financial risk of litigation easing any concerns of stakeholders and freeing up capital that would otherwise be needed to be set aside to cover the costs if the case fails. As there is no cost involved with applying for ATE via LawAssist, and the premiums are payable only if the case is successful, the business can mitigate their risk and rest assured that win or lose their business can continue.

Can you tell us more about LawAssist Litigation Insurance

and Insolvency After The Event Insurance?

Insolvency litigation is a specialist area of ATE insurance. The client is normally an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) and as an expert in their field their claims tend to require less assessment and have slightly better policy terms to ensure that all personal liability is removed from the IP.

Q

If you are able to do so, please detail any significant clients/cases

undertaken by your firm in the past year.

LawAssist has been involved in many significant cases from across the legal landscape; be it large commercial cases with damages ranging in the millions, through to the phone hacking scandal. Our clients are as diverse as their legal situations dictate.

Q

What are the common challenges faced by your clients?

The main problem for our clients is generally opponents who threaten them with a high risk

Nicholas Robson

Commercial Litigation Underwriter 1 London Road Arundel

West Sussex BN18 9BH

Email: nrobson@lawassist.co.uk Website: www.lawassist.co.uk

Q

exposure and try to 'bully' them out of making a claim. Armed with an ATE policy, such threats are quickly dismissed as the opponent realises that the client now has the financial backing of the UK's largest Legal Expenses Insurer.

How has/can your firm assist the client when such challenges arise?

LawAssist offers straightforward quotations and our legally trained underwriting team is on hand to assist with any queries concerning the insurance policy, how the case is being run and any problems with recovery of the insurance premium from the opponent.

Q

Have there been any legislative changes recently (12 – 24

months)? If not, what changes would you like to see happen?

There is new legislation that is due to come into force in April of 2013 which may have an impact on some areas of ATE insurance, however we await the full guidance from the MOJ.

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