The Law Society today asked brokers and insurers to adopt a composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance (PII) in an effort to simplify the process of obtaining multiple quotes.

The Society said it had secured support for its composite proposal form amongst ‘some of the major names providing PII coverage to solicitors’. It said it would reveal names later this week.

Chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘The need to fill in the same or similar information about the firm to satisfy the requirements of different insurers seems unnecessarily time-consuming and extremely frustrating.’ He said that Ireland has successfully introduced a common proposal form for many of the same insurers working in England and Wales.

'Some, though not all, insurers and brokers have helped design this form. The result is a composite form that has a sufficient degree of commonality that it should be broadly acceptable to qualifying insurers with minimal supplementary questions. From working with those insurers and brokers willing to collaborate we are seeing parts of the PII sector embrace this approach, for the benefit of our members.'

The Society said it would publish and update details of companies that will accept the composite proposal form on its website throughout the renewal process.

Solicitors are urged to ask their broker and insurers if they accept the form when seeking cover.

The Law Society’s Composite proposal form is available at the practice support pages.