Addleshaws to offer ATE litigation insurance

Addleshaw Goddard is in final negotiations with a major London insurance company to strike a groundbreaking deal that will see the law firm brokering its own after the event (ATE) insurance arrangements for litigation clients.

The deal, thought to be with insurer QBE, could make Addleshaws the first UK law firm with delegated authority to write ATE policies for clients involved in commercial litigation cases.

The initiative, which is being overseen by a committee comprising contentious group head Simon Twigden and disputes partners Michael Green and John Gatenby, will initially give Addleshaws partial authority to check policies it thinks are suitable for ATE with the insurer. However, it should ultimately let the firm write its own policies up to an agreed limit. The limit is still under discussion but could increase as the relationship develops.

Securing ATE can take up to six weeks but, by bringing it in-house, Addleshaws could be able to cut the timescale down to just a few days.

The firm will not be tied into an exclusive arrangement with the insurer and will still be able to turn to other insurers for ATE if a client prefers.

Twigden commented: "Having the authority to determine whether a client case is suitable for ATE would speed up the process and hopefully put us ahead in terms of innovative funding measures."

Lovells dispute resolution partner Graham Huntley said: "The most interesting part of this is the degree of discretion given to the law firm and that is what most firms will be interested in looking into."

The latest initiative comes after the firm last month rolled out a scheme to effectively offer clients cost-free litigation. That project sees Addleshaws assessing all new and existing litigation cases to see if they can be carried out using a method of external funding.

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