Our approach

Insurance law in the UK is less favourable to policyholders than in some other jurisdictions and is often counter-intuitive. The result is that insurers often have a legal right to refuse to pay claims in circumstances that would appear to a reasonable and honest policyholder to be unfair and commercially inappropriate.

While the UK courts have adopted an increasingly flexible approach to insurance law in recent years, it isn’t always possible to achieve an appropriate outcome through legal means alone.

For that reason, our approach at Fenchurch Law is to involve our clients’ insurance brokers as much as possible to apply appropriate commercial pressure on insurers in tandem with the legal pressure that we bring to bear. We firmly believe that policyholders achieve better outcomes to their insurance disputes, in almost all cases, when they work collaboratively with their insurance brokers. Having a proactive and supportive insurance broker on your side is vitally important to any policyholder as a broker can exert significantly greater commercial pressure on insurers than even the largest policyholders.

At Fenchurch Law we share a common interest with insurance brokers: to provide an outstanding level of service to policyholders and to achieve the best possible outcome to any disputes which arise between policyholders and their insurers. We therefore work closely and collaboratively with insurance brokers in the London market, throughout the UK and internationally, on behalf of policyholders.

Unlike many other insurance law firms and teams, at Fenchurch Law we never act against brokers. Our view is that, in the vast majority of cases, it is more beneficial for a policyholder to have its broker onside during a coverage dispute. Too often, claimant law firms view the broker’s professional indemnity insurance as an ‘easy’ alternative to their client’s own insurance policy. We consciously reject that approach. We believe that having the broker on our side of the table is better for the policyholder than having them on the other, unable to use their commercial leverage to help to settle the claim. We stand together, shoulder to shoulder.

Some firms encourage policyholders to view the insurance market as inherently hostile. That is not Fenchurch Law’s approach. Certainly, we never take a backward step in the face of aggression but, crucially, we understand the commercial relationships between policyholders, brokers and insurers. We do everything possible to ensure that disputes are resolved in a way that preserves and strengthens the long-term value of those relationships.