Tuesday 03 April 2012 by John Hyde

A total of 15 firms will be closed down after failing to find an escape route from the assigned risks pool.

The firms will be shut after failing to secure professional indemnity insurance on the open market by the 1 April deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said.

Earlier this year, the authority said the 31 firms in the ARP at the start of the year would have to sell, merge or close by the end of the financial year.

Five of the firms obtained a waiver to secure more time, while two are on the verge of getting insurance. The remaining nine have already found an insurer willing to indemnify them.

The SRA will supervise the closure programme for the 15 firms that are shutting, including managing their outstanding case files.

The ARP is funded by the insurance industry and provides cover for firms that cannot get cover from qualifying insurers or cannot afford the terms available to them.

The 2012 ARP is set to be jointly funded by the legal profession and qualifying insurers.

From 2013, the system will be replaced with the extended indemnity period, where insurers will have to provide additional cover for firms they have refused to re-insure.