Legal Expenses - Making inroads into uncertain territory

The legal expenses insurance market has been labelled many things: to some it has had more false dawns than Manchester City, while to others it is the sector most likely to succeed from the profits of economic gloom. Ralph Savage investigates

As the tenth anniversary of the Access to Justice Act approaches, personal legal expenses insurance in both before and after-the-event markets is said to be maturing well, with market penetration high in BTE and sensible underwriting prevailing in ATE. As a result, the sector is now turning towards commercial lines.

The Association of British Insurers provides no data on the LEI market and figures have generally to be gleaned from public statements, however, as one would expect, the product