FOIL History
Back in 1992 a small group of frustrated Defendants' Solicitors met around a table and decided that it was about time those on the Insurers' side of the fence started to fight back. There was a general feeling that for far too long the legal system had been balanced in favour of the Plaintiff and that was a situation that needed to be addressed and redressed.
FOIL was not set up as a direct competitor to APIL, The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, who represent the interests of Plaintiffs so well, but the success of APIL has certainly acted as a spur to FOIL in its subsequent efforts. In truth FOIL is trying to do for the Defendants' insurance market what APIL has done for Plaintiffs. Time will tell whether or not that ambition is being achieved.
The intention of FOIL was to promote a unified approach on behalf of Lawyers whose primary client base was the insurance market and at the first AGM the President at the time, Maurice Nichols, stated "It (FOIL) may provide a useful united point of contact with organisations such as APIL, perhaps with a view to agreeing certain understandings, protocols and helping to smooth the passage of litigation generally'. Since then the role of FOIL has rapidly developed and now has regular contact with many interested bodies such as the ABI, the Law Society, the Law Commission and the Lord Chancellor's Department to name just a few.
The reformers' zeal of Lord Woolf and Sir Peter Middleton has shown that the whole system of litigation in this country is under constant and extensive review. Whether or not all the suggestions of Lord Woolf or Sir Peter Middleton become fact there is such a will in the Government, and the Lord Chancellor's Department, that any moderately enlightened lawyer or insurer in today's market will know that the philosophy litigation has altered - for ever. The buzzwords are "Communication and Teamwork" rather than adversarial competition.
It is not just that the rules themselves are changing but life for professionals, be they solicitors or legal executives, in the insurance market has changed. We are now in a market where there are far too many solicitors and legal executives chasing far too few jobs. There is every increasing pressure on law firms to reduce their fees, to employ inexperienced and unqualified litigators in an attempt to keep unit costs down and to compete with in-house legal teams at their insurance clients and general competition in the market - perhaps to the detriment of real value for money and quality and at a real cost to the client at the end of the day. Whether these measures indeed prove to be cost effective remain to be seen - many have their doubts.
FOIL is not a mouth-piece for the insurance industry: it is a mouthpiece for all lawyers, solicitors and legal executives, who act for insurance companies and where there is a conflict of view between insurers and their legal professionals then it is FOIL's job to represent the interests of the lawyers concerned.
This is not to say that we do not have sympathy with the insurance market at the moment. The insurance sector itself is under siege from all sides. There are ever increasing pressures to push General Damages up for pain and suffering and new heads of damage are regularly being proposed by the Law Commission. The question of multipliers is being reviewed by Sir Michael Ogden in the light of reduced mortality rates. Insurers are under pressure to finance the Welfare State by way of clawbacks for the DSS and NHS and there are suggestions that Bereavement awards should be much higher than they are now. The list goes on.
In addition, there seems to be ever increasing Government pressure on insurers to finance not just the Defendants and their legal representation but now also Plaintiffs and their lawyers and perhaps, eventually, the whole Judicial process. Insurers can cope of course as long as they know the risk they face and can underwrite properly but retrospection now seems to be the norm allowing no time for anticipation and recalculation.
The simple fact of course is that without insurers the whole Judicial process would now collapse - but without good insurance solicitors and legal executives acting for those insurers the control of the legal system, which is absolutely vital, would also be lost.
Control will primarily be kept through team work. This means open discussion between the insurers' claims departments, the insured, brokers, underwriters, solicitors, legal executives, the Bar and loss adjusters to name but a few. It also means talking to "the other side!" and understanding what Plaintiffs now want, how they think and how disputes can be resolved quickly and cost effectively - whilst understanding that cheaper does not necessarily mean better.
FOIL hopes to help with this communication process whilst avoiding internal competition between members. The purpose of FOIL is to inform about the changes in insurance law but more importantly FOIL wants to be at the forefront of changing the law. We want to play a part in guiding the "law makers" so that even though we may be politically incorrect we ensure that the emphasis in legislation and rule changes are not all for the Plaintiff but are truly balanced - after all, there is no "them and us' in this market. Today's "victim" is tomorrow's "tortfeasor" : no-one is negligent on purpose, in my experience.
If, as anticipated, all the current proposals result in a greater number of claims with a greater sum of money being paid out for damages in whatever form then undoubtedly insurance premiums will have to increase at the expense of us all. So FOIL intends to liaise with all interested insurers and the ABI to ensure that we are dealing with the issues that concern today's insurance market. Further it is the role of all members of FOIL to act for their insurance company clients in the most efficient and cost-effective way to make sure that expenditure is controlled and to make sure that the inevitable changes are to the benefit of the insurance market. We must use the new philosophy not be abused by it.
At the present time there are about 1700 members of FOIL. If you are interested in joining then details are on the Membership Page.
