Article: Health & Nutrition manages Solicitors PI risk by Howden
Health and wellbeing are significant issues when it comes to solicitors’ PII. Underwriters are becoming increasingly aware of the link between claims and the health and wellbeing of individuals working within law firms.
When people are unwell, stressed or just tired, mistakes can happen. While a claim might present as a practice-related issue such as a missed time limit or failure to properly advise a client, if you delve a little deeper you often find a fee earner who is unwell, stressed or struggling to cope.
Fortunately, more and more law firms are starting to take this issue seriously and are focusing on initiatives to promote health and wellbeing within their firms. Underwriters are interested in this whole area, and it is useful to highlight what your firm is doing in any supplementary information you provide alongside your PII proposal form.
When planning a recent event for women in the legal sector we came across a former corporate lawyer now operating as a nutritional therapist - Gill Grassie of GiCa Nutritional Therapy. Intrigued as to why Gill had made such a radical career change, and interested as to what she might be able to contribute to our event, we engaged in an initial discussion. We were fascinated to learn just how key nutrition is to health and wellbeing. We were already aware of many health and wellness initiatives in law firms, but these typically focus on encouraging lifestyle changes such as mindfulness, helplines, and menopause championing, as opposed to nutrition. Subsequently Gill came our event and gave an inspiring talk on nutrition and wellness in the workplace.
At Howden we want to help our clients to mitigate the risks of PII claims and this area of nutrition could be a low-lying fruit (apologies for the analogy) and so we are keen to draw attention to it.
Gill is very aware of the challenges of legal practice and the adverse impact of busy professionals “not eating properly.” She has lots of ideas as to how this might be addressed, and we encourage you to share our discussion with Gill on this very important subject within your firm.
Read the rest of the interview here: Health and nutrition manages solicitors PI risk (howdengroup.com)