Professional Indemnity Insurance Law

Cited in courts and leading commentaries in Australia and in the United Kingdom, this text of scholarship and depth offers practitioners insights into both the current law of professional indemnity insurance and its future direction. Professional Indemnity Insurance Law addresses the essential question of the extent to which the professional is covered for various professional liabilities, doing so with reference to the wider commercial context and the context of insurance more generally. The text offers a two-strand approach, outlining the nature, development and application of the indemnity principle within an analysis of the professional indemnity insurance contract. The first strand develops a reconsideration of insurance law around the indemnity principle; the second strand offers a more traditional text book treatment of professional indemnity insurance, with statements of law fully supported by authority, yet indicating also the penumbral issues - further helping practitioners with limited resources or experience in the area. In defining and amplifying the indemnity obligation, the text distinguishes it from a measure of damages to a primary obligation and demonstrates how the application of the indemnity principle helps bring coherence and flexibility to insurance law and practice. Applications considered include utmost good faith, representations and disclosures, illegality, parties and assignment, claims, subrogation, and insolvency. The central question of the extent to which the professional is indemnified is tackled via practical applications, with clauses in various types of professional indemnity insurance put in their commercial, contractual and legal context. Legal practitioners will value comprehensive and authoritative coverage, extending from the nature and extent of the legal relationship between a professional and client through to the detailed discussion of sample clauses to be found in modern professional indemnity policies. Australian law receives substantial consideration throughout. The text was recently honoured with the 2008 British Insurance Law Association Book Prize, awarded for "the most notable contribution to literature in the field of law as it affects insurance". The authorsIan Enright, Partner, Henry Davis York, Sydney, Australia, a financial services lawyer for over 25 years including 6 years in the London markets, has designed, developed and led the teaching for an Australian insurance Master of Laws degree and is an active independent director of financial services corporations. Dr Digby Jess, Barrister, Exchange Chambers, is a respected UK practitioner and author. From the reviews of the first edition "[A] ll the hallmarks of something that will become a major text for this increasingly complex area. It is well written, lovingly cross-referenced and meticulously thorough." - Litigation "The quality of the research. is exceptionally high and the result is a work of great authority." - International Insurance Law Review Jurisdiction: UK/Cth