Most businesses carry indemnity insurance that will cover the cost of managing or defending a regulatory investigation. Under the Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990 those insurers are legally obliged to underwrite the costs of your choice of solicitor.
In most instances your insurers will initially seek the appointment of a solicitor from its own "panel" of firms, with whom they have agreed reduced rates. This is good for your insurers, but not necessarily good for your business.
"Panel firms" often operate on a volume basis to maintain profitability and this invariably impacts on service levels. Conflicts of interest can also occur between the needs of your insurers, e.g. to achieve a low-cost, early resolution, and your best interests, e.g. to fight a prosecution all the way and protect your reputation. Insurers direct large volumes of work to their panel firms and as a result carry significant influence over them – if there is a conflict of interests, few panel firms will readily bite the hand that feeds them.
At Muckle LLP we seek to work with your insurers so that our costs in acting for you are underwritten by them, ensuring you get high quality, independent, expert advice from a firm you can trust.