Related insights: Insurance

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AI in financial services: gathering speed

12 Mar 2024
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is not new for UK financial services firms. It is already modernising the banking, insurance and payments sectors, who use it to enhance customer service, personalise insurance cover and detect suspicious payment transactions. The regulators themselves are also hopping on the bandwagon – the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced last year that it is using AI-based models to help tackle fraud. But despite some tangible benefits, the financial services industry is still exercising caution when it comes to AI.
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Building Safety with Womble Bond Dickinson

01 Oct 2023
Sweeping changes, on a scale never seen before, are being made across the entire building regime.

Learn more about Building Safety at Womble Bond Dickinson - and how our team of lawyers stay up-to-date on building safety developments across a number of sectors and practice areas.
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A claims handler's guide to liquidated damages in construction disputes

26 Apr 2023
Liquidated and Ascertained Damages ("LADs") clauses are a standard feature in construction contracts. They require a contractor or sub-contractor to pay a pre-determined sum to the employer in the event of delay or other default. Not only do they focus parties' minds on completing projects on time but they offer a degree of certainty by defining contractors' liability in the event of a delay, potentially avoiding complex litigation. We look at key issues to be considered in assessing a claim for LADs and arguments which can be deployed in defending the same.
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Wasted costs not a vehicle for applications akin to complex professional negligence claims

07 Mar 2023
On 2 March 2023, the Commercial Court handed down a judgment which will be a helpful precedent for those defending wasted costs applications which are effectively a vehicle for an application akin to complex professional negligence claims: King & Ors v Stiefel & Ors. The judgment considers the circumstances in which the court should make a wasted costs order in favour of one party to litigation against the legal representatives of the other and affirms that wasted costs orders should be limited to straightforward cases which can be dealt with summarily.  The judgment also confirms that the findings of a judge in an earlier decision from which the wasted costs application arises do not bind a legal representative defending the wasted costs application and are not immune from criticism, on the basis of collateral attack. WBD's Simon Beckwith (who instructed John Taylor KC and Nathalie Koh of Fountain Court Chambers) acted for the successful barrister.

WBD appoints new Head of Claims

18 Jan 2023
International law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has strengthened its UK-wide insurance offering with the appointment of Robert Holme, a highly experienced insurance practitioner, who joins the firm's London office as Head of Claims.
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Navigating third party rights

14 Dec 2022
The extent to which a claimant is entitled to enforce rights against the insurer of an insolvent entity is likely to become a key battleground for insurers over the coming months and years, particularly as the economic impacts of Brexit, COVID and the costs of living/business crises truly begin to bite.
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Solicitors' retainers – avoiding unwanted liabilities

07 Dec 2022
It can be a temptation for firms to start work and to advise clients before having set up a proper retainer with that client. A recent case has examined the circumstances in which a solicitor might potentially incur a liability before entering into such a retainer. Fortunately the solicitor was held not have owed any duty to the client but there are lessons for practitioners to learn from the decision.