When you take out or renew your house or car insurance, once you have filed away the paperwork you do not want to look at it again, as that usually means a claim is being made.

When you have an accident your car insurance (for motor claims) and house insurance (for other types of accidents) may provide cover for your legal expenses to make a claim against whoever you believe is to blame for your accident.

Often this type of insurance is a free add-on or available as a low premium for about £25.00 per year.

If you need to check your policy for legal expenses cover, it may suggest that you have to use lawyers chosen by the insurers.

At MKB Solicitors we believe that people who need legal advice after an accident or in any other situation where cover might be available, for example, employment issues or boundary disputes, have the right to choose their own lawyer.

Regulations dealing with this type of insurance provide for freedom of choice of legal representative throughout the legal process, although insurers often challenge that view.

One of the reasons why insurers want to use their own lawyers (known as panel solicitors) is that those solicitors often pay a fee to the insurers for each case taken on.

MKB Solicitors can advise on your funding options including legal expenses cover.

Even if your own insurers when first contacted insist on using their own panel solicitors, we may be able to persuade them otherwise as it is often important and beneficial for you have local solicitors acting who you can meet and instruct properly rather than the insurer’s own solicitors who may be in Birmingham, London or wherever and who you can only speak to on the telephone.

In any event, MKB Solicitors can still act on a “no-win-no-fee” basis where there is legal expenses cover to enable you to instruct your chosen solicitor rather than one chosen for you.

D Wilson

MKB Solicitors LLP

June 2011