Insurance giant Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) is to hive off its in-house legal team to insurance firms Badhams Thompson, Davies Wallis Foyster (DWF) and Lyons Davidson.
Although the RSA’s in-house team will remain at their old desks in RSA offices for the time being, they will officially become employees of their allotted firms.
At the moment the existing in-house team, which is made up of about 60 lawyers, deals with claims worth below £50,000.
It is understood that location was an important factor behind the choice of firms. Operating from different ends of the country, the three firms would give the RSA a comprehensive national coverage.
Badhams is a London practice, Lyons Davidson serves the south west from its base in Bristol, and DWF has its offices in Liverpool and Manchester.
The move comes as insurance rival Axa is attempting to remould its systems for working with lower value claims.
The company is currently analysing the results of a six-month pilot project run with Bolton-based Keoghs and Stockton-on-Tees based Jacksons.
The firms were each given a different system to use to process low value high volume claims.
If the results are favourable, the company plans to extend it to its other panel firms.
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