In a strange twist of events, AmRe, a member of Munich American Risk Partners, has withdrawn from the Victorian barristers’ professional indemnity market.

After weeks of bitter disputes between barristers over a decision by the Legal Practice Board to approve AmRe as its sole PI insurer, AmRe backed off, notifying barristers last Friday of its decision to withdraw. “The approval by the board of the wording of an [alternative] insurer leaves… us with no alternative other than to withdraw our facility from the market forthwith,” an explanatory notice said.

“We are extremely disappointed at this outcome. However, you will readily appreciate that the whole foundation upon which our facility was based no longer exists and therefore there really is no option left to us other than to exit the market with immediate effect,” the AmRe notice said.

It now seems Suncorp Metway, which was approved by the board last week as an alternative insurer to AmRe, may hold a monopoly in this market. Victoria now is the only state to have approved one indemnity insurer for barristers. NSW has approved three.