Partner Article

Birmingham becomes BLM’s fraud centre of excellence

Leading insurance and risk law specialist, BLM, has created a fraud centre of excellence in its Birmingham office.

The centre comprises more than 35 fraud specialists, handling several thousand fraud instructions every year, including policyholder fraud, bogus claims, exaggerated injury, staged accidents and complex large-scale fraud cases.

BLM has a substantial presence in Birmingham with over 150 employees based at its office on Temple Row. It acts for 13 of the top 15 UK insurers as well as holding relationships with brokers, corporate insureds, public sector and healthcare organisations across the region.

The fraud team has developed a market leading presence and has been working closely with BLM consultant and head of the Government’s Insurance Fraud Taskforce, David Hertzell to review the way in which the Government can tackle the level of insurance fraud, lowering costs and protecting the interests of honest customers. The team has also taken part in BBC fraud documentary Claimed & Shamed, demonstrating the industry’s success in tackling this issue.

Mike Dobson, partner and head of BLM’s Birmingham office said: “Birmingham has always been a key location for BLM and the creation of this centre of excellence underlines the city’s credentials in supporting our growth, and also our commitment to the region.”

Sarah Hill, head of the fraud practice group at BLM said: “Creating a centre of excellence is exciting for BLM, allowing us to pool our resources to better deliver for our customers, both locally, nationally and globally. The insurance industry is committed in the battle against fraud and our team remains determined to support and lead the industry in overcoming this problem.

“BLM is an ambitious firm and has been open about its vision to become recognised as one of the leading global insurance and risk law specialists by 2020. We look forward to continuing our close working relationship with the industry’s most preeminent insurance companies and we are proud to be able to lead the way with our centre of excellence.”

The team, which is recognised and praised by customers in the latest edition of leading legal directory, the Legal 500, will continue to be supported by a specialist team in Manchester, which will undertake niche fraud work for a number of leading insurance companies and corporate policyholders.

Over the past two years BLM has combined with two other law firms – HBM Sayers in Scotland and Campbell Fitzpatrick Solicitors in Ireland, giving the business a true presence and reach across the whole of the UK and Ireland. Last year the firm announced record results, reflected in the new business secured, the nature of work handled and the talent the firm continues to attract.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pablo Rodriguez .