Hundreds of Irish legal firms remain without compulsory insurance cover required to practice next year. The vast majority of the country's 2,200 solicitor firms were still without indemnity cover quotes by the end of last week, even though the deadline for obtaining it – 1 December – is just nine days away.

It is now virtually certain that many firms will be forced to close next year as operating without such coverage is not permitted.

However, solicitors were contacted by the Law Society late last week advising them that quotes are on the way from the Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund (SMDF) which offers cover to the majority of Irish practices. Premiums are expected to dramatically increase however, as the industry faces into a crisis directly related to economic conditions. Last month, nearly 5% of legal firms in the UK were left without insurance coverage, sparking fears that situation could happen here.

The expected increase in premium cover is directly linked to claims against solicitors firms over the last year as well as those firms closely tied to the construction sector and its collapse.

Insurance companies that offer the premiums have also lost substantial amounts of capital on the stock markets.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune late last week, Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society, said: "The position is that a great many solicitors still have yet to receive quotes from the insurers and the entire process is running very late.

"That is not to say that those who have not received quotes won't receive them. They may get them in the next few days."

"We have contacted solicitors to let them know that, in case they thought they were unique in not receiving quotes, they are not," said Murphy.

"People are expecting a very substantial increase but we don't know what that might be at this stage. This is out of the hands of the Law Society."

Insurance firms are also said to be taking substantially more care with their quotations. In order to assist the flow of coverage, the Law Society has reduced the minimum coverage required from €2.5m to just €1.5m.