Elliot Pound

Insurance/reinsurance, professional indemnity.

Elliot is a leading partner within BLM’s London office. He has provided advice on professional indemnity claims and insurance disputes throughout his 20 years at the firm, the last 14 years of which as a partner. He has considerable experience of all forms of civil litigation, including litigated claims in the High Court and county courts (including discrimination claims), judicial reviews and tribunal claims. Elliot has also been extremely successful in recent years in achieving excellent results for his clients through mediations. His professional indemnity practice covers a broad mix of emerging and traditional professions, from solicitors and surveyors, to educational establishments and trade unions. His key clients include the Royal College of Nursing and UNISON, for which his reported EAT decisions are Carl Jervis v UNISON (2006) and Brennan & ors v Sunderland City Council, GMB and UNISON (2012). Another important area is his work in an education context, where important clients include the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. His reported decisions in this field include R v University of Oxford ex parte Ahmed (2000, Administrative Court), Ahmed v University of Oxford (2002, Court of Appeal), Van Mellaert v University of Oxford (2006, High Court), S v Chapman (2008, Court of Appeal), Speed v London Borough of Waltham Forest and others (2010, Court of Appeal) and Saha v Imperial College (2011, High Court). He is often instructed in complex and high value matters, a notable example being nine distinct (but forensically similar) sex discrimination claims brought on behalf of in excess of 5,000 claimants which, had the claims been successful, would have had extremely damaging consequences for the client, both reputational and financial. In addition, Elliot regularly advises insurers in relation to all types of policy issues (such as the scope of coverage, aggregation, double insurance, insurer obligations and responsibilities and the insured’s obligations in relation to matters such as notification requirements, policy conditions, breach of warranty, misrepresentation, non-disclosure and fraud). He also advises in relation to a wide range of policies (including public liability, employer’s liability, products liability, medical malpractice and other forms of professional indemnity) and is frequently called upon to advise insurers when they are considering, or wish to investigate the possibility of, taking a policy point against an insured, or where proceedings are issued or threatened against them (whether by insureds, other insurers or claimants).

Perse School, Cambridge; University of Cambridge; Inns of Court School of Law.