Catching up with… Siân French

Siân worked at HFW London between 2001-2006 as an Associate. She has been with Marsh for over 12 years and is currently the firm’s Client and Market Projects Leader for the UK & Ireland.

I didn’t really have a view on my future career until I was 15. My decision to enter the legal profession came about after I was strongly encouraged to visit our school careers library to do some research, as I was one of a few who had yet to arrange the required summer work experience! I read about accountancy, investment banking and advertising, but landed on law, as this struck me as the most interesting career path. I secured work experience in Chambers at Kings Bench Walk and with a firm of commercial solicitors. This experience cemented the idea that I wanted to pursue law. Within this short period, I went from not knowing what I wanted to do, to wanting to do nothing else but law! Over the next few years, I obtained more experience at Essex Court Chambers, with commercial solicitors in the City, spent some time with a criminal set of chambers and as a result at the Old Bailey, and went on courses run by the legal profession. In the end I was focused on non-contentious corporate/commercial law and decided to read economics, rather than law, at university to broaden my commercial knowledge.

After 4 years up in Edinburgh I graduated and headed to the College of Law in Guildford. During my first year I was still interested in the corporate commercial route, however in my second year when studying litigation I decided the contentious route was more appealing, which I am told didn’t come as a surprise to family and friends!

Upon leaving law school, I went to work for a law firm with an office within Lloyd’s of London. It was a very steep learning curve as (re)insurance wasn’t covered at law school, so there was lots of research before the interview. When I first joined, I spent most of my time working on a very large fidelity insurance claim, and within a few months found myself on my first business trip to India with John Barlow, now an HFW Partner, who worked elsewhere at the time. The trip involved taking witness and expert evidence and reviewing documents and liaising with local counsel. A real eye opener. I also worked on some interesting contingency and film finance disputes. All of that early experience furthered my desire to become a (re)insurance litigator, a far cry from my original plan of being a corporate commercial non contentious lawyer. The Law Society agreed to shorten my two-year training contract to one year, on the condition that my last two seats were not in (re)insurance. Upon qualification, marine and non- marine insurance cases continued to come my way, even though at the time I wasn’t working within a specialist (re)insurance department.

At six months qualified I decided to move and I was fortunate to be offered a job within HFW’s well-established, recognised (re)insurance team. At the time HFW was, and still is, a preeminent (re)insurance firm and the quality of work was outstanding; within a couple of weeks of starting at HFW I found myself as part of the team in the Commercial Court acting for retrocessionaires in a non-disclosure/ misrepresentation case. This remains one of the most memorable cases I’ve worked on to this day, partly because I was thrown right in at the deep end so close to the trial, and also because it highlighted the risks of litigation. I will never forget the sharp intake of breath on our side of the court, and a long pause by the other side’s QC when the underwriter’s evidence under cross examination completely changed from that which he had given in his witness statement, which even the judge commented on. We knew from that point we had a challenge on our hands.

HFW’s (re)insurance department always seemed to attract really interesting disputes, and I was very lucky to work on a variety of cases in the courts and at arbitration and learn from talented lawyers – including the late John Duff, Ian McKenna, Simon Sloane, Nigel Wick,Costas Frangeskides, Paul Wordley, and Andrew Bandurka. Some of the cases I worked on covered areas such as US workers compensation, reinsurance losses following the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, brokers’ regulatory investigations, intermediaries’ professional indemnity, film finance litigation, and some very large PD/BI claims. There was never a dull moment, and I think that’s down to the nature of the (re)insurance industry and the wide variety of disputes that arise across all classes. My time at HFW gave me such a great foundation for my later move to Marsh.

Whilst there was definitely a hard work ethic, the social scene within the team was vibrant. We often had a number of other willing participants from across the firm at our social gatherings, which gave you the opportunity to form great relationships with colleagues in and outside of our department. It created a working environment in which we could all learn and develop, you never felt like you were on your own as there was always an open door when you needed some advice. There was a strong family feel to the firm.

Upon leaving HFW I spent a few years at a US firm where I continued to handle reinsurance and professional indemnity disputes, worked on a number war risks disputes and went on secondment to a financial institution’s client with an insurance entity within its group. I subsequently decided I wanted to move in-house, but I was after a specific role within the business and not within the in-house legal team. I was offered an interview at Marsh, and I got the job! Whilst at HFW I shared an office with Simon Sloane for many years, who always told me that I would end up working for a broker, but I always said I was staying in private practice. When I told Simon I was joining Marsh, he said ‘I told you’ and has reminded me on several occasions since of his accurate prediction!

My role at Marsh today is a unique one and I think down to the variety of work I have undertaken over the years both prior to, and since joining Marsh. I first joined Marsh’s FINPRO (Financial Lines) Division 12 years ago and worked within a small team of ex-(re)insurance litigators handling complex claims, where I tended to focus on Professional Indemnity, Specie and Financial Institutions claims. Working within that specialist team was a natural progression for me having been a litigator, although I did find it difficult to hand over to clients’ lawyers when they needed to be instructed, and I definitely missed going to Court or arbitration.

I later moved into a broader client facing role across FINPRO becoming more involved in the placement process and product development side. Then I started reading about the Insurance Bill which was set to be the biggest change in insurance contract law in more than 100 years, so I asked if I could go and observe the Bill’s progression in Parliament. I sat in on the House of Lords Special Bill Public Committee meetings every day listening to the discussion of the bill and giving of oral evidence. I was subsequently tasked with putting together my thoughts on what Marsh needed to do in response to the Bill and was then given the go-ahead to run a project, working alongside Marsh Legal, on Marsh’s preparations for the subsequent Insurance Act 2015 (the Act) coming into force. This was a significant project including everything from broker training, drafting policy language, addressing the (re)insurance market’s response to the future Act, advising clients on the impact of the Act on their renewal process, speaking at market and client events, and much more. It was this project that gave me much greater exposure across all of Marsh’s UK divisions. When that project concluded I moved into a broader role working with the Head of Placement for the UK and Ireland, where I got involved in other projects and issues which impacted multiple clients across multiple classes, for example when the GDPR came into force I ran a project to review the impact on clients’ existing policy coverage for data protection liability. I was also given the opportunity to go on another secondment to a financial institutions client, which involved handling two large complex claims and day to day risk management responsibilities. This was great experience and enabled me to see things from our clients’ perspectives which was very valuable as preparation for the senior oversight roles I have today on client accounts.

In 2018, I was asked to join Marsh’s Brexit Steering Committee where I was heavily involved in the implementation of Marsh’s Brexit solution, taking on a key role in advising on the impact of Brexit on our EEA clients and their access to the London Market, training brokers, and engaging with (re)insurers over their Brexit solutions and the potential impact of those solutions on our clients. It was a significant project and threw up so many complex challenges around how to navigate the post Brexit new regulatory world from the perspective of the global (re) insurance market and its participants.

And then the pandemic arrived, and I found myself right in the middle of another project working alongside senior placement colleagues addressing the (re)insurance market’s response to the pandemic in the form of some very broadly drafted communicable disease exclusions. In addition, I ventured back into the claims world to handle a contentious Covid claim for a client and found myself on a zoom with a partner from HFW who was acting for insurers!

More recently I have been working alongside Marsh’s Climate and Sustainability team, with a focus on the coverage implications for policyholders, in particular in response to some of the exclusionary language that we are starting to see in the market, and also how our clients’ policies could respond to certain ESG key risk scenarios.

My role has also recently broadened to sitting on global technical and placement working groups to address key issues that impact Marsh’s clients on a global basis. I think going forward this work will become increasingly important, as having navigated the uncertainty and challenges arising out of the pandemic, we are now facing new and escalating challenges due to a number of increasing geopolitical tensions and concerns giving rise to a dramatically different risk environment for our clients and the (re)insurance market.

The short-term economic fallout from the crisis in Ukraine has been extensive and remains uncertain in the longer term. UK inflation is now running at levels unseen for 40 years and is expected to continue rising. Warnings of further price rises are expected this year due to geopolitical and economic challenges and supply chain concerns, while rising raw material, transport and machinery costs are now a reality. In addition, ESG is now front and centre of a rapidly expanding stakeholder universe, as key company stakeholders, including investors, employees, consumers, communities and governments, continue to converge to address longstanding challenges around sustainability and other ESG topics.

The (re)insurance industry acts as an enabler and will play a key role in responding to these complex and global challenges. For example, the recent launch of a $50M all risks marine cargo and war facility, placed by Marsh, will provide coverage for vital grain and food products transitioning through Ukrainian ports following the establishment of safe corridors. The facility has been designed to help unlock supply chains and alleviate growing pressures on global food security.

The surge in inflation is impacting our clients’ asset and business interruption values across all industries, giving rise to the risk of underinsurance. There have been significant rises in the costs of reinstating property and the cost of labour and logistical services is also fast increasing. Inflation is, however, not unprecedented and placement and coverage strategies can protect businesses through this period of volatility.

With regard to ESG, Marsh recently launched an ESG Risk Rating assessment tool which can measure an organisation’s ESG performance, enabling organisations to improve their ESG risks. The results can help organisations to identify their most critical sustainability and climate- related risks and opportunities to further develop their ESG strategies and gain access to additional insurance market capacity. These are just a few examples of how the insurance industry is seeking to help organisations build even greater resilience to the ever- changing risk environment.

My time spent as a (re)insurance litigator, in particular those formative years at HFW, and the varied experience I have gained over the years at Marsh have enabled me to create my current unique role, where I can get involved in these large, interesting projects and issues which impact multiple clients. I will always cherish those HFW years, it was a great time to be in (re)insurance and we had many successes and enjoyable times within the HFW (re) insurance department. Even though HFW has grown exponentially since my time there it has retained its family- feel, whenever I catch up with old colleagues it doesn’t feel like I left all that long ago!

Outside of the office I am a passionate Welsh Rugby supporter and have many fond memories of lively trips to Cardiff to watch Wales play with the likes of fellow Welsh supporters HFW Partner Toby Stevens and HFW alumni Alex Jenkins. I am very glad to say that social media hadn’t really taken off back then! There was certainly a lot of friendly rivalry within the department, and I remember the time I adorned my HFW office with the Welsh flag after a very close victory in Cardiff against England in the 6 Nations. I should definitely mention HFW Consultant Andrew Bandurka who was particularly tolerant that day, as every time he left his office he was confronted with the Welsh Dragon! It was payback for months, which felt like years, of being greeted every morning by a large poster of Johnny Wilkinson’s famous 2003 kick! Unfortunately, I also recall supporting Wales at some less successful visits to Twickenham with HFW Partner Tom Walters! My other big passion is music, and I am still in the process of trying to catch up on all the live music I missed during lockdown. I also try to keep fit, and had always thought I was until I joined an indoor rowing club several years ago, it made me realise that I really hadn’t been working hard enough before!

I was very flattered to be asked to contribute to the HFW Alumni newsletter. It’s great way to facilitate reconnecting with former colleagues, and interesting to see what they are doing in their post-HFW years, and to be reminded of the great friends I shared many good times with.