Hill Dickinson is in advanced talks with Keoghs to transfer its entire insurance business, with the exception of its Marine and Healthcare teams.

Peter Jackson, Hill Dicks Chief Exec, told RollOnFriday that general insurance had become so commoditised that it was now out of kilter with the firm's more specialist Marine and Healthcare practices. It made sense, he said, for the firm's lawyers to go somewhere which was committed exclusively to insurance and could provide greater investment and career progression. The aim is for everyone to move by the end of 2017.

    Could upset the regulars.

John Whittle, Chief Executive Officer of Keoghs, said the deal would be "fully in-tune" with his firm's "vision of creating the pre-eminent legal services provider for the UK insurance industry". But he said it would be premature to comment further until Keoghs had consulted with its clients and also its staff, who are no doubt excited to understand how the new arrivals might affect their desk space/job security.

Jackson said, "I believe that our partners and staff involved in any transition would benefit from moving to a firm whose sole focus is insurance and has invested heavily in IT to service clients efficiently". He said Hill Dicks would be "maintaining close relationships with Keoghs" so it could service "retained clients who require insurance related advice”.
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 11 August 17 09:50

Well, as at Hill Dicks fee-earners regularly go missing in the night and are never heard from again, better career progression shouldn't be hard to guarantee.
I wonder if the IT reference refers to that case management system the Partners bought without testing back in 2012.
As it turned out, the CMS was incompatible with all their computers.
The solution? Buy hundred of laptops where the CMS works.
But oh wait, all the other stuff doesn't work on the laptops. D'oh! Why didn't we test this (again).
Solution! get fee-earners to duplicate everything and motivate them with the threat of being murdered by the Horrible Reptile Department.

Anonymous 11 August 17 10:10

"better career progression shouldn't be hard to guarantee."
Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you?
Provided they can cope with the poisonous Partners and constant blame-throwing culture of Keoghs, maybe they'll be OK.

They may have to fill in PRP* forms to explain why they personally didn't stop the failure of Hill Dicks, though.

* "Problem Resolution Procedure", or "Payrise Reversal Procedure", for those not in the know.

Anonymous 11 August 17 10:34

That picture of Keoghs' Kinvara branch goes a long way to explain the cogency of their pleadings.

Anonymous 11 August 17 14:18

Just reading the predictable negative and quite frankly uneducated comments regarding this...some people really really need to get out more...quite sad really! Good luck to all involved in what looks set to be a promising venture.

Anonymous 11 August 17 15:09

Perhaps Anon 13.18 (or one of his colleagues) might be encouraged to explain why he or she considers negative comments about Keoghs to be "uneducated". Having worked both sides of the fence for more decades than I care to remember, it seems to me that their reputation in the profession is only fractionally better than that of the Horrible Family.

Anonymous 11 August 17 16:10

Remember the Roll on Friday article about the 'dirty protests' at Keoghs' Bolton office?
In the soap dispenser and the bins wasn't it?
As traumatising as HD's disappearing staff (including at manager level), endless performance reviews, lack of progression, bungled IT systems, non-existent client care, RoF Golden Turd victories and a certain Partner's inability to spell or correctly space paragraphs in a client care letter was; we were never broken down to the point of dirty protests.
Although, one chap did start sending hate mail to himself in an effort to ward of HR.

Anonymous 12 August 17 11:30

What's the sale price and who is getting the cash? It must be 1M each for the equity partners!!!!

Anonymous 14 August 17 10:46

Keoghs are nabbing other partners from a firm very close to their Bolton office, but in their London offices...

Anonymous 14 August 17 13:44

You've got to admit moving HD's insurance practice to Keoghs will make them Keoghs a market leader; clearly their staff should be excited and worried.

HD has the talent at the lower tiers and headless chickens running the coup, they always have been this way in their Liverpool hen house.

As for the why, the HD board clearly had a totes awks convo with the Insurance partners telling them to bog off. Millions spent on a CMS that would have worked if it wasn't for the meddling of a team of business analysis’s who were in way over their head being headed by one 'who is paid to think' (but uses excel tables to create fly over maps to wow clients rather than the multi million pound system and another one who quit HD after the board realised that he'd already ruined the NHS' systems.

Add to that a restructure in their insurance arm two years ago which basically involved appointing a politician type spitting image puppet (no one knows who's pulling the strings) in as the head and then bringing in two layers of £100k+ 'operations managers' whilst not actually improving any efficiencies leading to a downturn in profit (not a big one, the ship doesn’t appear to be sinking) but big enough to no longer interest partners with a big enough return on investment to keep paying operation manager’s salaries, business analysis’s salaries whilst writing blank cheques for a CMS that’ll never work.

You have to be worried if you're senior management in insurance at HD, no way can Keoghs see their leadership results over the last two years as anything other than proof of their inability and inappropriateness in those roles. Especially if the staffs are asked their opinion by their new managers, although from speaking with peers at HD it is clear that the operations manager will throw the staff under the bus to protect themselves.

You have to also be worried if you’re staying behind at HD, clearly IT, BA and any centralised departments will be having a ‘restructure’ add that to them having ‘the most expensive building on the block’ and you’ve got to see that HD have been too quick to spend on their house of cards for the last decade.

As for some of the other comments;
There is over a thousand laptops and they’re leased, what business buys IT equipment, get with the 21st century.
From speaking with their staff, hopefully the operations managers will disappear in the night whilst they pack the tour bus to move.
I'm told that HD are taking their own ‘Horrible Reptile Department’ so not a lot will change.
Sale price has to net the partners well over £1m each.

Anonymous 14 August 17 17:53

Ok, I have no interest in either firm and don’t know an awful lot about the insurance claims market, however, from what I can tell this can only be a sensible move! HD struggle to make money from claims work and wish to concentrate on other areas. The task of establishing themselves in those areas is likely to be easier without a chunk of investment going in to something that doesn’t work for them and a war chest from the sale of the claims business. Keoghs growth depends on winning more claims work and they have existing systems and processes in place which will make the work profitable. It seems that both HD and Keoghs do well, the staff have a bit more certainty and the clients end up with a firm who sees the value in their business. From whose perspective is this a bad deal?

Anonymous 14 August 17 18:08

I very much doubt Keoghs are paying anything for a team to transfer over. This isn't a business. There is no goodwill. Just staff moving from one firm to another.

Anonymous 16 August 17 10:06

HD Insurance is a Horrible Reptile Department. Snake Pit. Just moving to a bigger vivarium.

Anonymous 16 August 17 22:37

Commoditisation - is this our future? Are we to be just call handlers in crappy soulless, open-plan, hot-desking call centres? Christ.

Anonymous 17 August 17 20:56

From an outsider working within the firm for a different agency, I can say the Insurance arm has deep rooted issues. IT has failed on numerous occasions for the firm, but the blame has to lie with the middle managers who have never articulated their requirements and have little business acumen. People who believe there is no responsibility in signing-off systems and then deciding to change the goalposts after implementation. In most firms this would be a disciplinary matter. Business people who don't know their business!

Change management was non-existent and professionalism was prohibited at most times. The money spent on IT systems is eye watering and I understand from market indicators they spent over 2 million on dashboards only for the people who tested and signed-off to reject days later! What breathtaking arrogance, service managers who don't know how to service their client needs! Management who failed to grow and empower their staff through change and who would never admit their shortcomings.

The seeds of change is coming for HD insurance middle management......

Anonymous 18 August 17 11:13

I have to agree with the above.I worked within infrastruture there for a few years.Throwing money at the problem is not the answer.They need to recruit intelligent managers who will realise their business goals and objectives.HD promote people into managers jobs at the wrong time.I am sure Keoghs will be looking to delayer as much as possible and remove the chaff waste.

Anonymous 18 August 17 22:42

Ex facilities worker here. I used to like working for the organisation back 5 years ago, but the round of redundancies stole my job and confidence. Insurance managers who would not give you the time of day and look at you like dirt on the street. I am happy their day of reckoning is approaching.

Anonymous 21 August 17 11:08

Clearly some BA's trying to pass the buck again here.....YAWN
Insurances' failures lie squarely in their incompetent hands, I wonder why the deal categorically leaves them behind to face redundancy......
On a brighter note hopefully they'll get rid of the rude security guard when Keoghs move in.

Anonymous 21 August 17 12:06

There is a tier of management that exists within the IBG that does not exist anywhere else in the business - do you believe that this tier will exist for long in the well established operational model at Keogh's?

Anonymous 21 August 17 17:16

Love that the staff are excited by this move yet the BI Transformation Executive and cronies are the ones upset by it.

Anonymous 21 August 17 20:46

Lets not be delusional now, Keoghs is only purchasing HD Insurance for their order book! The staff are the booby prize who they will keep for a period and then discard! They will save circa 500k-1 million removing the pointless Ops and account managers who are exceptional at using spreadsheets, especially at month end!

Anonymous 22 August 17 22:27

Love the fact that Motor Insurance people think they have a future. It is the most lowest skilled Legal work available and will be completely automated in the near future. Best get brushing up that CV, Aldi are growing in size!

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:09

Doesn't the fact that more BAs are commenting (bitterly) in fear of impending redundancies and worrying about having to explain on their CVs how they were the architects of another failed system than there is Hill Dickinson staff being bought commenting give you an insight into why Keoghs don't want them and aren't buying them. Rejection hurts.
“A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. If you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing.” - Lance Armstrong

It’s clear from the comment from a BA that: motor "is the most lowest skilled Legal work available and will be completely automated in the near future" shows exactly how out of touch the BAs, BIs and BI Transformation Executive of the business were and continue to be, if they bothered to open a file they'd realise the complexity that they should have engaged themselves to learn before building a system that fails to deal with the complexity of a motor claim!

Also - how derogatory of a hundred people who work hard every day (noticed and being bought by Keoghs) whilst the BA's and BI Transformation Executive go the café for the first 20 minutes of the day and then leave the office at 4pm.

Laughable. Perhaps you’d be better going to speak to the people in motor than hide behind this anonymous message board? We’re on the 1st and 3rd floor by the way.

I suppose Elon Musk is an old school chum and its him that's told you motor claims handlers won’t be needed in the NEAR future hahaha. I bet Tesla (self-driving electric cars) don’t use a flyover map created in excel in front of clients pretending it’s their own work or generated from a system. What colour is your self-driving car then?

If you think civil litigation for motor claims handling if different to civil litigation in other disciplines and isn’t transferable then again it highlights why the systems were such a monumental failure and why the persons responsible should have been exited from the business, just as they are now SHOCKER, a long time ago.

Bottom line motor staff are safe and being bought, can’t say the same about the rotten apples in the HD barrel.

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:22

Amusing watching BA's crash and burn. People who live in glass houses..... He without sin........

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:27

How will BAs get their shopping delivered or get to the job centre without motor handlers looking after client's fleets of delivery vehicles and busses?

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:32

Lets be honest. Its more than motor handlers that they think they're better than. They talk about partners and members with decades of experience as if their 2:2 degree in Geography is worth more than a 1st and Masters in Law.

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:39

If claims handling becomes automated then the sector won't need BAs to ruin their systems, unless they let them design the system, in which case claims handlers have nothing to worry about because it won't work.

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:44

Being a BA is the lowest form of employment at HD or any business - totally disposable. Even the cleaners would not want their jobs.

Anonymous 23 August 17 10:49

Funny how a BA is in a law firm for two years means you know more about law than the firm combined.....

Anonymous 23 August 17 11:15

A drowning man will clutch at straws, its not the ROF demographic you need to convince of your worth BAs its HD's management, Keoghs have clearly already assessed your worth in their exclusion from BAs in the sale.

Actions speak louder than words.

Anonymous 23 August 17 12:04

Sure there is 3 'profitable' business groups still left at HD. The weakness has been indentifief and eliminated..goodbye!

Anonymous 23 August 17 12:04

Sure there is 3 'profitable' business groups still left at HD. The weakness has been indentifief and eliminated..goodbye!

Anonymous 23 August 17 12:10

The insurance business group are well in profit thank you, its a matter of public record - thirty seconds on Google will establish that. Also thirty seconds on Google is about the time the BAs put into researching how to build a system. haha

Anonymous 23 August 17 12:13

Anon 11:04 clearly another BA - proven by the double post as they can't read: "Please note that comments are subject to moderation and so will not appear immediately. " hahaha

Anonymous 23 August 17 12:43

Member of HD motor here.
I'm excited by the move and investment.
Until today I didn't have an opinion of the BAs however now I can see how disrespectful and bitter they are. I understand you can't be happy as it means redundancies for you but for the last two years you've pretended to be our friends and now that the tides gone out and we can see you have been swimming naked you turn on the very people who's existence in the firm necessitated your job roles.

Disgusting from the BAs - you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

I bet a dollar to a dime you daren't come to the motor department and say those disgusting comments or day say them to the LLP board, IBG board, HR or head of motor.

Same on you all ruining this good news for our staff.

Anonymous 23 August 17 14:44

All these comments posted in work hours, I hope people are going to making their time back! I think keoghs block the internet in work hours!

Anonymous 23 August 17 19:57

What would you know about Keoghs? I bet they don't manage staff by email and passive aggressive posts on ROF

Anonymous 24 August 17 08:02

I think everyone needs to calm down. Staff are happy with the move. BAs and transformation executive are happy that there will be flying cars and the pleasure of hundreds of livelihood being ruined by automation that's near. (Clearly don't live on the same planet as us)

Anonymous 26 August 17 11:43

Having been a BA and worked in IT for years but having actually taken the time to see what a motor legal team does I can tell you that being a BA is easy in comparison. Making process flows and then blaming the staff that helped you make process flows is much easier than any legal work! Also I have previously worked with the 'transformation exeucative' from HD and can tell you he's way out of his depth.

Anonymous 26 August 17 11:58

Keoghs looking to delayer management tiers...you must be joking. They have more pointless managers than HD. People employed just to monitor what the fee earners do and put people on unnecessary performance reviews to justify their own role and to make sure nobody ever gets a bonus. Keoghs managers check your daily time recording during the day, if you're a couple of units down for the day you are expected to stay to make it up, doesn't matter if you've done non-chargeable that day or extra the day before. Micromanagement at its extreme.

Anonymous 26 August 17 17:07

Makes good business sense.Insurance has always been the problem child who barely break even.As an ex claims handler i can attest to the weak management.My manager in Motor was akin to David Brent and was completely inept.Problem with people in mid management,know they have hit a ceiling and despite having more years to work,realise their salary is very unlikely to improve.Lets have collective minutes silence for the demise of HD IBG

Anonymous 26 August 17 18:37

1. If you were a claims handler then you'd not be told anything about profit or loss
2. IBG was and is in profit. Get your facts straight
3. It's not a demise, basically a re-naming. Same staff same clients.
4. Why not name your ex manager - 100% don't believe you ever worked there as a claims handler. Another BA comment in disguise