Jeremy Riley

Jeremy qualified in 1998 and is a partner in London. He leads Kennedys’ UK professional liability and claims handling group and is a member of the firm’s Strategy Board.

Jeremy’s core focus is on policy coverage and construction claims. He regularly advises insurers and reinsurers on coverage issues and policy disputes, such as aggregation, scope of insuring clauses, breach of terms, non-disclosure, misrepresentation and fraud/dishonesty.

A large part of Jeremy’s practice relates to construction claims, including acting for professional project team members and also Design & Construct contractors. These cases cover issues arising in domestic contracts, but are predominantly associated with major commercial and public projects.

He has extensive experience managing claims against ‘traditional’ professionals, in particular solicitors, barristers, accountants, surveyors and brokers. Jeremy also deals with defence of D&O notifications, plus claims against IT professionals.

Jeremy has handled an impressive number of high-profile and complex construction claims, such as advising professional indemnity insurers following a hangar roof collapse at Heathrow Terminal 5, advising CAR contractors in relations to delays within a US$1.9bn project and also several cases involving failure of steel structures.

In terms of coverage, Jeremy has advised professional indemnity insurers on a series of aggregation and fraud/dishonesty issues arising from block notifications by firms of solicitors, and also financial institutions insurers on a block notice of many thousand Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims. Most coverage cases involve advising on scope of cover and policy response, particularly in construction claims. 

Finally, Jeremy has dealt with a number of claims against IT professionals, including claims involving software for gambling machines and a greyhound racing trackside product.

Jeremy is the Head of the FOIL (Forum of Insurance Lawyers) Sector Focus Team for Professional Indemnity, and a member of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates. In addition, he regularly lectures on key market issues such as brokers’ duties and writes for trade press.

Jeremy is a co-author of the latest edition of Kennedys’ Claims Handling Law and Practice Guide which was published in February 2021.