Mullins quits as SIF managing director

Elizabeth Mullins, managing director at the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (Sif), is resigning just six months before the company is due to close.

Mullins, who has been with Sif for 16 years and managing director for three, is believed to have resigned last week.

It was expected that Mull-ins would continue as part of the joint venture company, which will take over the provision of professional indemnity for the legal profession.

But in a statement, Mullins says: "I have made this very difficult decision after 16 years with Sif/London Insurance Brokers because if I am ever going to make a change, now is the obvious time."

Michael Seymour, a partner in the professional indemnity department at Lovells, says he is shocked at Mullins departure. He says: "I think she has done an extremely good job. She won a lot of praise for the way she went about the roadshows [to persuade firms to vote in favour of keeping Sif] she was doing when it was being decided if Sif should carry on."

A spokeswoman at Sif refused to say where Mullins is going and when she is leaving.

Sif recently reviewed its panel in the run-up to its demise (The Lawyer, 21 February). It is not expected that the amended panel will change substantially after the new insurance provider begins operating later this year.