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Jonathan Bassey joined ARAG in 2017, bringing with him diverse experience from the commercial finance, legal costs and legaltech sectors, in both underwriting and business development roles. As our North of England ATE Account Manager, he works with firms in the East Midlands and North-East of England, especially those that do a significant amount of personal injury or clinical negligence work.

What do you find particularly interesting in your job? I really enjoy being out on the road, meeting existing contacts and prospective clients, especially after the past 18 months of lockdowns and virtual meetings on Teams. I still get that buzz from winning new business and starting to build a partnership with new firms, but I’m also fortunate to have some great clients who have become personal friends over the years, so it’s always great to catch up with them.

What trends or changes have you seen since you joined the company? The pandemic has obviously been an exceptional period but, if a dozen years in the legal sector have taught me anything, it’s that things are always changing. That’s probably true wherever you work, to some extent, but developments like LASPO, the Civil Liability Act and, more positively, the West and Demoulipied judgement create fundamental shifts in the legal landscape that really impact people’s rights, and the pace of that change seems to be accelerating.

How do you think the legal sector has responded to the pandemic and lockdowns? I think the constant change that the legal sector has become used to did make it easier for us all to adapt, last March when everything started shutting down. The courts obviously struggled initially, but they were starting from a very difficult place already. It was obviously easier for us, at ARAG, working in a very well-resourced and agile business but, on the whole, I think the sector responded brilliantly. The legal profession is very resilient, and it hasn’t taken long for things to get back to some sort of normality.

What do you think the next year has in store? I am very much looking forward to the next 12 months, not just in terms of helping existing partners navigate the new landscape but also because I have lot of new opportunities to explore, with firms wo are looking to work with us. I think the squeeze on funding is getting even tighter, so ARAG Advance has been a real game-changer in terms of bringing firms to us because they know we can help them beyond just writing an insurance policy.

Finally, what do you like most about working for ARAG? It’s obviously a great place to work and one that stands for something, in helping to ensure access to justice for people and businesses who might otherwise miss out. But for me, it’s great to be part of such a well-respected brand in the legal sector. It gives me great confidence in the products and partnerships that we build, and inspires a lot of trust in the firms we work with, which makes my job a lot easier.

If you would like to hear more from Jonathan, then check out this video we recorded with him shortly after he joined ARAG, in 2017.

Disclaimer - all information in this article was correct at time of publishing.