The Law Society has been urged to rethink its proposal for a new insurance scheme for members after they voted overwhelmingly against it. Solicitors last week voted 1,873 to 506 against a motion to set up a qualifying insurers scheme (QIS) to replace the professional indemnity scheme. Since there are only about 6,000 registered solicitors, the vote reflects strong opposition. 'After the QIS rules had been finalised, we found the reformed scheme would not benefit the profession as a whole,' said Benny Yeung Yuen-bun of the Solicitors Action Group. He said it would particularly hurt small and medium- sized law firms. Under the present scheme, lawyers pay into a central insurance fund, but it has been criticised for effectively holding lawyers 'liable for each other's mistakes'. The QIS would have allowed lawyers to negotiate their own indemnity terms with insurers. But Mr Yeung said the fine print, such as a requirement for a 'very hefty' one-off premium for law firms closing down - to take care of any claims made up to six years after cessation of practice - made the scheme untenable for small firms. Legal sector lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee said the present scheme was intolerable and urged the Law Society to explore a better one, and to introduce interim measures in the meantime. 'The scheme must change drastically,' she said. 'It is unacceptable how much time this took and that the supporting documents for the proposed scheme were put together in such a great hurry at the end.' Mr Yeung said he would seek reform of the current scheme, such as introducing 'risk banding', whereby different premiums would be set for different kinds of work, depending on how risky it is in insurance terms.