posted 31st October 2025
When the letters stopped coming and the phone numbers no longer worked, many British investors realised too late that the “guaranteed” returns they’d been promised were anything but. The glossy brochures had spoken of modern student flats, care homes, and luxury apartments abroad, safe, asset-backed investments that would “work for you”.
For thousands, they worked only for the people who sold them. In the aftermath, ordinary people, teachers, shop owners, and retired couples were left staring at empty plots of land and vanished companies. But a quiet revolution is taking shape among those who refuse to accept that their money is gone for good.
At its heart is Meridian Legal Services, a firm specialising in using Professional Indemnity Insurance to reclaim funds lost through negligent advice.
Professional Indemnity Insurance, or PII, is the safety net designed to protect clients when professionals get things wrong.
Accountants, advisers, and solicitors carry it for precisely that reason: if they fail to act with reasonable care or give misleading guidance, their insurer can be made to compensate the people they’ve harmed.
For investors who were steered into unregulated schemes by trusted advisers, this insurance can be the key to getting justice.
What distinguishes Meridian Legal Services is its refusal to treat clients as case numbers. Each file is opened, read, and dissected by hand. Every client’s story, who they spoke to, what they were told, how much they invested is handled as its own investigation.
“Two people might invest in the same scheme for completely different reasons,” says one of the firm’s senior legal experts. “To do them justice, you have to understand those reasons before you even think about making a claim.” That personal approach has become Meridian’s hallmark.
While some firms chase mass actions or collective claims, Meridian believes that careful, one-to-one work achieves better results. Each claim is built like a brief for trial: timelines reconstructed, phone records reviewed, promotional materials analysed. The goal isn’t just to prove loss, it’s to show, in detail, how a professional’s negligence opened the door to it.
The stories are strikingly similar. One man was told that buying a room in a hotel complex would give him a “steady pension income.” The operator went bust within eighteen months. Another client was persuaded to use her retirement savings to fund an overseas development that never reached planning approval.
A retired nurse invested in student accommodation after being reassured by her accountant that it was “fully regulated.” It wasn’t.
Meridian’s legal team have become skilled at following the paper trail that leads back to the people who gave those assurances. Often, they find advisers who ignored warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority or failed to check whether the projects they recommended were genuine. In other cases, the professionals involved were not authorised to advise on investments at all, relying instead on vague introductions and verbal persuasion.
Even when those firms have disappeared, their responsibility does not vanish. Many professional indemnity policies remain active for years after a business closes, a detail Meridian is adept at uncovering. “The challenge isn’t proving the scheme failed,” says another lawyer. “It’s proving that someone with a professional duty played a part in promoting it, and that their insurer still carries the risk.”
For the people affected, discovering that a claim is possible can come as a revelation. After months or years of believing there was no recourse, the idea that an insurer could pay compensation brings a measure of relief, and, for some, renewed trust that accountability still matters.
Meridian’s clients say the firm’s patience and clarity are what make the difference. “They didn’t talk like lawyers,” recalls one investor. “They just explained where the duty lay and what could be done. It felt like someone was finally listening.”
Time, though, is not on anyone’s side. Claims against advisers and their insurers are governed by strict deadlines, usually six years from when the bad advice was given, or three years from when the investor first realised the damage. Many victims wait too long, assuming there’s nothing to be done. Meridian’s message is simple: ask the question before it’s too late. Contact us today.
