Professional Negligence Solicitors.

Professional negligence occurs when a professional fails to perform their responsibilities to a required standard in their field.

The term professional is fairly ambiguous, but is generally applied to anyone working in law, accounting and finance, and property services like surveying and architecture. Under certain circumstances, marketing and PR agencies, builders and valuers can also act negligently.

Medical professionals can also be negligent, but from a legal perspective, this is considered medical or clinical negligence, which are services we do not offer.

Some of the most common examples of professional negligence are:

• Solicitors who fail to advise of issues during a property purchase
• Accountants who offer incorrect advice to businesses or individuals on tax reliefs, or whose advice leads to increased tax liabilities
• Surveyors who fail to report obvious issues with a property

If you are unsure whether your particular circumstances would fall under professional negligence, please call us on 0203 007 5500 and we can advise.

There are three elements you must demonstrate to bring a claim for professional negligence:

1. Duty of care – You must have entered into a contract (not necessarily a written contract) that meant you were owed a duty of care. A duty of care is a moral or legal obligation to ensure the safety or well-being of others.

2. Breach of duty – You must have evidence that the professional didn’t conduct a service to the best of their ability, or to a level reasonable for someone in their position and with their level of experience.

3. Loss suffered – You must have suffered a loss as a result of the professional’s negligent actions. Losses include direct and indirect financial losses, or non-financial losses such as suffering through deterioration in health. In either case, losses should be quantifiable.

Any claims for professional negligence have to be brought within six years of you finding out about the negligence, or six years from when you should have known negligence occurred.

Professional negligence isn’t always clear and if you’re not sure whether your situation is worth pursuing, you can always contact us for advice.

Professional negligence claims can settle almost immediately if the negligent actions were obvious and the other side agrees.

However, most claims typically take between 3 to 12 months to conclude. If a court hearing is required, time frames can be significantly longer, depending on the court’s availability to hold the hearing, and to which track it is allocated.

We do not offer legal aid on any matters currently. In some cases, we are able to offer conditional fee or ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements, but these are on a case-by-case basis.