Suing a Solicitor for Giving Negligent Advice

It can be daunting to consider suing a solicitor for professional negligence. Sometimes solicitors make an error which can be put right quickly and easily. On other occasions, solicitors' mistakes can cause serious losses to their clients, and be far more complicated to put right. If your solicitor has made an error which has caused you financial loss, you will probably need legal help to sort out the issue.

What is Solicitor's Negligence?

Solicitors owe a duty of care to their clients, to carry out work with a reasonable level of skill and competence. Professional negligence by a solicitor is when your solicitor's work falls below the standard you can reasonably expect as a client. If the solicitor's negligence causes you financial loss, then you can bring a claim against the solicitor for damages to compensate you for that loss. 

Claims against solicitors are a type of professional negligence, a particular area of niche expertise for our firm. 

What are Common Mistakes Made by Solicitors?

There are many different ways in which negligence by solicitors can occur. Some examples professional negligence brought against solicitors by this firm are:

• a solicitor missed a limitation date or court deadline which means that a claim can no longer be pursued at all, or has to be pursued in a less effective way;
• a lawyer or conveyancer made an error when purchasing or selling a property for you, which caused you financial loss;
• a conveyancer or solicitor failed to explain conveyancing searches to you properly, which meant you were not aware of issues affecting the value of the property before you completed;
• a solicitor or lawyer advised you to settle a claim for too little which meant that you did not receive as much compensation as you were entitled to;
• your solicitor did not understand your claim properly and failed to give you proper advice about how to proceed;
• your solicitor or lawyer advised you that you have a strong claim, which you subsequently lost, meaning that you had to pay costs or damages to your opponent;
• a solicitor made a mistake with the boundaries of your property, which affected the value of your property;
• your solicitor or lawyer did not draft a will properly, which meant that more tax had to be paid, or a dispute arose between family members;
• your solicitor made a mistake in your divorce settlement which meant you did not receive as much money as you should, and you were unable to reopen the financial arrangements;
• a solicitor did not deal with the probate of a loved one's estate properly, meaning that assets such as a house were not sold for as much as they should have been;
• a lawyer or solicitor failed to instruct a barrister properly or to prepare for trial properly which meant that a hearing or trial went against you and you suffered financial loss; and
• your solicitor failed to advise about the consequences of a particular course of action. 

There are many different ways in which a solicitor can be negligent, and this is not an exhaustive list. If your solicitor has been negligent but their mistake does not appear in this list, we should still be able to help. 

What can you do if your solicitor was negligent?

If your solicitor has been negligent, and you have suffered financially because of their mistake, it is important to take independent legal advice as soon as you can, and to act quickly. There are strict time limits for professional negligence claims which have to be observed, otherwise you can lose your right to bring a claim. 

If you instruct Samuels Solicitors to help you, the first thing we would do would be to obtain your file from your previous solicitors. Once we have it, we can often advise you very quickly whether or not you will be able to make a claim for compensation against your previous solicitors. 

When you know whether you have a claim, we will be able to advise you about the different options available to you at that stage. The first stage is usually to send your previous solicitor a letter of claim, in accordance with the Pre Action Protocol for Negligence Claims. After a response is received, it may be appropriate to mediate the dispute, or to go to Court. 

How much do professional negligence cases cost?

We are usually able to discuss your case with you for free initially, and usually we will be able to obtain your previous solicitor's files without making any charge to you. When we have the files, if they are particularly extensive, we may well need to make a charge for reviewing them, but this is decided on a case by case basis and we would let you know what the costs would be before anything was incurred. 

When solicitors make mistakes, it can be costly to put right. However, the good news is that the solicitor you are suing will almost certainly have professional indemnity insurance and their insurer will be able to pay your damages, and a large proportion of your costs when you are successful. 

We understand that many clients will find it difficult to fund a claim up front, particularly if you are already suffering financially because of a mistake a solicitor has made. In some cases, we will be able to act for you on a conditional (no win no fee) basis, which would mean a success fee would be payable when yo win. We would discuss the details of a no win no fee arrangement with you before it is finalised. 

In other cases, we should be able to offer you one of our flexible funding options, to help you with your legal fees, such as deferring payment of the fees until the matter is finished, or arranging for our fees to be paid by regular instalments. 

What should I do next if my solicitor has made a mistake? 

Samuels Solicitors have been acting for clients from all over the country for many decades, helping recover damages for professional negligence against solicitors. We are experts in putting these problems right. You will need an expert to help you decide whether your solicitor has been negligent and we have the experience and knowledge to help you.

If you have a solicitor who needs to be sued for negligence, we will be able to help you. 

If you think you have a professional negligence claim against a solicitor, contact us today for a no obligation discussion about how we can help.