Types of Professional Negligence Claim

If you think that your solicitor has not done what they were supposed to do, it does not necessarily mean that you will be able to make a claim for professional negligence. There are three ways to complain about the conduct of your solicitor: poor service complaints, professional misconduct complaints and professional negligence claims.

Poor service complaints are dealt with by the Legal Complaints Service (LCS), which is part of the Law Society but operates independently as a complaints handling body. Examples of poor service would be not doing as you have instructed, causing unreasonable delay, giving inaccurate or incomplete information, failing to reply to correspondence, or not giving accurate information about the likely costs of your case.

Cases of professional misconduct should also be reported to the LCS, but will then be referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Your solicitor should at all times act within the Solicitors' Code of Conduct. If they do not, they may be guilty of professional misconduct. Inappropriate conduct would include acting for a client whose interests conflict with yours, releasing confidential information about you without your consent, or discriminating against you on the basis of race, creed, age, disability, gender or sexuality.

Professional negligence claims must be dealt with by the courts. Professional negligence is deemed to have occurred when your solicitor fails to take the reasonable care that a solicitor would normally have taken in similar circumstance, or if your solicitor acts in a way that a solicitor would not normally act in similar circumstances.

Some examples of how things may go wrong are:

• Not commencing court proceedings within the allowed time limits.
• Failing to issue or serve proceedings on the defendants.
• Issuing proceedings but not serving them properly on the defendants.
• Failing to comply with a court order, leading to the case being struck out.
• Giving improper advice, e.g. saying there is no valid claim when there is.
• Under settling the case, e.g. settling too quickly rather than allowing enough time to negotiate a settlement, resulting in a lower level of compensation than might otherwise have been achieved.

Harris Fowler are experienced in dealing with cases of professional negligence. If you think that you may have a claim, please contact us, and we will be able to advise you further.