Professional Negligence

Professional Negligence Claims

If you have instructed the services of a professional advisor, such as a solicitor, accountant, or surveyor, you are reliant on their expertise.

Unfortunately, there are occasions when a professional’s quality of service or advice does not meet the required standards.

Have you been let down by a professional, or have they failed in their responsibility to perform to the required level? Our specialist professional negligence lawyers can offer advice and guidance on making a compensation claim.

At Bridge McFarland, our experienced Professional Negligence Lawyers deal with a broad range of negligence claims against solicitors, accountants, surveyors, and a wide range of other professionals.

Professional Negligence Lawyers Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire

We understand that it can be highly distressing when you have suffered harm or loss because of a professional advisor’s actions or bad advice; in some cases, it could even lead you to dealing with severe consequences.

Our professional negligence solicitors are highly experienced specialists and can advise you on a range of professional negligence disputes, including:

Lawyer negligence

• Solicitors
• Barristers
• Conveyancers/will writers
• Under-settled claims

Financial negligence

• Accountants
• Financial advisors/IFAs
• Insurance brokers

Property negligence 

• Surveyors/valuers
• Architects
• Structural engineers

Other professionals

• Local authorities
• Veterinary surgeons/vets

Our professional negligence solicitors are experienced dispute resolution lawyers and members of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association (PNLA). We can help you if you believe you have a professional negligence claim. We will assess your case, guiding you through the process using our experience and expertise to provide the most appropriate solution tailored to your circumstances.

How to make a Professional Negligence Claim

Professional service providers have certain obligations they must adhere to, and failure to do so could warrant a claim. However, for your compliant and professional negligence claim to be eligible, there are certain key factors you must establish, which include:

• Duty of care – depending on their industry or profession, the level of care they were obliged to provide you.
• Breach of that duty – was this duty of care owed to you as their client breached?
• Causation – was the poor standard of service provided by the professional, directly or indirectly, responsible for any losses you may have suffered?
• Loss – a measure of the losses you’ve suffered because of the breach of duty.

Our partner-led team has a proven track record of success and will always give you clear and straightforward advice, working with you to establish the strength of your claim. We will aim to settle your claim as soon as possible, and we are experts in mediation and all other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Most claims are settled without the need for court proceedings, but where this is not possible, our professional negligence solicitors are experienced and formidable litigators.

Funding for Professional Negligence claims

In appropriate cases, we will share the risk with you through flexible and innovative funding arrangements, including:

• Conditional fee agreements (CFAs) (also known as “no win, no fee” agreements)
• Discounted CFAs (also known as “no win, low fee” agreements)
• Fixed and capped fees
• Competitive hourly rate charges
• Legal expenses (“after-the-event” or “ATE”) insurance to cover the risk of having to pay costs to the other side (and your own expenses) if your claim is unsuccessful
• Disbursement funding for expenses such as court fees and expert’s fees

If a claim is suitable for funding by a full CFA with ATE legal expenses insurance and a disbursement funding loan, it will involve no up-front costs to you, and you will have nothing to pay if the claim is unsuccessful.

We will discuss these options for funding your case, but you can find further details here.

Get in touch with our Professional Negligence Lawyers today

Need advice about a professional negligence claim? Contact any of our offices today or call 0800 987 8800. 

Examples of recent claims

• A six-figure claim for damages against a prominent firm of personal injury and medical negligence solicitors in relation to an under-settled clinical negligence claim. The client was wrongly advised to settle his claim for negligent medical treatment on a split-liability basis with the result that the damages he recovered were reduced by 70%. The claim was settled.
• Claims against a law firm for clients who between them faced seven-figure liabilities for costs as a result of the law firm’s failure to ensure that adequate “after-the-event” (ATE) legal expenses insurance cover was obtained in relation to industrial disease test cases. The claims were recently settled.
• A large six-figure claim against a firm of accountants for negligently advising a client to invest large sums of money into an off-shore Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) as a tax avoidance scheme.
• A claim against conveyancing solicitors for failing to properly advise on the purchase of numerous residential properties. The firm failed to take proper instructions from or to advise the client in relation to the substantial liabilities she incurred in relation to what turned out to be a complex mortgage fraud.
• A substantial claim against a Local Authority on behalf of a minor sibling for harm, including psychological injury, relating to the failure of their Social Services to adequately protect them by taking care proceedings sooner.
• A claim against solicitors who badly advised a client on a co-ownership of property dispute with his former partner, resulting in the client incurring a six-figure liability for costs. The claim was settled by the law firm.

Professional Neligence Frequently Asked Questions