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Professional Negligence Claims
The law and procedure relating to professional negligence claims can be complex. Professional negligence law sits across contract and tort, and the duties of a professional differ from profession to profession. However, the most contested area in almost every claim is causation: whether the professional’s error actually caused the loss suffered. It may be that this would have occurred anyway.
Breach of duty, causation and loss must each be assessed carefully. Poor service alone is not automatically negligence: a breach must have caused a measurable financial loss before a viable claim exists.
Our commercial dispute resolution solicitors have both the expertise and experience in examining these issues at the outset so that they can provide you with commercially grounded advice on merits, limitation and your legal options. The team is led by Jonathan Tyler, Group Head of Litigation, who spent nearly 20 years as a partner at a London West End Legal 500 firm before joining Wellers.
What we do for you
Here is a bulleted list of the actual steps taken on a claim:
- Review the retainer, engagement letter and file
- Identify the applicable duty and standard of care
- Build a chronology of events and assess causation
- Advise on limitation deadlines and any urgent steps required
- Quantify the recoverable loss and instruct expert evidence where needed
- Prepare a Letter of Claim under the relevant pre-action protocol
- Engage with the professional’s indemnity insurers where appropriate
- Negotiate or mediate toward resolution
- Litigate only where proportionate and necessary
Wellers act for clients in a full range of professional negligence claims including: Accountants and tax advisers, Architects, Barristers, Builders and construction professionals, Engineers, Financial advisers, Insurance brokers, Planning Consultants, Solicitors, Surveyors and Valuers.
Examples:
- A solicitor fails to issue court proceedings before the limitation deadline, or fails to advise on planning restrictions or title defects in a commercial property transaction.
- A surveyor fails to identify structural defects or provides an inaccurate property valuation.
- An accountant provides incorrect tax advice, resulting in a penalty or liability.
Our Claims Process
- Initial commercial case review – we assess whether the facts disclose a viable claim, and advise on the urgency of any limitation deadline.
- Evidence, chronology and loss assessment – we review the file, build the factual record and quantify the financial loss with reference to any mitigation obligations.
- Advice on merits, limitation, funding and strategy – you receive a clear picture of prospects, the likely cost range and the available funding and risk options.
- Pre-action correspondence and insurer engagement – we prepare a Letter of Claim and engage with the professional’s indemnity insurers where relevant.
- Negotiation, mediation or other ADR – most claims resolve before trial, so we pursue settlement or alternative dispute resolution, often via mediation, wherever proportionate.
- Court proceedings only where necessary – if the matter cannot be resolved, we represent you through litigation.
The Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol generally applies to claims against non-construction andnon-healthcare professionals, so for instance solicitors and accountants. Claims involving architects, engineers and quantity surveyors may instead fall under the Construction and Engineering Disputes Pre-Action Protocol. Limitation deadlines apply regardless of which protocol governs your claim, so early advice matters. We do not imply guaranteed timescales or outcomes: every matter turns on its own facts.
Transparent Costs and Funding
Cost certainty matters when you are deciding whether to pursue or defend a claim. Wellers can offer fixed fees in some cases, with transparent pricing and competitive rates across all stages of a professional negligence matter.
- Fixed fees where possible for defined early stages, including initial case review and pre-action correspondence
- Phased scopes so you authorise and control expenditure at each agreed stage
- Funding and adverse-cost risk confirmed after an early merits review, once the evidence and prospects are clear
