Professional Negligence Claims | No Win No Fee
In this guide, we discuss professional negligence claims in comprehensive detail.
This form of negligence occurs when a professional, such as a solicitor, breaches the duty of care owed to you as their client and causes you to suffer a loss. This type of claim aims to restore you to the same financial position you would have been in if the negligence had not occurred.
At Legal Expert, our team specialises in professional negligence relating to personal injury claims. There is a required standard that legal professionals must meet when handling a compensation claim.
As we move through this guide, we will explain this type of negligence in more detail and provide examples of how legal professionals could breach their duty of care. Also, we will explore the losses you could suffer from this breach. Learn how entering into a No Win No Fee agreement with a professional negligence solicitor could help you to access their services without paying upfront fees.
You can also contact our team at Legal Expert to discuss your potential claim. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide legal advice that is both free and confidential. What’s more, they have access to our specialist solicitors and could connect you with one if they feel you have a valid claim. However, they will not place you under any obligation to further your claim with us.
You can:
- Call our advice line on 0800 073 8804
- Claim online via our form
- Use the live chat feature on this page
Professional negligence claims guide
Choose A Section
- What Is Professional Negligence And Can I Claim Compensation?
- Professional Negligence Claims Against Personal Injury Solicitors
- Other Professional Negligence Claims Against Solicitors
- No Win No Fee Agreements And Professional Negligence Claims
- Get In Touch To Make A Professional Negligence Claim
- Learn More About Professional Negligence Claims
What Is Professional Negligence And Can I Claim Compensation?
To make a compensation claim for professional negligence, there is a set of criteria that must have been met:
- A professional owed you, their client, a duty of care.
- They breached this duty of care.
- As a result of this breach, you suffered a loss.
This is the definition of professional negligence. There are various professionals who can owe you a duty of care to provide you with services of the correct standard, including solicitors, accountants and surveyors. At Legal Expert, our team are experienced in handling solicitor negligence cases in connection with personal injury claims, such as car accident, accident at work, and public liability claims. We will discuss this in more detail in the following section.
However, if you have any questions regarding whether you could have valid grounds to bring forward a professional negligence claim, please get in touch with one of our advisors.
Professional Negligence Claims Against Personal Injury Solicitors
Professional negligence could occur in a personal injury claim if your solicitor breaches their duty of care and therefore fails in the course of representing you. This could happen because your solicitor has missed a crucial deadline or your claim was improperly handled. Consequently, your claim could fail where it would have been successful if your solicitor hadn’t breached their duty of care. This could cause you to lose out on the compensation award you may have received.
To make a professional negligence claim of this type, you will need to prove on the balance of probabilities that your initial personal injury case would’ve been successful. If this is found to be the case, you could be compensated in the same way you would have been for your personal injury claim via general and special damages. In addition to this, you could be eligible to receive 8% interest on top of this compensation for each year that has passed since your initial claim.
A professional negligence claim would be made against the practice that inadequately represented you rather than the solicitor as an individual. The claim would be lodged against the law firm’s professional indemnity insurers (PII).
In the following sections, we will discuss the different ways in which a solicitor could breach their duty of care and how this could lead to a professional negligence claim.
My Solicitor Missed The Limitation Date, Can I Make A Claim?
There are time limits applicable to personal injury claims that restrict how long you have to begin legal proceedings following an accident. The Limitation Act 1980 states that this time window is generally 3 years from the date of the accident.
If your solicitor misses this limitation date and your case does not move into the litigation phase, you will be unable to bring forward this claim. If this was due to your solicitor breaching the duty of care they owed to you, and your claim would, on the balance of probabilities, have been successful had legal proceedings begun within the limitation period, you may be eligible to make a professional negligence claim.
My Case Was Struck Out Because Of My Solicitor
If, after your case has moved into the litigation phase, your solicitor fails to comply with deadlines or instructions laid out by the court, this could result in your claim being struck out. Provided you’re still within the relevant time limit for claiming, then you can begin your claim.
If the limitation period for claiming has passed, then you could make a professional negligence claim. As we’ve already mentioned, this would be against the law firm as a whole and not the individual solicitor.
My Solicitor Under-Settled My Personal Injury Claim
In certain situations, you could have been awarded a lower compensation amount than you were eligible to receive because your solicitor breached their duty of care. For example, they provided you with bad advice to settle your claim early, or they failed to correctly calculate the loss of earnings you had suffered. You could be awarded the difference between what you would have received and what you did receive, in addition to 8% interest on that amount.
If you have suffered losses as a result of professional negligence, please contact our team of advisors.
To find more examples of solicitor negligence, head here
Other Professional Negligence Claims Against Solicitors
There are further types of professional negligence claims that could be possible to make against a law firm. These may include:
- Unexpected deductions – If your solicitor has taken more money in fees than they stated they would at the start of your claim, or if the charges seem to be excessive, it may be possible for you to bring forward a claim. For example, these issues could arise in connection with a No Win No Fee agreement. You’ll be compensated the difference in the fees you were quoted and
- Turned down claims – A solicitor could have turned down your claim just before the limitation period expires, despite the fact that you contacted them within plenty of time, preventing you from seeking alternative representation.
- Lack of evidence – Your solicitor may have failed to help you collect or compile your evidence to the correct standard, which stopped your claim from being successful.
If you are uncertain whether your case meets the eligibility criteria to make a professional negligence claim, you can speak to a member of our team. They can provide advice tailored to the details of your case.
To find out more about suing a solicitor for negligence, head here
No Win No Fee Agreements And Professional Negligence Claims
Using a solicitor to make a professional negligence claim could prove beneficial. They can help you to compile evidence that shows you wouldn’t have suffered the losses that you have if your solicitor hadn’t breached their duty of care. What’s more, they could offer their services under a kind of No Win No Fee agreement, known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This generally means the following:
- Firstly, there will be no upfront or ongoing payments to make for the services of your solicitor.
- Furthermore, you typically won’t pay for these services at any time should your claim be unsuccessful.
- Finally, a successful claim will mean your solicitor can take a small percentage of the compensation, which the law caps. This is referred to as a success fee.
Please get in touch with our advisors at Legal Expert for an assessment of the validity of your claim. If our advisors find that you could be eligible to make a professional negligence claim, they may connect you with one of our specialist solicitors. They could offer to handle your case on a No Win No Fee basis.
Get In Touch To Make A Professional Negligence Claim
To make an enquiry, please contact our team today. Our advisors are available 24/7 to provide you with advice that is both free and confidential. Don’t hesitate, as professional negligence claims are subject to a 6-year time limit in which you must begin legal proceedings.
To learn more about this, you can:
- Call our advice line on 0800 073 8804
- Claim online via our form
- Use the live chat feature on this page
Learn More About Professional Negligence Claims
Take a look at more of the guides from our website:
- Personal Injury Compensation
- No Win No Fee Solicitors – Find The Best Lawyers Near You
- How To Claim
- To learn more about the professional negligence limitation period, head here. You can also discover the criteria to claim and potential compensation amounts.
- If you live in Fareham and you’re looking for professional negligence solicitors, see this guide. It offers advice on how our service covers the area, as well as potential compensation payouts.
Below we will provide some external sources for you to take a look at:
- Civil litigation – The Law Society
- Instructing a solicitor – Solicitors Regulation Authority
- Legal jargon explained – Solicitors Regulation Authority
Thank you for reading our guide to professional negligence claims. If you would like to make any enquiries regarding a potential claim, please contact our team via the details provided in this guide.
