Can You Claim Against A Solicitor For Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients?

This guide looks at who could be eligible to make a professional negligence claim against a personal injury solicitor for not maintaining adequate communication with clients.

not maintaining adequate communication with clients

Can You Claim Against A Solicitor For Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients?

We will examine the duty of care solicitors owe to their clients and how failing to maintain adequate communication could constitute a breach of this duty and cause you to experience a loss of chance.

Loss of chance refers to the loss of opportunity to pursue either all or part of your initial claim, such as for a personal injury. You will find an explanation of how inadequate communication could affect you, and some example scenarios to illustrate this.

Our guide also examines what evidence you can use to support your claim, as well as the possible compensation that could be awarded in the event of your claim’s success.

The final section of this guide offers a brief overview of the No Win No Fee agreement our panel of expert solicitors can offer their services under, and what benefits you can enjoy when starting the claims process with us.

Our team offer a free consultation service, and if your case is eligible, they could connect you to an expert professional negligence solicitor from our panel. To talk to a team member:

Jump To A Section

  1. When Can You Make A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor?
  2. When Is A Solicitor Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients Considered Professional Negligence?
  3. What Evidence Could Be Used In A Claim Against A Solicitor Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients?
  4. Compensation You Could Receive When Making A Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor For Professional Negligence
  5. What Are The Benefits Of Using A No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Solicitor?
  6. Learn More About Professional Negligence Claims

When Can You Make A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor?

Solicitors and law firms in England and Wales are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the professional body that oversees both legal training and practice. They set a Code of Conduct which describes the standards of professionalism expected of solicitors. You can make a complaint to the SRA if these standards are not adhered to. However, failure to comply with the standards is not necessarily professional negligence. 

In order to make a professional negligence claim against a personal injury solicitor, you must show:

  1. Your solicitor owed a duty of care to provide you with the correct standard of service.
  2. Your solicitor breached this duty by failing to meet this standard.
  3. This breach caused you to experience a loss of chance.

As mentioned, loss of chance refers to the lost opportunity to pursue either part of or your entire claim. You need to show that this loss would not have occurred had the solicitor provided you with the expected standard of service in order to seek professional negligence compensation.

Time Limits When Claiming Against A Solicitor Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients

Professional negligence claims are subject to a 6-year limitation period in most cases. What this means is that legal proceedings should commence within 6 years.

Speak to our advisors via the contact details above for further guidance on the time limits.

When Is A Solicitor Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients Considered Professional Negligence?

In some cases, a personal injury solicitor not maintaining adequate communication with clients could result in a loss of chance. We have given some possible examples here:

  • Your solicitor may have failed to communicate the date of a court appearance, resulting in you missing a court hearing of your case. This may have meant your claim was fully or partially struck out.
  • Your solicitor failed to communicate a higher offer from the defendant which meant you accepted the first offer which was lower. As a result, you receive a lower settlement.
  • Your solicitor could fail to ask whether you had suffered any financial loss, such as loss of earnings. This could result in you losing the chance to pursue compensation for lost income.

It is important to emphasise that inadequate communication does not always form the basis of a valid professional negligence claim. In order to seek make a claim against a personal injury solicitor, you must show that a breach of their duty caused you a loss of chance.

To get further advice on solicitor negligence claims. contact our advisors.

What Evidence Could Be Used In A Claim Against A Solicitor For Not Maintaining Adequate Communication With Clients?

A professional negligence claim against a personal injury solicitor for not maintaining adequate communication with clients will require supporting evidence. We have provided some possible examples of supporting evidence here:

  • Any notes from meetings with the solicitor
  • The correspondence from your solicitor explaining why the original claim ended.
  • Your original case file.

You will also need to demonstrate that, on the balance of probabilities, your personal injury claim would have succeeded had the negligent action by your solicitor not occurred. For example, you could gather:

  • Pictures of your injuries and the accident.
  • Contact details of any witnesses.
  • Medical records, such as scans and test results.
  • Evidence of financial losses, such as payslips showing lost income.

Contact our dedicated team of advisors for further information on the evidence you could collect in support of your claim. You can speak to an advisor using the contact information given above.

Compensation You Could Receive When Making A Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor For Professional Negligence

Professional negligence claims are brought with the aim of restoring you to the position you would have been in had the negligent action not occurred. This therefore means that you could receive compensation under the two heads of claim, as would have occurred had your initial personal injury claim been a success.

General damages, the first of these heads, compensates for the pain and suffering of injuries. To compile the table below, we have referred to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG publication lists a variety of injuries and guideline award brackets for each. Solicitors can use this to value general damages.

A compensation award for professional negligence may also include annual interest at 8% to account for the interest that would have accrued had the initial claim been a success.

Compensation Table

We would like to emphasise that as compensation is calculated on an individual basis, so this table is for guidance purposes only.

InjurySeverityNotesGuideline Amount
ParalysisTetraplegia (a)Paralysis of upper and lower body. Award within the bracket will depend on life expectancy, impact on the senses, the presence and extent of pain and level of awareness.£324,600 to £403,990
Hand InjuriesTotal or Effective Loss of Both Hands (a)Serious injury resulting in extensive damage to the hands, rendering them effectively useless.£140,660 to £201,490
Neck InjuriesSevere (a)(ii)Serious fractures or disc damage in the cervical spine giving rise to disabilities of considerable severity.£65,740 to £130,930
Back InjuriesSevere (a)(ii)Nerve root damage with associated loss of sensation, sexual dysfunction, impaired mobility and unsightly scarring.£74,160 to £88,430
Injuries To Pelvis and HipsSevere (a)(ii)Injuries such as a fracture dislocation of the pelvis causing impotence or traumatic myositis ossificans and ectopic bone formation around the hip.£61,910 to £78,400
Wrist InjuriesTotal Loss of Function (a)A complete loss of wrist function where an arthrodesis has been performed, for example.£47,620 to £59,860
Leg InjuriesSevere (b)(iii)Serious compound or comminuted fractures or ligament injuries causing instability, a near certainty of arthritis and a lengthy treatment period.£39,200 to £54,830
Arm InjuriesLess Severe (c)A substantial degree of recovery from significant disabilities will have taken place or be expected.£19,200 to £39,170
Elbow InjuriesLess Severe (b)Injuries causing significant functional impairment but not involving major surgery.£15,650 to £32,010
ShoulderSerious (b)Dislocation of shoulder and lower brachial plexus damage causing pain in shoulder and neck. Associated sensory symptoms such as a weakness of grip and aching in the elbow will also be present.£12,770 to £19,200

Special Damages

Special damages award compensation to reimburse for the past and future financial losses incurred because of injuries. This can include:

  • Loss of earnings
  • Medical costs.
  • Travel expenses.
  • The cost of adaptations to the home.
  • Domestic care costs.

Retain copies of any documentation (receipts, payslips, invoices) as evidence of any financial losses.

For a more detailed estimate of the compensation for professional negligence you could receive, contact our dedicated team of advisors using the contact details below.

What Are The Benefits Of Using A No Win No Fee Professional Negligence Solicitor?

Get in touch with our team of advisors today. After assessing your potential claim, they could connect you with a specialist professional negligence solicitor from our panel. You could then be offered a particular type of No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

Under a CFA you would, in most cases, not have to pay any upfront or ongoing fees for the solicitor’s services. You would also not pay for those services if the claim fails.

Following a successful claim, the solicitor would deduct a percentage of your compensation as their success fee. The maximum percentage that can be charged as a success fee is legally capped. What this therefore means is the majority of any awarded compensation is yours to keep.

If you would like to learn more about claiming against a solicitor for not maintaining adequate communication with clients, please get in touch today. We could connect you with a specialist solicitor from our panel to help, provided you have valid grounds to proceed. To get in touch, you can:

Learn More About Professional Negligence Claims

See some of our other professional negligence guides:

External resources you may find helpful:

Thank you for reading our guide on starting a professional negligence claim against a personal injury solicitor for not maintaining adequate communication with clients. For further information or a cost-free non-obligation assessment of your particular circumstances, speak to our team. You can reach our advisors using the contact details provided above.

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