How Do You Claim Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence?

Claim-Against-A-Solicitor-For-Professional Negligence

A Guide To Claiming Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence

Do you need to know how to claim against a solicitor for professional negligence? This guide will focus on how solicitors that represent claimants in personal injury and medical negligence cases could be negligent and therefore cause their client to suffer a loss of chance. This guide looks at who might be eligible to claim after the professional negligence of a solicitor and what evidence you can use to support your new claim.

At Advice, we have advisors that work around the clock to provide you with free advice at a time that best suits you. By calling our advisors today, you can receive a free case assessment, and if they can see you have valid grounds to claim, they could connect you with a professional negligence solicitor from our panel who all work on a No Win No Fee basis. To find out if a solicitor for professional negligence could help you contact us today.

To learn more, read the sections below, or you can:

Choose A Section

  1. When Are You Able To Make A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Or Medical Negligence Solicitor?
  2. How Do You Claim Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence?
  3. Professional Negligence Claims – Examples Of When You Could Claim
  4. How Much Compensation Could You Receive From A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor?
  5. Why Use A Professional Negligence Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis?
  6. Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Claim Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence
  7. Learn More About Potential Examples Of Professional Negligence

When Are You Able To Make A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Or Medical Negligence Solicitor?

If you have worked with a personal injury or medical negligence solicitor who was negligent and it impacted your claim in a negative way, you could be eligible to claim against that solicitor. To correctly establish a claim like this at the start, you need to show that:

  • The solicitor owed you a duty of care
  • There was a breach of this duty
  • This breach caused you to suffer losses.

Professional negligence can be when a solicitor’s breach of duty causes you to sustain losses. This can create circumstances where professional negligence leads to a claimant suffering a ‘loss of chance’, meaning that they lose out on some or all of their compensation claim.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) gives specific guidelines to solicitors. Broadly, solicitors need to represent their clients in a way that meets the expected standards as detailed in a Code of Conduct at all times.

How Do You Claim Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence?

Professionals such as solicitors but also those in other fields such as surveying and architecture owe their clients a duty of care to provide them with the correct standard of service. Becoming a professional requires extensive education, training and experience; all this should reflect the quality of service a client receives.

To make a successful professional negligence claim against a solicitor, it is important to show that your personal injury claim would have been a success based on the balance of probabilities. This requires showing at least a 51% chance of success.  You also need to show that the claim only failed because of an action or inaction on the part of your lawyer.

Evidence for professional negligence plays a crucial part in the foundation of a claim against the solicitor. For example, if your solicitor informs you that your claim has been dismissed, they should do so in writing. The letter should also contain the reason. Collecting as much supporting evidence as you can to prove that your solicitor has been negligent is vital for a claim to succeed. You will also need to show and prove through evidence that your initial claim would have succeeded but for the negligence of the solicitor. 

For more helpful guidance on this, contact our team to discuss your claim against a solicitor for professional negligence.

Professional Negligence Claims – Examples Of When You Could Claim

Below we look at some general scenarios in which a claim for professional negligence against a solicitor that represents cases for the like of personal injury and medical negligence can be made.

Your Solicitor Missed The Limitation Date

A three-year time limit on personal injury claims applies in the Limitation Act 1980. Solicitors may fail to manage a claim properly and miss this deadline.

My Solicitor Has Led To My Claim Being Struck Out

Failure on the part of the solicitor to comply with court deadlines or instructions could result in the claim being dismissed. The claim can either be wholly or partly struck out.

Your Claim Was Turned Down By Your Solicitor

Over-sight and lack of time to properly invest in a claim can result in a solicitor turning it down.  If this happens toward the end of the three-year limitation period, it can hamper the claimant’s ability to find alternative representation and start a new claim.

You Got Less Compensation Because Your Claim Was Under-Settled By Your Solicitor

Solicitors can provide bad advice about the amount of compensation due. Or they can urge a client to settle for too little. Again, this may happen if they failed to obtain full medical evidence or consult with the right specialists. Because of this, incomplete calculations may lead to a claim being under-settled.

How Much Compensation Could You Receive From A Professional Negligence Claim Against A Personal Injury Solicitor?

If your claim against a personal injury or medical negligence solicitor for professional negligence is successful, you could be awarded damages in two areas as you would have been for your original claim.

General damages are assessed by the pain and suffering caused by your injuries. Legal professionals then consult with a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) which can assist in the way compensation is calculated. We include an excerpt of their guideline-only amounts:

Award Amounts

Area of InjurySeverityAward BracketNotes
Head(c) Moderate (i) £150,110 to £219,070Cases of moderate to severe intellectual deficit and impact on personality, sight, speech and heightened risk of epilepsy.
Leg(b) Severe Leg Injuries (iii)£39,200 to £54,830Serious compound or comminuted fractures which cause instability and necessitate prolonged treatments.
Ankle(b) Severe £31,310 to £50,060Injuries that require an extensive period in plaster or where pins and plates need to be inserted.
Back(b) Moderate (i) £27,760 to £38,780Crush and compression to the lumbar vertebrae causing risk of osteoarthritis and constant pain.
Pelvis(b) Moderate (i) £26,590 to £39,170Injuries that cause no major permanent disability or future risk of.
Neck(b) Moderate (i) £24,990 to £38,490Fractures and dislocations causing severe symptoms and may go on to require surgery.
Arm(c) Less Severe Injury£19,200 to £39,170Despite significant disabilities, a good degree of recovery takes place or is expected.
Elbow(b) Less Severe Injuries£15,650 to £32,010Injuries that create impaired function but do not need major surgery or leave significant disability.
Knee(b) Moderate (i) £14,840 to £26,190Injuries that tear the cartilage or meniscus and cause instability, wasting or weakness. Also injuries which accelerate a pre-existing condition over a period of years.
Shoulder(c) Moderate£7,890 to £12,770Frozen shoulder leaving limited movement and discomfort that can last for 2 years but are not permanent.

Special damages aim to compensate the claimant for past and future financial losses caused by the injury. They aim to put the claimant in the position they were in before the injury happened. You may be able to use payslips, receipts or other bills that show:

For more advice on special damages, please feel free to get in touch with our team.

Why Use A Professional Negligence Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis?

No Win No Fee agreements can offer claimants several advantages when considering starting a claim with a professional negligence solicitor. We work closely with solicitors who offer their services in this way through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

This means there are no upfront fees. Or any ongoing fees for the solicitor’s services. Successful claims mean a solicitor can take a percentage for their legally capped success fee from the compensation. Whereas claims that are unsuccessful mean the solicitors require no payment for work, they have completed on your claim.

Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Claim Against A Solicitor For Professional Negligence

To learn more about making a claim against a solicitor for professional negligence in this way, get in touch with an advisor. Simply:

Learn More About Potential Examples Of Professional Negligence

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To find out if you can claim against a solicitor for professional negligence, contact our advisors today for free advice.