Professional Negligence Claims

What Counts as Professional Negligence?

Professional negligence occurs when someone you have instructed to provide a service — a solicitor, accountant, surveyor, financial adviser or architect, for example — fails to carry out that work to the standard reasonably expected of a competent member of their profession, and you suffer a loss as a result.

Making a successful professional negligence claim generally means showing four things: that the professional owed you a duty of care, that they breached it by falling below the standard a reasonably competent professional would have met, that this breach caused your loss, and that the loss is one the law will allow you to recover.

The fact that something went wrong, or that you are unhappy with the outcome, is not enough on its own — the test is whether the service fell below an acceptable standard of care, not whether it fell short of perfection. If you believe a financial adviser has mis-sold you a product, our banking dispute solicitors can also advise on whether a separate claim against the institution itself may be available.

How to Bring a Professional Negligence Claim

If you believe you have grounds for professional negligence claims against someone who has advised or acted for you, time limits matter. In most cases, you have six years from the date of the breach, or three years from when you first became aware of the loss, to bring a claim, though the precise position depends on the facts, so it is worth taking advice sooner rather than later.

Before issuing court proceedings, professional negligence claims (other than those involving construction or healthcare professionals) are usually expected to follow a pre-action protocol, which sets out steps for both sides to exchange information and try to resolve matters without going to court. This is where our cost-benefit approach matters most: litigation is not always the right answer, and where mediation or another form of dispute resolution offers a quicker, less costly route to the outcome you need, we will say so. If your losses also involve a negligence claim outside the professional context, we can advise on both together. Get in touch today for a confidential discussion.