Your solicitor has a legal duty to take reasonable care when representing you.

And it will be an express or implied term of your contract that the solicitor should conduct matters with reasonable care.

So if your lawyers fail to meet the necessary standard of care you may be able to claim damages for any losses you incur.

But making a claim against a solicitor can be extremely difficult.

It is usually necessary to show that the solicitor has behaved in a way that no reasonable professional would have done.

So that’s where we may be able to help.

We have been successfully handling claims against solicitors for many years.

We will be able to tell you during the first call whether or not your solicitors negligence claims is worth pursuing.

If you decide to go ahead we will aim to meet you face-to-face as soon as we have seen all your papers.

These cases are often complex, with large numbers of documents to consider.

So there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting to get the case started properly.

Solicitors Negligence – The Pre-Action Protocol

The Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence Claims (“the protocol”) sets out detailed rules which both sides have to follow.

The protocol encourages a “cards on the table” approach.

We will prepare a very detailed Letter of Claim to the negligent solicitor.

The Letter of Claim provides a full account of what happened and why you think they are at fault

Both sides in the claim are encouraged to settle the case without court proceedings if possible.

Court proceedings should be a last resort, and we settle many of our clients’ claims without the need for court proceedings.

Solicitors Negligence – Court Proceedings

If the solicitors refuse to admit their negligence, or refuse to negotiate sensibly, we will arrange to meet with a specialist barrister.

We will advise you about the issue of court proceedings.

Our solicitors are very experienced in the conduct of court proceedings in claims against solicitors.

Even when it is necessary to sue a solicitor the vast majority of our cases are settled before a trial.

When cases do go to trial the experience of giving evidence is rarely as difficult as people imagine.

We have published some very straightforward pointers about giving evidence at court.

Make a note of your version of events, and the details of anyone who you think may be able to provide helpful information to support your case. It will help you get things clear in your mind, and make it easier for you to explain your case to us.

Try to put the letters, evidence and other papers in date order, which will make it easier for you and us to work through them.

Contact us for some free initial advice as soon as possible.

We will be able to tell you very quickly whether or not you have reasonable prospects for pursuing a claim.

It is important to investigate a proposed solicitors negligence case as soon as possible, while you still remember the details clearly, and before any important documents are lost or destroyed.

The value of each case depends upon the extent of any losses suffered by the client, and the strength of the evidence which is available in support of the claim.

Settlements in recent cases at Mulderrigs have ranged between £15,000 to £500,000.

We tend not to take on cases where the value of the claim is less than £15,000.

Solicitors Negligence – Valuing the “Lost Chance”

It may seem odd, but a Solicitors Negligence claim for a messed up court action (eg. A Personal Injury claim or a Divorce) doesn’t involve a straightforward re-run of the original case.

The original case has gone for ever, and the true purpose of the Solicitors Negligence claim is to value of the “lost chance” of having had your case dealt with properly in the first place.

The court has to consider all the risks involved in the original claim (Did you have a good case? – Would you have been found partly to blame? – Would you have settled for less than the full amount if an early offer had been made? etc).

The court also then has to consider the risks involved in proving a difficult Solicitors Negligence claim.

In one of our recent cases, our client had to consider the following risks:

His original case was difficult – his chances of success were around 75%.

Even if he had won the original claim he would probably have been found 25% responsible for the accident in any event.

His Solicitors Negligence case was difficult, because not all the evidence was helpful to our client – The chances of success were around 50%.

So, although the original injury claim may have been worth up to£500,000, the “lost chance” calculation (£500,000 x 75% x 25%, x 50%) reduced the value of the claim to something more like £140,000, even before any negotiations with the Defendants started.

Solicitors Negligence – Inconvenience and Distress

Discovering that your solicitor has been negligent can be a very stressful and distressing business, especially if you then have to take legal action to put matters right, and pursuing a Solicitors Negligence claim can add to that stress.

But the court is unlikely to award you anything for distress and inconvenience, except in the most extreme circumstances.

If your Solicitors Negligence claim is successful the court is also likely to award any additional legal fees which are required in order to put matters right, along with an amount for interest.