McMillan Williams undertakes work against any professional organisation including Doctors, Solicitors, Accountants and Surveyors. In particular we look at work done by other Law firms that goes wrong and we investigate why. This is called Professional Negligence.

If you have found yourself worried about your legal case, medical treatment, property problems or unexpected financial difficulties, it can feel overwhelming. The advantage of a Professional Negligence Specialist is that they will be able to look at your original file of papers, work out what should have happened (sometimes with external expert help) and then explain to you what the differences are between what has happened, and what should have happened and what you can do about it. It is very much an area of the Law that requires all documents to be carefully reviewed. Time limits are particularly difficult to calculate in these types of cases and therefore it is important that you come to see us as soon as possible.

Professional Negligence is a complex area of Law which requires a specialist service. Clients often find themselves in the position of having spent a great many number of years with a professional organisation to have then discovered themselves in a position of having to seek legal remedies against that individual firm or organisation. This means that quite often the negligent act has been committed years after the original matter started. For example, a Solicitor conducting a Personal Injury case who runs out of time and gets the case thrown out of Court. Or a Surveyor who fails to spot a damp problem but this has not come to light until a considerable number of years later.

Effectively the client faces the dilemma of having to sue an organisation with which they have had a relationship.

Objective

The objective therefore is to try and reconstruct how the original matter would have occurred had it not been for the negligent act of the professional. This normally means the following has to occur:-

  • All the original steps which should have been taken and were not taken need to be completed.

  • Documentary evidence, some of it years old, needs to be obtained.

  • Further experts often need to be instructed to show that the original case would have been won (if Solicitors are negligent).

  • Establish that if not for the negligent act the client would not have suffered a loss (i.e. bought the house, signed the contract, or entered the agreement).

  • Assessment of the loss of chance of the case needs to be made.

    • In Solicitors' negligence cases you also need to consider:

    Loss of Chance

    Solicitors' negligence cases often relate to loss of chance claims. This means the original action over which the client was suing has been struck out or failed for some other reason. As a result it is necessary to work out what the original chance of success would have been. That is the basis on which the new case would then be taken against the Solicitor.

    Calculation of Original Trial Date

    It is necessary to try and work out when the original Trial date would have occurred. Damages are calculated back to the Trial date and then interest added to that sum. Frequently cases have gone on for a period of time and it is unfortunately not unusual for the notional Trial date to have been two or three years in the past.

    The only advantage of Professional Negligence cases is that it is possible to see what has actually happened to the client rather than having to guess how they would have been in three or four years time. This can be particularly important in failed Clinical Negligence (cases brought against Doctors originally and now against the Solicitor) and Personal Injury cases (cases brought against the person who caused the injury originally and now brought against the Solicitor).

    Professional Negligence cases are covered by certain professional protocols to make the case easier because this is considered a specialist area.

    McMillan Williams would be happy to assist in this complex area of the Law as McMillan Williams undertakes Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Building Litigation and Contract work. As such, the firm is fully familiar with these types of work and this assists us in undertaking Professional Negligence work. It is important that the firm is able to understand what the original case would have involved and, therefore, is able to try and recreate it. It is only by doing this that it is possible to work out what went wrong, why, and how much money the client has lost as a result.

    For further advice in relation to Professional Negligence arising from Clinical Negligence or Personal Injury please contact Colum Smith on 020 8253 7600 or email southcroydon@mwsolicitors.co.uk or Nicola Mooney on 01273 254004 or email brighton@mwsolicitors.co.uk. If you enquiry relates to any other Professional Negligence matter please contact Geoffrey Stagg on 020 8648 4044 or email Mitcham@mwsolicitors.co.uk.