Guides · Professional negligence · Series
Your own solicitor got it wrong.
What the law says when the solicitor you instructed costs you money: what a negligence claim against your own solicitor involves, a missed deadline that lost a case, how the courts assess a claim that was lost, advice to settle, mistakes in wills, drafting errors in business deals and leases, complaining to the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA, the time limits, and how these claims are funded.
9 guides · about 55 minutes to read the lot · England & Wales
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Solicitor negligence, start to finish
Can I claim against my own solicitor for negligence?
What a negligence claim against your own solicitor involves: the duty in contract and in tort, the scope of the retainer, the reasonably competent solicitor standard, causation and loss, insurance, complaints, and who the claim is made against.
6 min02My solicitor missed a deadline: claim struck out or time-barred
What happens when a solicitor lets a limitation period expire, misses a court deadline or fails to serve a claim form in time, whether relief from sanctions can revive the claim, and what the client must prove to recover the lost claim.
7 min03Loss of a chance: how courts assess a claim your solicitor lost
How the courts measure damages when a solicitor's negligence cost a client a claim or an opportunity: Allied Maples, Mount v Barker Austin and Perry v Raleys, the percentage method in principle, and what gets deducted.
6 min04My solicitor advised me to settle too low: is that negligence?
How the courts judge a solicitor's advice to settle a dispute, the difference between being badly advised and choosing to settle, consent orders on divorce, the evidence that matters, and how causation is proved.
6 min05Will drafting negligence: claims by disappointed beneficiaries
When a solicitor's mistake in preparing or signing a will means someone does not inherit as intended: the duty to beneficiaries, delay, witnessing errors, rectification and its six-month limit, and who can bring a claim.
6 min06Solicitor negligence in a business contract, share sale or lease
How the law treats a solicitor's drafting or advice failure in a business transaction: clauses that do not work, unexplained lease terms, lost security of tenure, the scope-of-duty limit, contributory negligence and rectification.
6 min07Complaining about a solicitor: the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA
The three routes when a solicitor lets you down (a service complaint to the firm and the Legal Ombudsman, a conduct report to the SRA, and a negligence claim in court), how their time limits work, and how they affect each other.
6 min08Time limits for suing your solicitor: when the clock starts
What is distinctive about limitation in negligence claims against solicitors: contract and tort running side by side, when damage happens in lost-litigation and transaction cases, date of knowledge, deliberate concealment, the 15-year longstop and standstill agreements.
6 min09Funding a negligence claim against a solicitor: the options explained
How claims against solicitors are commonly paid for, and the legal basis of each option: private fees, legal expenses insurance, conditional fee agreements, damages-based agreements, after-the-event insurance and third-party litigation funding.
6 minFrequently asked
Can I make a claim against my own solicitor?
Yes, if the solicitor failed to act as a reasonably competent solicitor would have done in the work they were instructed to do, and that failure caused you financial loss. Firms regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority must carry professional indemnity insurance.
Is a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman the same as a negligence claim?
No. The firm's complaints procedure and then the Legal Ombudsman deal with poor service, with a cap on what can be awarded. A negligence claim is for financial loss caused by a breach of duty, is not capped, and follows the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol. A complaint does not pause the limitation clock for a court claim.
My solicitor missed a deadline and my case was lost. What can I claim?
The loss is the case that was lost. Where its outcome was uncertain, the court assesses the chance of success the client lost, rather than assuming the case would have been won or lost. Only a solicitor who has seen the papers in the original case can assess it.
How long do I have?
Generally six years from the breach of contract, or from when the loss was suffered in negligence. For the negligence claim only, if later, three years from when you knew or could reasonably have known about the damage, that it was caused by the solicitor's act or omission and who was responsible, subject to a fifteen-year longstop (Limitation Act 1980, ss.2, 5, 14A and 14B).
When you’ve read enough
Work out where you stand in five minutes.
The check asks for the survey date, the date you found the problem, a value band and what you hold. It gives you an estimated deadline, the likely court track and a report you can take to a solicitor — and, only if you ask, an introduction to one.