Oratto's member solicitors can help you achieve the result you desire in the event that the substandard services of a professional such as an accountant, architect, lawyer, engineer, financial advisor or surveyor have caused you to sustain measurable financial loss.
Find the solicitor who is right for you today by browsing through our member profiles. All the members whose profiles appear in this section will have the necessary experience to guide and represent you in your professional negligence claim. They will quickly be able to establish the merit of your case and give you guidance on the best way forward.
Contact Oratto today or use our Match facility so that we can select and suggest the member solicitors we feel best suited to your particular legal needs.
Proving professional negligence
In order to make a successful negligence claim against a professional practitioner you will need to do more than provide evidence to support the simple fact of negligence. In fact, for your claim to be credible and worthwhile, there are a number of questions which must be addressed and these are outlined below.
Duty of care
For the most part it is a given that a professional owes its client a duty of care. However, the scope of this duty may be limited by expressed or implied factors in the terms laid out in the client to professional instruction.
Even in cases where there is no written contract between client and professional, it may still be possible to prove a duty of care, particularly if the claimant instructs a professional who purports to specialise in such matters.
Breach of Duty
However, proving duty of care alone is only the first step. In order for the claim to be convincing a solicitor must also demonstrate that the professional breached this duty of care.
This is usually done by considering the question of whether the actions of the professional concerned were consistent with those of a "reasonably competent" similar professional – the so-called "reasonable person test", with those who fail to meet the standard of reasonable competency assumed to be negligent.
Other relevant considerations include questions of whether the professional followed the client's instructions and provided advice and services that could be considered suitable.
Financial loss and causation
However, even though you may be able to prove professional negligence by establishing duty of care and breach of duty this may not enough for a claimant to secure settlement; claimants must also prove that the breach was that the direct cause of demonstrable financial loss.
Only once this question has been addressed is it possible to make a ruling regarding liability and to calculate an appropriate sum of compensation.
In addition, it is worth remembering a claimant must be able to prove, if necessary, that he or she took reasonable steps to mitigate losses caused by negligence – this means that the claimant must have taken all reasonable steps to halt further losses and did not take any action which would have increased the loss.
Prove professional negligence with an Oratto member solicitor
Oratto's member lawyers can help you ensure the best possible advice and representation in the event you decide to pursue a claim for the negligence of a professional.
Call us today or click through to the lawyer profiles on the right-hand-side of this page to find the legal professional you wish to make contact with.
We understand that everyone's circumstances are different, so choose the Oratto member lawyer who is right for you.