Professional Negligence

There are several key steps to filing a professional negligence claim and it’s vital you follow these steps systematically.

First, consult a specialist solicitor.

A solicitor experienced in professional negligence claims will be able to evaluate the strength of your claim, guide you through procedural requirements and set out the supporting evidence and testimony you are likely to need to prove negligence before you go any further with your claim.

Depending on their advice, the next steps will likely be to:

1. Confirm the basis for the claim

Ensure you can show:

• The professional owed you a duty of care
• They failed to meet the expected standard of care
• Their failure caused you harm or loss
• You can quantify the loss/damage you have suffered whether this is financial or otherwise

2. Collect evidence

Gather as much documentation as possible.  This could include:

• Contracts, agreements, or letters of engagement
• Written advice
• Email chains
• Financial statements showing losses arising from the advice
• Expert reports (these are often necessary to establish the standard of care received against the expected standard)

3. Send a Protocol Preliminary Notice and Letter of Claim (Pre-Action Protocol or PAP)

In England and Wales, the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol requires you to present a Protocol Preliminary Notice as soon as you believe that you believe that there is a reasonable chance of you making a claim against a professional. Thereafter, the protocol requires you to serve the professional with a formal Letter of Claim outlining the facts, allegations, and losses.

The professional has 3 months to investigate and respond with their own Letter of Response.

4. Pre-action Alternative Dispute Resolution

The protocol states that Court proceedings should be a last resort and so you should consider whether some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) procedure might resolve matters without the need to involve the Court. Mediation is one of the most common and effective methods of ADR.

5. Initiate court proceedings

If, after following the protocol, settlement still isn’t reached and the case remains unresolved, you can then will then file a claim at Court.  However, you must be aware that there are limitation periods. 

Typically, you will need to file your claim at Court within 6 years of the date of the alleged negligence.  This is the standard time limit for most tort or contract-based claims, including professional negligence.

However, if the negligence wasn't (and couldn’t reasonably have been) discovered until later (known as latent damage), you may still bring a claim.  If you fall outside the 6 year period mentioned above, you can still bring a claim within 3 years of the date that you first discovered or ought reasonably to have discovered the negligent act(s).  This is capped at a maximum of 15 Years from the date of the negligent act(s) as a long-stop.

6. Trial or settlement

Many cases settle before trial, but if not, the matter will be decided by a judge at Trial on the basis of the submissions and evidence presented.

Our team of experienced litigators have extensive experience in launching professional negligence claims.

We also have an accredited mediator on the team who can help you explore alternative dispute resolution methods and, hopefully, help you avoid the time and expense of going to court.