Blog
Anti-Bullying Week: Understanding the Legal and Cultural Risks
Emmanuelle Ries
20 May 2020
Professional Negligence Claims arising in relation to Wills and Estates
A professional has a duty to exercise “reasonable care and skill” when dealing with their clients. Negligence claims against solicitors can arise for all manner of reasons. Katherine provides some examples of how a solicitor's actions within the remit of wills and estates may give rise to professional negligence.
19 February 2020
Loss of Chance claims and the admissibility of “new” evidence
The Supreme Court case of Edwards (on behalf of the estate of the late Thomas Arthur Watkins) v Hugh James Ford Simey (A Firm) [2019] UKSC 54 provides useful insight in professional negligence cases as to how the Courts approach the relevance of “new” evidence i.e. evidence which was not available at the time of the underlying matter, in loss of chance cases.
26 February 2016
Professional negligence claims - requirement for clear advice and terms of engagement
When a client choses to retain the services of a solicitor (or other professional person) they are relying on their specialist expertise to help them get the best possible outcome. A professional has a duty to exercise “reasonable care and skill” when dealing with their clients. A failure to meet this standard, giving rise to a mistake that a reasonable professional person working in the same field would not have made, could give rise to a negligence claim if the client has suffered a financial loss as a consequence of the mistake.
20 August 2014
Legal update: Bank negligent in providing inaccurate reference of player’s creditworthiness to casino
(1) Playboy Club London ltd (2) London Clubs International Ltd (3)Burlington Street Services Ltd v Bianca Nazionale Del Lavoro Lavoro Spa [2014] EWHC 2613
When X arrived in London he applied for a cheque-cashing facility in order to play in the Playboy Club London Limited (“the Club”). The Club sought a reference as to X's creditworthiness. To preserve customer confidentiality, the Club made the request through a related company, the third claimant (S). The reference request was addressed to the manager of Banca Nazionale di Lavoro SPA (“the Bank”). A response, purporting to be from one of the Bank's employees (G), stated that X had an account and was trustworthy to the extent of £1.6 million in any one week. In fact, X's balance had always been nil.
28 May 2014
Artists need to be extra vigilant about tax in the current climate
Gary Barlow and two fellow Take That singers have found themselves in the spotlight this week after a judge ruled the musicians had invested in a scheme designed for tax avoidance purposes. Not only may they have to pay back millions of pounds in tax after the tribunal ruling but they have also suffered considerable reputational damage as a result.
This article first appeared in MusicWeek.