-
The Pitmans' perspective on: Professional Liability
-
The Pitmans' perspective on: Professional Liability
Professional Liability legal advice from Pitmans, the Thames Valley's leading law firm, with offices in Reading and the City of London
Pitmans' specialist legal advice:Consulting a good professional adviser can not only save money but in many cases, correct and timely advice will improve your financial position. Unfortunately, however, we are sometimes consulted by businesses or private individuals who have been let down by their professional advisers and need help in redressing the situation and, in some cases, seeking damages from the professional concerned.
Pitmans' legal expertise:Typical scenarios we have advised on include the following:
Lawyers – incorrect legal advice, failure to follow instructions, deadlines missed with irreversible consequences, poor advice in relation to disputes, incorrect drafting of agreements. For example, a will may be drawn up which does not reflect the testator’s instructions or incorrect tax advice given. Lawyers may fail to serve proceedings in time. Poor drafting of property or share sale agreements can lead to large financial losses, or company re-organisations may trigger unexpected tax or employment consequences.
Property and Construction Professionals – defective design, incorrect advice on contract terms, mistakes in administration of a construction contract, poor advice on planning or development issues, failures in testing or commissioning systems or buildings, failure to supervise works, negligent valuations or surveys. Such failings can lead to a loss of property value, insufficient security for borrowings, large remedial costs and sometimes breaches of leases or other covenants.
Accountants – errors in advice, in due diligence investigations, incorrect figures produced, missed filing deadlines. By way of example, transactions entered into on the basis of incorrect or incomplete information can be very costly. Incorrect accounting or tax treatment can lead to investigations, fines and unexpected liabilities, as well as difficulties with funders.
Insurance Brokers – failure to place insurance or failure to place insurance in accordance with instructions, failure to advise on appropriate policy. If you have a claim and your policy does not cover it, you may have difficulty funding the unexpected outlay.
IT Professionals – IT contracts have many similarities with building and engineering contracts. They involve main-contractors, sub-contractors, systems architecture, software engineers, project management and detailed specifications. Like the world of construction, with IT things can go wrong in the design, installation and configuration of systems leading to loss of data, compliance failures, or poor functionality which can give rise to potentially very large claims for loss of business or savings, loss of profits and exposure to third party claims.
Professional Pensions Advisers – defective advice by Scheme actuaries on pension scheme liabilities, poor advice on pension asset investments by investment managers and other financial advisers, maladministration and scheme management failures by professional trustees. Understated pension scheme liabilities or potential claims by scheme members can have a serious and detrimental effect on the financial position of the sponsoring employer.
If you think the action or inaction of your adviser has caused you loss, we invite you to contact us for an objective assessment of your position and, where appropriate, pragmatic and cost effective proposals to assist you in making a recovery.
Request legal advice from Pitmans Professional Liability team:
Legal Updates and Latest news from Pitmans Professional Liability teamDownload your guide to Pitmans' Professional Liability legal provision |
|
