Professional negligence claims brought against law firms in the High Court have almost tripled in the last year, jumping to 418 in 2013/14, according to City law firm RPC. Many claims involved property and conveyancing disputes and include subprime mortgage lenders as the claimants. RPC attribute the sharp rise to the impending deadline for claims arising from losses sustained during the 2008 financial crisis. Claimants have six years in which to launch claims.
10 December 2014
Surge in negligence claims
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu
Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department
Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus
Firm announces appointment of next chair
Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker
Director joins corporate team from the US
NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection?
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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