Indemnity insurance

A London law firm has “no real prospect” of defending a £5.2m breach of trust claim brought against it following a London property deal, the High Court has ruled.

An expert in law firm regulation has said he does not know a single insurer interested in providing indemnity insurance to freelance solicitors, a concern echoed by the Law Society.

A judge was wrong to stop a case against a law firm that had incorporated since potentially negligent advice was given when the wrong entity was named in the claim, the High Court has ruled.

Allowing a City law firm and QC to rely on ‘without prejudice’ communications to defend allegations of professional negligence could “undermine the policy of encouraging parties to settle disputes”.

The High Court has rejected an application by global giant Dentons to strike out a negligence claim made against it as a third party.

National firm Simpson Millar has set up a team within its professional negligence department to handle potential actions against solicitors who failed to warn leasehold clients of damaging clauses.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on solicitors’ professional negligence is good news for both law firms and their insurers, and should stem the flow of claims about the under-settlement of PI cases.

The Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal ruling that a negligent law firm should have to compensate its former client for failing to make a claim.

The Supreme Court is to decide when the prospects of success of a claim lost because of the negligence of a solicitor should be judged for the purposes of damages, it announced yesterday.

A successor practice application against a City law firm should be struck out, a High Court master has ruled, but only after the claimant has been given a chance to amend his claim.