Professional Negligence

If they fail to act in accordance with that duty (or other duties they owe such as confidentiality and to not act in conflict of interest) and their actions cause loss, a claim for the loss suffered because of their actions may be possible.

These types of claims are called professional negligence or professional liability claims.

At Tenet, we provide advice on a niche area of professional negligence claims, namely when there has been a failing with respect to some concern relating to fraud or dishonest behaviour.

This is a difficult area to navigate because if a professional adviser has been dishonest, their insurers will not cover loss they have caused.

However, there are many examples where professional negligence and fraud do come together.

Examples include:

• Solicitors advising incorrectly when handling litigation involving allegations of fraud or a transaction where a risk of fraud was evident
• Accountants failing to detect fraud in a company they provide advice to, such as audit advice
• Insurance brokers failing to obtain policy cover that would be relevant to the fraud risk of an organisation or in failing to advise correctly in relation to condition precedents that need to be complied with
• Advisers acting in conflict of interest to a client

We have experience in successfully running a number of these types of professional negligence cases and have experience in how to approach setting out a claim to a former professional adviser and dealing with their insurers.

If the case has sufficient merit, we have advised clients to issue proceedings and have gained success for them in the process. Many of our cases relate to cases against solicitors, accountants and financial advisers.