Professional Negligence
As a client or a customer, you have the right to expect that any service or advice you pay for meets a reasonable standard. Unfortunately, this does not always occur.
Where there are failings in the service or advice a professional provides, this can have a significant negative impact on your life and financial situation and it can be difficult to know where to turn for help.
At Lavelle Partners, we have an experienced team of solicitors who specialise in investigating and advising on cases of professional negligence. Where a professional has failed in their duty to you as a client or customer, we can provide fair and impartial advice in plain English to help you clearly understand your rights and legal options.
With decades of experience across our team, we can offer a flexible, proactive approach, focused on finding the right solution for you in a way matches your interests. Whether that means seeking a negotiated settlement or pursuing court proceedings, we can offer tailored guidance to help you achieve a fair resolution
To start a professional negligence claim or find out more about your legal options, please get in touch with our expert team now.
Call: (01) 644 5800 Email: cleavy@lavellepartners.ie
Our professional negligence solicitors regularly assist clients with claims against a wide range of professionals in relation to a variety of issues.
We have been instructed in many cases relating to the miss-selling of financial products through intermediaries.
Financial intermediaries have a duty to ensure that financial products are properly constructed and sold to the appropriate client in the appropriate manner. Where an intermediary fails in that duty in a way that has a negative impact on your financial interests, you may have grounds for a professional negligence claim.
We are the leading Irish firm in the area of Investment Disputes and we have built up an extensive network of the best independent experts to advise on a wide range of investments.
If you believe that you have been miss-sold a financial product, please contact Ciarán Leavy.
In many building cases, either defective design or construction can lead to a right of action by an owner against the professional team that provided the building.
All professionals should carry appropriate indemnity insurance for errors made by them in the course of their profession. If you believe that your property has been inappropriately designed or constructed, you may have a right of action against one or more of the professional team involved in providing the building.
For more information on the advice we provide in this area, please contact Ciarán Leavy.
Like all professionals, accountants have a duty of care for their clients and others who may have cause to rely upon their professional work.
A breach of this duty of care might take the form of a failure to properly complete annual accounts or to provide other services requested of them by their clients in a timely and appropriate manner. In such cases, you may have grounds for a professional negligence claims against your accountants.
If you have any queries regarding the professional competence of your accountant, please contact Ciarán Leavy.
Auctioneers and valuers are often charged with providing valuations for buildings for both private clients and institutions such as banks. An inappropriate valuation can create a loss and this may be actionable against the auctioneers.
If you feel that you have suffered a loss as a result of an inappropriate valuation, please contact Ciarán Leavy.
Solicitors are required to meet very high standards with the legal advice we provide. If you believe you have received substandard legal advice from another solicitor and this has harmed your interests, you may have grounds for a claim.
We have strong experience pursuing claims against solicitors, so can provide clear, effective advice on the steps you need to take.
To find out more about pursuing a professional negligence claim against a solicitor, please contact Ciarán Leavy.
Your goals and priorities are always at the heart of the service we offer. We make sure to tailor our approach to resolving your professional negligence claim to what you need to achieve and any specific concerns you have.
We appreciate that clients will often prefer to seek a solution without resorting to court proceedings if at all possible. We therefore offer various Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options to help you secure an out-of-court settlement where appropriate, as well as having extensive experience successfully pursuing court action where this is required.
Our trained mediators can act as a neutral third-party to facilitate negotiations between you and the professional you wish to make a claim against. This gives you the opportunity to agree a settlement that works for both parties, allowing you to resolve the matter without the need for court proceedings.
This can provide a faster resolution compared to litigation and typically involves lower legal fees. It can also help you to avoid conflict and maintain or repair the relationship between you and the professional you have a dispute with.
We can provide an arbitration service for professional negligence claims. This involves one of our team acting as an independent third-party to investigate the circumstances surrounding your claim. We can then provide a decision on how we think the dispute should be resolved, including what compensation, if any, should be paid.
Both parties will need to agree to use arbitration and sign a formal agreement to accept the decision of the arbitrator. The key advantage of this approach is that it can allow a professional negligence claim to be resolved relatively quickly and provide a definitive conclusion to the matter.
Where court action is the most appropriate or only remaining option, we can provide the experienced support and skilled representation you need at every stage of proceedings.
Our solicitors have a proven track record of successfully pursuing disputes in court proceedings at all levels, including in the High Court, Supreme Court, Circuit and District Courts.
The fees involved in pursuing a professional negligence claim will be determined by the complexity of the work involved.
We will be happy to advise you at the outset of our relevant hourly rates and any other costs, such as court fees, that you may be likely to incur in the course of dealing with your claim.
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The Legal 500, 2022
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The Legal 500, 2022
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The Legal 500, 2022
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The Legal 500, 2022
‘Ciarán Leavy is the outstanding partner. Ciarán is, without doubt, the best solicitor I have encountered in my 45 years dealing with that profession. He is extraordinarily shrewd and sharp in respect of the pertinent legal issues but he is also exceptionally discerning about the related human and ethical dimensions of those issues as they apply ab initio and in the context of unfolding circumstances. In short, he combines efficiency and effectiveness with thoughtful considerateness, along with being both approachable and an especially clear communicator.’
The Legal 500, 2022
‘Ciarán Leavy gains excellent insight into the matter and is excellent at correspondence such that it gets the point across to the other side and can narrow the issues at hand or move the process forward.’
The Legal 500, 2022
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The Legal 500, 2022
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The Legal 500, 2022
In general terms, professional negligence is where a professional fails in their duty to provide their service to an acceptable standard and this results in a financial loss to you as their client or customer.
Examples of potential professional negligence include:
What qualifies as professional negligence can be complicated and hard to determine, so it is important to take legal advice at the earliest opportunity.
There is no comprehensive list of what types of service providers can be considered a ‘professional’ for the purposes of making a professional negligence claim. To be able to make a claim against some, the following will generally need to apply:
If you are unsure whether the person you wish to make a claim against meets the criteria for a professional negligence claim, please get in touch and we will be happy to advise you.
The standard time limit for professional negligence claims is 6 years from the date where the negligence occurred. If you are unsure whether you are still within the time limit to make a claim, we will be happy to advise you.
Lavelle Partners is one of the top ranked law firms in Ireland for Dispute Resolution, having achieved Tier 4 ranking from the highly respected Legal 500 client guide.
Ciarán Leavy has been advising and representing Lavelle Partners clients for over 13 years, having earned a reputation for achieving positive outcomes for our clients under even the most challenging circumstances. Ciarán has been recognised by the Legal 500 for his “technical knowledge and interpersonal skills” as well as the “first-class” team that he leads.
Marc Fitzgibbon has over 30 years’ experience advising clients in relation to a wide range of legal disputes, including professional negligence claims. Marc is a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) accredited mediator and has been praised in the Legal 500 for his “highly practical” approach.
To start a professional negligence claim or find out more about your legal options, please get in touch with our expert team now.
Call: (01) 644 5800 Email: cleavy@lavellepartners.ie
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