Breach of duty

Credit Lyonnaise SA v Russell Jones & Walker (a firm) (Ch D TLR 9 October)

Although a solicitor is not a general insurer against his client’s legal problems and his duties are defined by the terms of the agreed retainer, if a competent solicitor becomes aware of a potential risk to the client, it is his duty to inform the client. In the present case, although the individual solicitor assigned to the case was competent and capable in his field of corporate law, the firm had been negligent in assigning to him a property case involving a time-critical break option clause, the deadline of which the clients missed. If a competent property lawyer had been assigned to the matter he would have alerted the clients.