Professional Liability

The nature of the risks to which professionals are exposed continues to evolve and become more complex, as the legal and regulatory frameworks against which industry and commerce operate develop and societal demands frame expectations. Our specialist team is here to protect the reputations of professionals, and mitigate the financial and personal impact that professional liability claims and increasingly frequent regulatory investigations can hold for individuals and firms. With capabilities in the UK, across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, our network of professional liability specialists provides pragmatic, market leading expertise drawn from our deep experience gathered over many years. Whether mediating, adjudicating, arbitrating or litigating, our team has the disputes skills, expertise and depth of resource to deliver results swiftly and effectively.

Overview

Working in conjunction with Risk and General Counsel functions of global and national professional services firms (and their captive and open market professional indemnity insurers), we have a world class track record of defending and resolving claims on behalf of established and emerging professions.

Drawing upon the broader cross-discipline and sector expertise residing within the firm, our team also has experience of dealing with fast developing emerging risks such as those associated with ESG, climate change risk, cyber and artificial intelligence as well as development of collective redress regimes and litigation funding. The team also has unique experience of defending firms and individuals in the ever more active field of regulatory actions brought by bodies such as the FRC, ICAEW, SRA, and RICS.

Building strong ongoing relationships is important to us. An emphasis on early establishment of case resolution objectives, combined with innovative technology means we can provide the right support and deliver agreed outcomes.

We deal with disputes involving all professions including:

  • Legal professionals from large City and international firms to sole practitioners and the Bar.
  • Property professionals - consultants, estate agency and property services groups.
  • Construction sector - often technically challenging multi-party claims against architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, design and build contractors and specialist sub-contractors.
  • Accountants, auditors, actuaries and insolvency professionals with claims relating to everything from audits to emerging areas such as cyber-crime.
  • Financial advisers and wealth managers - defending a wide variety of claims and advising on strategic issues and mitigation of future risks.
  • Insurance brokers arising from both commercial and personal lines business be it domestic or international.
  • With our innovative approach and immersion in the market we’ve built a strong reputation with the emerging professions. From new technology advisers, to web, marketing and design professionals, from wedding photographers and home-based businesses to advisers and consultants in large global corporates, we are recognised as legal experts.

    Featured experience

    • We acted for the successful lawyers in the first instance and Court of Appeal proceedings in Yee & others v 174 Law Solicitors Ltd, and in successfully opposing the claimants' application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
    • Defending a multi-million pound multi-party claim in the TCC against a firm of architects arising from allegations of negligent design, design co-ordination and inspection at a newly built specialist A&E hospital in the north of England.
    • Successfully defending a firm of tax advisors in a £35m claim by the liquidators of a property investment club. Following a 5 week trial, our clients were completely exonerated of allegations of negligence, dishonest assistance and unlawful means conspiracy.

What our clients say

  • Outstanding in the prof neg world, consistently praised by clients, excellent work product but without any fuss.

    Legal 500 (2023) – London

  • The firm understands the importance of relationships and commercial considerations when dealing with matters.

    Chambers UK Guide 2023 – London (Firms) Professional Negligence

  • I have always found DAC Beachcroft excellent in terms of their ability to deal with all manner of cases.

    Chambers UK Guide 2023 – North West Professional Negligence

  • DAC Beachcroft always offer commercially sensible advice and their turnaround times are excellent. The team are nimble and work together to provide timely and expert advice.

    Chambers UK Guide 2023 – Wales Professional Negligence

Professional Liability key contacts

Who we are

Why choose DAC Beachcroft?

We’re a broad-based commercial firm serving a wide range of sectors with a strong heritage in insurance,
health and real estate. We combine excellent legal skills and cutting-edge delivery expertise to design
solutions that fit the needs of our clients – often involving clever uses of technology.