Other professions
As society generally and the business community in particular has become more sophisticated so the requirement for professional expertise and advice has increased. The range of new “professions” which have therefore come into being has created huge opportunity for those investing in the use of professional services and great reward for those providing valuable advice. But with reward comes risk and from risk flows errors, whether perceived or real, and claims. As the following selection illustrates, Davies Arnold Cooper has been at the forefront of advice to many of the less traditional professions and their insurers.
E-risk and computer consultants
Knowledge of IT-related developments is essential for clients and lawyers. We have a dedicated unit to service IT-related litigation called the E-Risk Unit with significant experience, of professional liability claims against IT consultants and advisers and those providing electronic services such as share registration.
Education providers
A growing part of our practice is now concerned with advising education providers, such as schools and universities, in relation to a variety of disputes including negligent teaching.
Environmental consultants
Recent years have seen an increasing number of claims against environmental advisers. We have specialist environmental lawyers. Members of the group have advised on complex, high-value claims including:
• A £multi-million claim against two firms of geotechnical engineers in relation to allegedly negligent advice concerning likely remediation to allow a major residential developer to exploit a contaminated site.
• Disputes involving various advisers regarding failure to identify the presence of asbestos in land to be purchased.
Expert witnesses
The advent of the Civil Procedural Rules saw a crystallisation in judicial thinking such that expert witnesses are now treated as quasi-officers of the court. From September 2005 the Expert Witness Protocol emphasised not only the importance placed on the quality of the experts’ opinions but also the duties experts owe to both those instructing them and the Court. With that focus has come greater potential liability.
We represented a consultant psychiatrist in the first ever claim for a costs order against an expert witness arising from a report prepared for the purposes of court proceedings.
Pension advisers
We have acted for numerous pension advisers and independent financial advisers in respect of the recent mis-selling saga and have also acted in disputes involving the advisers, trustees and administrators where the schemes have gone into deficit or the pension holders’ rights have been otherwise adversely affected.
