The claimant sought damages from the respondent for breach of their private duty of care to him. They had intervened in his practice. He alleged that the investigating accountant had been negligent in his actions.
Held: The Law Society owed the claimant no private duty of care. They acted in performing a statutory function, and the statute provided a remedy. That remedy was all that was available to the claimant. The accountant’s investigation was integral to the disciplinary process set down in the 1974 Act, and could lead either to intervention, or to proceedings before the tribunal. A private law action could not intrude into the exclusively public field of solicitors’ disciplinary processes.
Mr Geoffrey Vos, QC
Times 03-Jun-2002, Gazette 27-Jun-2002
Solicitors’ Accounting Rules 1991 27, Solicitors Act 1974
England and Wales
Legal Professions, Administrative
Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.172181