Professional Negligence

The firm is the adviser of choice for banks, lawyers, accountants, counsel, surveyors and other professionals in the largest and most complex cases.

Professional negligence lawyers at Linklaters focus exclusively on complex, high-value disputes that threaten the business and reputation of clients. Much of the team’s experience derives from representing large accountancy firms, on whose behalf Linklaters has built a leading practice in professional negligence litigation and investigatory/disciplinary proceedings.

The advantages of the firm’s global reach are clear. The professional negligence team has advised on proceedings in jurisdictions as varied as the UK, Norway, Mauritius, Hong Kong, South Korea, Nigeria, Thailand and the United States.

Recent professional negligence cases include advising:
  • a leading investment bank in its defence of a €250m professional negligence claim by a Dutch pension fund. The claim concerned alleged negligence in the bank’s performance as fiduciary asset manager of the pension scheme.
  • financial service providers and auditors on professional negligence issues which led to investigation or enforcement proceedings being launched by the French Financial Regulator.
  • a prominent health care provider in a dispute involving allegations of negligent medical services.
  • a Top 10 English based law firm in a arbitration claim brought against it by a Russian client.
  • a Big 4 firm of accountants in Hong Kong in the region’s largest negligence action
  • the Canadian and UK firms of Ernst & Young in a £350m Commercial Court claim brought by Freightliner LLC
  • KPMG UK on a £450m claim by the liquidators of Independent Insurance plc and defending them in disciplinary proceedings brought by the Institute's investigatory body.
  • a major accountancy firm in multi-million pound claims and investigations arising out of the BCCI collapse, including acting on two reported applications to strike out major parts of the claim
  • a major accountancy firm in Commercial Court litigation for audit negligence brought by a Dubai company - successfully defended on a preliminary issue of limitation under Dubai law