Minkin v Landsberg [2016] 1 WLR 1489
Citation: Minkin v Landsberg [2016] 1 WLR 1489
Rule of thumb: How voluminous should a Solicitor’s advice be? It should be tailored to the price which can be afforded by the client & should focus on the most relevant legal issues – if a client does not have a big budget then only the key legal issues should be focused upon rather than all relevant ones.
Judgment:
This case gives an overarching definition of how solicitors are supposed to approach their duties, ‘(i) A solicitor's contractual duty is to carry out the tasks which the client has instructed and the solicitor has agreed to undertake. (ii) It is implicit in the solicitor's retainer that he/she will proffer advice which is reasonably incidental to the work that he/she is carrying out. (iii) In determining what advice is reasonably incidental, it is necessary to have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the character and experience of the client. (iv) In relation to (iii), it is not possible to give definitive guidance, but one can give fairly bland illustrations. An experienced businessman will not wish to pay for being told that which he/she already knows. An impoverished client will not wish to pay for advice which he/she cannot afford. An inexperienced client will expect to be warned of risks which are (or should be) apparent to the solicitor but not to the client’, Jackson LJ at 38
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.