Professional Indemnity Insurance for Barristers

Hi! I am trying to find out if a barrister who acted unprofessionally for me has professional indemnity insurance? And if yes. I intend to claim against this insurance in order to recover the money I handed over to this barrister. I don't have a clue where to start and The Law Society of Ireland have not been helpful. Any advice will be gratefully appreciated. Thanks

I don't think you can put in a claim to the insurance company

You have to claim against the barrister - the insurance contract is between the barrister and the insurance company

Start by talking to a solicitor

virgo2011 said:

The Law Society of Ireland

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The Bar of Ireland regulates barristers, the Law Society, solicitors.

Notify the barrister via your solicitor of the claim.
Conditions of his PI policy dictate that he must inform his insurer of all claims.
That will get the ball rolling

Itchy said:

The Bar of Ireland regulates barristers, the Law Society, solicitors.

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Not any more. It’s the Legal Services Regulatory Authority that regulates Barristers and Solicitors. The Law Society and Bar Council have limited regulatory functions now.

In any event, you sue the Barrister directly and not their insurers. You’ll need to establish the grounds for your claim, and to do this you need to approach a Solicitor.

Suing a barrister for professional negligence is fraught with difficulty. There was a rule in UK and Irish law that, on the one hand, barristers can't sue a client for unpaid fees, and on the other hand, clients can't sue a barrister for negligence or poor performance. This is based on a fiction that barristers are learned but amateur exponents of oratory and legal knowledge. Their assistance is provided as a courtesy to grateful litigants who reward them with a gratuity or gift. The barrister would never lower himself to the grubby commercial practice of asking for a fee and the client's solicitor would discreetly slip the fee into a pocket in the barrister's gown rather than embarrass him by paying him openly as one might pay a tradesman!

It was only in the last decade that the UK courts changed this rule and barristers can now be sued in UK courts. As far as I know, the Irish courts have not formally set aside the old rule, but the general expectation is that they will if a suitable case arises.
But if you really want to sue a barrister, consult a solicitor and get some good advice first. As a general rule, Irish lawyers don't like suing other Irish lawyers! Might also be worthwhile talking to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority who regulate barristers.

Did you deal directly with the barrister? That would be possible, but very unusual.

So you consulted a solicitor who instructed a barrister. Therefore, it seems that you should be suing the solicitor.

Brendan

Brendan Burgess said:

Did you deal directly with the barrister? That would be possible, but very unusual.

So you consulted a solicitor who instructed a barrister. Therefore, it seems that you should be suing the solicitor.

Brendan

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Technically that is correct. The old, long-standing position was that a client's contract was with the solicitor, and never the barrister. Modern thinking would challenge that, especially in the era of Direct Professional Access, but I'm not sure the Irish courts have caught up with that just yet.

Baby boomer said:

The old, long-standing position was that a client's contract was with the solicitor, and never the barrister.

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There are certain circumstances where you can engage a barrister directly, but not clear if this was the case here.

For most private individuals what the barrister does is a courtroom performance on the advice of a solicitor and it's very hard to prove damage.

The OP is so vague about the circumstances and the nature of damage though that it's hard to give advice.

A few general observations in the absence of details.

Barristers who are members of the Law Library are supposed to have professional indemnity insurance as a condition of practice.
Those practicing outside of the Law Library would need to satisfy the requirement similarly.

If OP went the conventional route they will have instructed a solicitor who will, in turn, have instructed a barrister.
In that case the solicitor may be open to an action in both contract and tort [negligence].
The barrister would be open to an action based in tort as there would be no direct contractual connection with the "lay client".

It is not OP's responsibility to elect as between solicitor and counsel as regards respective liabilities. OP would sue solicitor and counsel as co-defendants.

The next step is for OP to retain another solicitor to deal with the previous lawyers - they will know what to do.

as 1eye says, your claim is against the Barrister. If he is insured, all the better.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my query and for all the advice given. Yes, think I need to speak to solicitor and get further advice on the matter.