Our professional negligence disputes expertise

The team is known for its notable ability to act for both claimants and defendants, including on off-panel conflict sensitive mandates, as well as our unrivalled litigation capability and innovative funding structures.

We represent companies, directors, trustees, funds and high-net-worth individuals bringing complex, high value and reputationally sensitive claims against various professionals, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, construction professionals, surveyors and financial advisers. We are equally called on to defend businesses against such claims.

Our cases regularly involve multi-jurisdictional issues and parallel regulatory proceedings.

Our litigation strength

Stewarts is an established litigation powerhouse, and we leverage the firm’s broader resources where case subject matter requires.

Our demonstrable success in high value, complex, professional negligence disputes originates from bringing together the leading expert practitioners across Tax, Insolvency and Asset Recovery, Policyholder Disputes, Securities, Fraud and International Arbitration. Our combined resources in these areas enable us to handle the most complex disputes seamlessly across disciplinary and jurisdictional boundaries.

Funding professional negligence claims

We have unrivalled experience in putting together innovative cost arrangements. The use of third-party funding, after-the-event insurance and risk-sharing fee agreements enable our clients to manage risk and litigate from a position of financial strength.

We have acted in more than 2,000 disputes for nearly 4,500 clients, recovering in excess of £2 billion in damages using alternative funding arrangements in one or more forms.

Our cases

We are regularly instructed in matters involving:

• High value professional negligence claims against lawyers, accountants and auditors, offshore corporate services providers, and other financial services professionals;
• Professional negligence actions for and against construction professionals, including developers, contractors, surveyors, valuers and architects;
• Complex, multi-disciplinary mandates spanning tax disputes and civil litigation, as well as standalone, high value negligence claims involving tax, accounting and investment advice. Our experience in negligent tax and accounting advice includes claims arising from structured investment schemes, transactions and tax planning;
• Professional negligence actions with an asset recovery or insolvency dimension;
• Cryptocurrency‑related and pensions‑related claims, including disputes that involve novel assets and emerging regulatory frameworks.

Our experience

The following examples of current and recent cases provide an indication of the breadth of our work:

Tax, investments and wealth management

• Leading multiple group actions arising from tax‑driven and structured investment schemes, including the Ingenious Litigation (listed in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2018 and 2022), the Eclipse Litigation (listed in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2024), and Breitbach v Canaccord Genuity.
• Acting in the Scotts Atlantic Group Action and Lancaster & Ors v Jonathan Peacock KC, two of the biggest professional negligence cases against legal advisors for a total value of £100 million. The claims are brought in respect of negligent legal advice on tax-driven investments provided by two prominent members of the tax bar.
• Defending a private wealth management firm in an alleged £70 million dispute with the former owner of a well-known sports club.

Accountants and auditors

• Advising the joint liquidators of two insolvent UK companies after the former directors perpetrated a significant Ponzi fraud leaving the companies with liabilities to creditors in excess of £200 million.
• Acting for company directors in claims against a leading accounting firm in respect of negligent accounting, tax advice and due diligence connected with a £10 million commercial transaction.

Lawyers

• Acting for a large multi-national corporation in a significant claim against a leading law firm, for losses flowing from corporate re-financing advice.
• Acting in a claim against an international law firm for advice provided to a property developer concerning the exercise of an option to acquire a site for mixed use residential and commercial development.
• Acting for liquidators of a BVI and UK entity in relation to legal advice it received during complex financing arrangements entered into by the firm’s former client and a related party.

Why Stewarts

Clients choose Stewarts for professional negligence disputes because:

• We are true dispute specialists with unrivalled experience in running high value, document‑heavy and technically complex litigation to trial;
• Our cross‑departmental coordination allows us to combine Tax, Fraud, Insolvency, and Commercial Disputes expertise within a single, integrated team;
• We are frequently instructed in off‑panel, high risk or precedent‑setting matters, where independence, technical strength and strategic judgment are critical;
• We have a proven track record of handling market‑defining litigation, including group actions, first‑of‑their‑kind claims and disputes involving novel assets and structures.