By Baron Alder and Milica Vukancic -
Snapshot
- The Law Society of New South Wales’ Professional Standards Scheme is intended to protect consumers of legal services by raising professional standards while also limiting participating solicitors’ liability for certain civil damages claims.
- To obtain the benefit of the Scheme, solicitors must be participating members and maintain professional indemnity insurance at or above the applicable liability cap.
- Although the Scheme can limit liability effectively, it does not apply to all claims and may not always operate harmoniously with a solicitor’s professional indemnity insurance arrangements.
The Professional Standards Scheme (‘Scheme’) administered by the Law Society of New South Wales is intended to protect consumers of legal services by raising professional standards. It is also intended to protect solicitors from calamitous claims by capping their liability for civil damages. The Scheme can be very beneficial for solicitors subject to negligence claims. However, to obtain that benefit, solicitors must meet certain criteria. There are also some features of the Scheme which mean it will not always apply.
