The importance of getting to the right expert for advice

Someone came to me last week insisting they wanted me to review and advise on a commercial lease. While I wanted to help my contact, and know they wanted to deal with me, as a solicitor specialising in disputes rather than real estate transactions, it was not my core specialism. I persuaded them to spend some time with Brabners’ expert commercial property team who advise on that, and who engaged with the matter on the same day. I knew that the right specialism makes all the difference when advice is needed. It is a principle I have been quite firm about for a very long time. Even if it has meant referring a client to an expert in a different organisation to my own, the most important thing is that a client finds the right expert for the job.

You wouldn’t call a plumber when you need a new laptop setting up. You wouldn’t call an electrician to fix a broken car gearbox. You wouldn’t call a builder to organise a 50th birthday bash. But when it comes to professional advice, often people can end up with the wrong experts. It is understandable, because it isn’t always easy among professional advisors to spot the ones with the relevant specialism and experience. A corporate lawyer probably looks and sounds a bit like a criminal lawyer. One law firm brand looks a bit like another. It is not easy to navigate the sector and find the right expert for the job.

Getting specialist advice on an issue is undoubtedly very valuable. I have dealt with so many matters where problems have arisen which the right expert advice at an earlier stage might have avoided. Getting to the wrong expert can put people off seeking expert advice in future, because they rightly find little value in the wrong expertise.

There are plenty of advisors out there looking for more work who will be pleased to help you with a lot of things you might enquire about. The best question you can ask is do they have the core specialism that applies to the issue you are seeking advice about, and what relevant experience and results do they have? 

Just in my own area of expertise, property damage recovery claims, I have seen some potential mis-matches, such as:

1.    Clients who have exhausted all reasonable discussion of a very valid claim with their opponent, and who almost certainly need litigation to progress the matter, but who then instruct a claims handling organisation rather than solicitors, the former being unable to litigate before the Courts.

2.    Clients with property damage claims who instruct a debt collection law firm. A property damage claim, such as a demolished bridge, is a contingent liability in tort, and not a contractual debt. Debt collectors who send out an invoice, then issue a money claim for ‘debt’, risk the claim being struck out for failing to plead a valid cause of action, and they are likely to get into even more trouble down the line when the real technical issues (which will not be about debt) get discussed.

3.    Clients with recovery claims against insurers, who have instructed a law firm that defends such claims on behalf of many major insurers, which at best must test at least commercial loyalties, if not pose actual conflict at worst. If you had a claim against a bank, would you want my firm to handle it if you knew that my firm also defended 1,000 claims a year on behalf of the bank? The best professional advisor will be on your side, with no conflicting loyalties.

4.    Clients with property damage recovery claims who have gone to general litigators rather than specialists, and found that because those handling dealt with all sorts of claims rather than being specialists in property damage recovery claims, it look them much longer to understand and get to grips with, and cost much more than it should have.

5. Clients who see litigation as mere process, to be outsourced to any claims factory who can handle a conveyor-belt, when advice on the legal and strategic issues - and thus specialist advice from those with the experience to give it - are even more important than merely the process.

I am always willing to help people get to the right expert. If you have a matter on which you think you need legal or professional help, get in touch. I can tell you who the real experts are, what is likely to be involved, and what it should cost.