UK firm to handle negligence claims for Lloyds Banking Group

Hammonds has struck a groundbreaking deal with Lloyds Banking Group that will see the firm take on the majority of the retail bank's professional negligence work.

The national firm has been instructed to advise the bank as it brings increasing numbers of claims, including cases against solicitors and surveyors over alleged over-valuation of property.

Hammonds litigation head Simon Miller and Aamir Khan, who heads the disputes group within Lloyds' retail legal team, are managing the relationship, which will see Hammonds dealing directly with insurers to mediate and settle large portfolios of claims rather than working on cases on an individual basis.

The approach is expected to lower legal costs, which can be as high as £50,000 on individual cases, by dealing with claims and investigations in bulk and minimising paperwork.

The new mandate will be significant for Hammonds, handing the firm a large volume of work that would traditionally have spread across the bank's other panel firms.

Khan said: "We hope that this innovative approach to professional negligence cases will allow us to build constructive relationships with insurers and secure quick, mutually-accessible resolutions to existing and future cases."

Miller added: "We used this collective, direct approach to great effect in the last recession and conducted a number of very large mediations with the Solicitors Indemnity Fund. We believe there are clear benefits for both parties in adopting this approach with regard to professional negligence claims."

One litigation partner at a rival firm commented: "It is an incredible coup [for Hammonds]. It is a lot of work though, and they will need a large amount of resources to cope with it."