CPD/RME Elective
Course:
Professional Negligence
- Cases on
Solicitors' Negligence

Dr. Roger So is a Barrister-at-Law, a Chartered Engineer, an experienced accredited mediator, an arbitrator and an adjudicator.  He is on the List of Mediators and List of Arbitrators administered by the Hong Kong Bar Association, and the List of Arbitrators and Mediators maintained by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.  He is also a Fellow member of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators and a Corporate Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.

Dr. So has a broad civil and criminal practice, including general commercial disputes, shareholders’ disputes, property disputes, building management disputes, matrimonial and family disputes, personal injuries disputes, construction disputes, etc.  He regularly appears for the prosecution and defence in criminal cases.  He has served as the legal advisor to a Disciplinary Tribunal in addition to handling a number of civil proceedings.  Prior to becoming a barrister, he has over 20 years of engineering and project management experience specialising in the design and construction of railway extensions in Hong Kong and overseas.

His academic credentials include Doctor of Business Administration (The University of Newcastle, Australia), PCLL, JD, MA in Arbitration & Disputes Resolution, and BSc (Hon) Engineering.  Apart from acting as the mediator, Dr. So has also served as mediation coach to mediation courses offered by the Shue Yan University and has provided mediation training to the Shantou University Law School.

Dr. So has delivered over 25 CPD seminars (2-hour or 3-hour each) accredited by the Law Society of Hong Kong and/or the Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association Limited.  Besides, he has published two journal articles on property in human tissues and is a regular contributor to the Building Management Journal, in which he has published 19 Chinese journal articles on Water Seepage Claims, Interlocutory Injunctions and various building management issues.  He is also the Annotator of the Annotated Ordinance, Cap 319, Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement).

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that over the last few decades the average... solicitor... has increasingly faced clients who are very demanding, pay as little as they can, have little respect for their advisers, and... do not hesitate to blame them if anything goes wrong.  One may argue as to whether or not these changes are for the better, but it must be highly likely that they have led to an increase in litigation against [solicitors]"
(Evans, H, "The rise and fall of professional negligence: One practitioner's view", Professional Negligence, vol. 21, no. 1, 2005, 27-38, 31.)

Whilst the above remark refers to the UK situation, the same can be said to be increasingly applicable in Hong Kong.

This course is intended to provide a concise and yet comprehensive coverage of the law in this area, supplement with a practical guideline against the pitfalls in solicitors' negligence.

At the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the principles governing the liability aspects of solicitors’ negligence claims;
• Understand the principles governing the quantum aspects of solicitors’ negligence claims;
• Grasp the available defences to such claims;
• Appreciate the lessons learnt from selected case studies; and
• Assess the likely issues on solicitors’ negligence in a given context

• Introduction
• The solicitor's duties in contract and tort
• The standard of care and breach of duty
• The causation and quantum of damages in contract and tort
• Defences and limitation
• Illustration
• Guidelines to avoid solicitors' negligence
• Questions and answers