Mitigating the Risks to the Solicitor and/or Legal Representatives
| Author | James Normington |
| Pages | 123-125 |
11 Mitigating the Risks to
the Solicitor and/or
Legal Representatives
All that glisters is not gold – often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold, But my outside to behold
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare
There is a well-worn adage that ‘one cannot sue one’s solicitor for work
one has not asked him (or her) to do’. Clearly, work that is set out in the
solicitor’s retainer and letter of engagement is work that has been agreed
between the solicitor and the client. It is therefore important to set out the
full extent of any work that will be done in relation to digital assets. It may
be that one excludes issues such as the transfer of digital assets or that such
transfers and digital assets work will be conducted by the client rather than
the solicitor. This may be particularly useful if the bulk of the deceased’s
digital assets are social media accounts, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and
Twitter, etc. Such work related to notifying those platforms can be time
consuming and is designed to be accessible to ‘the man [or, indeed,
woman] on the Clapham omnibus’,1 rather than a legally trained legal
professional.
There are times when it may be necessary for that type of work to be
completed by the probate professional. This is particularly true where the
solicitor or legal professional is acting as a professional executor to the
estate. Professional executors are not afforded the luxury of excluding part
of the estate from their work. Probate professionals acting in the capacity
of executors, rather than acting for lay executors, must therefore be
prepared to make detailed enquiries into the estate’s digital assets,
including identifying all relevant devices and any accounts linked to the
deceased or disclosed by their devices. The solicitor is obviously held to a
much higher standard than the lay executor as they are expected to
demonstrate the degree of care and skill of an experienced legal
practitioner. Consideration may need to be given to the firm’s professional
1McQuire v Western Morning News[1903] 2 KB 100 at 109 per Collins MR.
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting