A solicitor retained to give independent legal advice on a loan and mortgage transaction must, depending on the circumstances, go beyond explaining the legal effect of documents and advise the client of the practical implications of the transaction, including recommending in strong terms that the client obtain independent financial advice where the client's home and livelihood are endangered. A lender who requires a borrower to obtain independent legal advice and receives confirmation that it has been obtained is entitled to assume the advice was adequate; the inadequacy of that advice is the solicitor's fault, not the lender's, and does not render the loan unjust under the Contracts Review Act. A mortgage introducer acting under an introducer agreement is not the lender's agent, but the introducer's knowledge remains relevant to assessing unjustness under the Act.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 66 later cases that cite this judgment.
15 of the 66 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.