The Court held that a solicitor retained at a late stage of High Court proceedings was not negligent in relying on specialist counsel's advice as to prospects of appeal, where that advice was not glaringly wrong and the solicitor was a general practitioner without specialist expertise in the relevant area. The Court further held that a solicitor has no contractual or common law duty to act on instructions falling outside the agreed scope of the retainer, and that a plaintiff claiming professional negligence must adduce evidence of the underlying material (here, the trial evidence) to establish that the case was bound to fail, and must prove quantified loss. On the facts, the plaintiff failed on all six claims for want of proof of breach, causation, or damage.
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