Katherine Rees & Laura Parkinson clarify where solicitors can draw the line on commercial matters
To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a solicitor is not usually under a duty to give commercial advice. Behind this truth, however, lies the perennial difficulty in distinguishing between legal and commercial advice and in identifying when a solicitor is under a duty to pass on to his client information which he finds out in the course of a transaction. We look at the recent decision in Richard Gabriel v Peter Little and others [2010] EWHC 1193 (Ch) and at some of the principles which can be extrapolated from the cases in this area.
The background to the claim was a dispute between a lender (Mr Gabriel) and borrower (Mr Little). Mr Gabriel was a property developer and through various companies owned a number of disused buildings on an airfield in Kemble. Mr Little approached his friend, Mr Gabriel, to lend £200,000 to one of his companies, Whiteshore Associates Ltd, a special purpose vehicle set up to
