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Frequently asked questions
If a professional has let you down and you’re not sure where you stand, this page is for you. We’ve answered the questions we hear most often —clearly, honestly, and without the legal jargon.
Finding out that a professional you trusted has let you down is a disorienting experience. Whether it was your solicitor, your doctor, your accountant, or your financial advisor — when someone in a position of expertise causes you real harm, you deserve straight answers about where you stand.
This page covers the questions we hear most often. If your situation isn’t covered here, you’re welcome to reach out — our team offers free, no-obligation case evaluations, and there’s no pressure to proceed after that conversation.
Professional negligence happens when a qualified professional — a lawyer, doctor, accountant, financial advisor, engineer — fails to do their job to the standard that a reasonably competent person in their role would have met, and that failure causes you real loss.
There’s an important distinction here. Being disappointed with an outcome isn’t negligence. A surgeon who does everything correctly but whose patient still deteriorates hasn’t necessarily been negligent. But a professional who misses something a competent peer wouldn’t have missed — and whose mistake costs you financially, physically, or otherwise — may well be.
Three things generally need to be present:
All three need to connect. A clear breach that caused you no loss isn’t actionable, and a bad outcome with no breach isn’t either.
Any qualified professional who owed you a duty of care and failed to meet it can potentially be the subject of a claim. In practice, the most common claim types we see involve:
The professional must have had a recognised professional relationship with you — meaning the duty of care has to be established, not just assumed. But in most formal engagements, that relationship is clear.
Many people come to us not quite sure whether what happened to them qualifies. That uncertainty is completely normal — these things are rarely clear-cut from the outside. As a starting point, four questions can help:
If your answer to all four is yes, there’s a real possibility you have a claim worth pursuing. Question three is often the trickiest — causation can be complex — but that’s precisely what a specialist review is designed to help clarify.
They sound similar, but they’re actually quite different processes — and they lead to different outcomes.
Professional negligence is a civil law claim. You bring it to recover compensation — money — for the loss the professional caused you. It’s handled through courts or settlement negotiations. The question is: what did their failure cost you, and how do we restore that?
Professional misconduct is a regulatory matter. It’s dealt with by the relevant professional body — the Law Society of NSW or Legal Services Commissioner for lawyers, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) for medical professionals, or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for financial advisors. A misconduct finding can result in conditions, suspension, or deregistration — but it doesn’t put money in your pocket.
Critically, you can pursue both pathways at the same time. A negligence claim for your financial recovery, and a regulatory complaint about the professional’s conduct, can run in parallel. We handle the civil claim side — your right to be compensated.
This is one of the most important questions you can ask — and honestly, one of the most urgent. How long you have depends on where you live, and in most cases the clock doesn’t start when the negligence happened, but from when you became aware (or reasonably should have become aware) that you’d suffered loss because of it. This is known as the discovery rule.
State / Territory | Time limit | Governing legislation |
NSW | 3 years from discovery | Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) |
VIC | 6 years (general) / 3 years (personal injury) | Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (VIC) |
QLD | 3 years from discovery | Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (QLD) |
WA | 6 years (general) / 3 years (personal injury) | Limitation Act 2005 (WA) |
SA | 3 years from discovery | Limitation of Actions Act 1936 (SA) |
TAS | 6 years (general) / 3 years (personal injury) | Limitation Act 1974 (TAS) |
ACT | 3 years from discovery | Limitation Act 1985 (ACT) |
NT | 3 years from discovery | Limitation Act 1981 (NT) |
These timeframes can be shorter in certain situations — for example, claims against government agencies often have tighter deadlines. The date from which your period is calculated can also be disputed. If there is any doubt about when your clock started, that’s something to raise immediately.
⚠ ACT BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT Missing your limitation deadline can permanently extinguish your right to claim — even if your case is strong in every other respect. If you are unsure whether your period is still open, please contact our team for a free assessment as soon as possible. Waiting costs you nothing. Missing the deadline costs you everything. |
Don’t write off your claim before speaking to a specialist. Courts do have discretion in certain circumstances to extend a limitation period — it’s not common, but it does happen.
Situations where an extension may be possible include:
We want to be upfront with you: extensions are not guaranteed, and courts apply strict criteria. The longer you leave it after the period has expired, the harder that argument becomes to run. But it is worth getting an expert opinion before assuming the door is closed.
For most clients, the upfront cost is zero. fga.net.au operates on a no-win, no-fee basis, which means you pay no legal fees unless your claim succeeds. If the claim doesn’t succeed, you won’t be billed for our time.
You may encounter the term disbursements. These are separate from legal fees — they’re out-of-pocket costs like court filing fees, fees for expert witnesses, and the cost of obtaining records. How disbursements are handled will be explained clearly before you commit to anything, and the approach varies depending on the nature and size of your claim.
The specific structure for your matter will be discussed fully during your free case evaluation. There’s no obligation to proceed after that conversation, and no cost for having it.
A no-win, no-fee arrangement — formally called a conditional costs agreement in Australia — is a funding structure where your lawyer defers their fees until the end of your claim. If you succeed (whether through settlement or a court decision), the agreed fee is paid from the compensation you receive. If you don’t succeed, no fee is charged.
These arrangements exist for exactly the situation you’re in: you’ve already been harmed by a professional’s failure, and you shouldn’t face an additional financial barrier to seeking justice.
Before signing anything, the terms — including the agreed fee percentage or amount — will be explained to you in writing, in plain language. You are fully entitled to understand exactly what you’re agreeing to. We’d expect nothing less of you, and we won’t proceed until you’re clear on everything.
This concern comes up in almost every initial conversation, and it’s completely understandable. The thought of going up against a large firm, a hospital, or a financial institution — when you’re already out of pocket — can feel impossible.
Here’s what changes the picture. In the vast majority of cases, the professional you’re claiming against carries professional indemnity insurance — a policy specifically designed to cover claims exactly like yours. You’re typically not fighting the individual; you’re dealing with their insurer, a party that is well-resourced and used to resolving these claims.
The no-win, no-fee model was built to level this playing field. You get access to specialist legal representation — without spending a cent upfront — against an opponent who is, by design, insured and financially prepared. |
The question isn’t really whether you can afford to pursue a claim. It’s whether you can afford not to.
We’ve tried to make this as straightforward as possible. Here’s what the process looks like from your first contact:
A confidential initial conversation. You tell us what happened; we listen without judgment. No legal jargon, no pressure.
Our legal team reviews the facts, the applicable legislation, and the realistic strength of your claim. We give you an honest picture — not a sales pitch.
If we believe you have a viable claim and we’re the right team to run it, we agree on a no-win, no-fee costs arrangement before proceeding.
We gather evidence, obtain expert reports, review the professional’s file, and issue a formal letter of demand to the respondent or their insurer.
The majority of professional negligence claims resolve at this stage. We represent you through every step of the negotiation process.
If the matter can’t be resolved through negotiation, we take it to the appropriate court — Supreme Court or Federal Court — and run it through to hearing.
Your compensation is paid — either through an agreed settlement or a court order.
Most don’t. The reality is that the majority of professional negligence claims in Australia are resolved through negotiation or mediation, well before anyone sets foot in a courtroom. Settlement is usually faster, less stressful, and can be equally capable of producing appropriate compensation.
That said, some matters do go to hearing — particularly when liability is strongly disputed, when the other side takes an unreasonable position, or when the case involves genuinely complex legal issues. When that happens, we’re fully prepared. We run cases in the Supreme Court and Federal Court, and we approach every matter — even ones we expect to settle — as if it will eventually go to trial. That preparation is often exactly what drives a strong settlement outcome on your behalf.
There’s no single answer — it depends on how complex the claim is, whether liability is disputed, and how willing the other side is to engage constructively. As a realistic guide:
Claims that resolve through negotiation before formal proceedings are commenced tend to be the quickest. One important point: the length of time your claim takes to resolve does not affect your limitation period. If your deadline is running, it continues to run regardless of how long the claim itself takes.
The goal of compensation in a negligence claim is to restore you — as far as money can — to the position you would have been in had the professional done their job properly. What’s claimable depends on the type and extent of your loss. The main categories are:
Professional negligence doesn’t only cause financial harm. A misdiagnosis can leave a condition untreated for years. A solicitor’s error can bring sustained stress and anxiety. These are real consequences, and Australian law recognises them.
Where a professional’s negligence caused or contributed to personal injury — including recognised psychological conditions such as anxiety disorder or depression — that harm can be included in your claim alongside any financial losses. The requirement is that causation is established: the injury must be shown to flow from the professional’s failure, not from other causes.
The applicable Civil Liability Act in your state governs how personal injury damages are assessed, including any caps or thresholds. We’ll advise you on what applies in your situation.
In most cases, yes. Australian law requires professionals in regulated fields to maintain run-off professional indemnity insurance even after they stop practising — precisely because claims often don’t surface until years after the work was done. This insurance exists to cover claims that arise after the professional retires or the firm closes.
What this means in practice: your claim is typically made against the professional’s insurer, not against the individual personally. Whether they are still in business or not is generally not a barrier to a valid claim being brought and resolved.
Yes. Claims against solicitors and barristers are among the most common types of professional negligence matter we see. Lawyers owe their clients a clear duty of care, and when they breach it, the consequences can be serious.
Common examples of solicitor negligence include:
Lawyers are held to the standard of a reasonably competent practitioner in their area of practice. If they fell below that standard and it cost you, that failure is actionable.
Yes. Medical negligence is a well-established category under Australian law. Doctors, surgeons, specialists, hospitals, and other healthcare providers all owe their patients a duty of care.
Common situations include:
On informed consent specifically — the High Court of Australia’s decision in Rogers v Whitaker (1992) established that the standard of disclosure is defined not by what doctors think patients need to know, but by what a reasonable patient in that position would actually want to know. That decision reshaped the duty owed by every medical professional in Australia.
Yes — both are well-recognised claim types in Australian law, and both can cause substantial and often devastating financial loss.
Accountant negligence may involve negligent tax advice that triggers an ATO audit or penalties, errors in financial statements that affect business decisions or financing, or failure to advise on appropriate structures — leading to avoidable tax liability.
Financial advisor negligence may involve recommending investments that were unsuitable for your financial situation, goals, or risk tolerance; failing to disclose conflicts of interest or commissions; or placing your funds in products that caused capital loss when clearly better options were available.
Both types of professionals are regulated by ASIC and carry enforceable duties under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law — in addition to the general law of negligence.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS ?
You don’t need to have everything figured out before you speak with us. Our specialist team offers a free, confidential case evaluation — no pressure, no jargon, just an honest conversation about where you stand.
No pressure. No cost. No win, no fee.
We respond to all enquiries within 1 business day.
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible. this is a basic principle in every case and cause for success. contact us today for a free consultation.
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