Benedict Morillo

Professional Liability

Seats with Richard Sage and Carlo Taczalski during pupillage allowed Benedict to familiarise himself with a wide range of professional liability work. He has experience in dealing with professional liability matters involving solicitors, brokers, company directors, consultants, and construction professionals.

Examples of Benedict’s work include:

• Solicitors – advising on quantum and settlement strategy in a matter in which solicitors had allegedly failed to competently negotiate an £800,000 option to purchase in a commercial Quantum advice involved assessing competing valuations of the option with reference to the underlying value of the site, its development potential, as well as a £200,000 figure floated during unsuccessful negotiations between the landlord and tenant for the release of the option.
• Surveyors – advising and drafting a Defence on behalf of a surveyor who allegedly failed to identify signs of sulphate attack to a property during a RICS homebuyer’s survey. Benedict also produced an application for summary judgment on limitation grounds and successfully obtained discontinuance at an early stage in the litigation.
• Solicitors – advising and drafting a Defence in a claim against solicitors for their alleged failure to conduct easement litigation competently. Involved complex issues of land law given that there was difficulty tracing the easement through a series of conveyances dating back to the 19^th century.
• Solicitors – advising in several White v Jones claims brought by disappointed prospective beneficiaries.
• Solicitors – advising and drafting pre-action correspondence on behalf of the defendant conveyancing solicitors in a claim for an allegedly negligent failure to advise on the possibility of reclaiming higher rate SDLT.
• Employment consultants – advising and drafting pre-action correspondence for a claim in which the newly hired Claimant alleged that employment consultants negligently failed to pass on his desired terms of employment to the new employer.
• Insurance brokers – (during pupillage) drafted a Defence on behalf of an insurance broker specialising in luxury yacht insurance in an additional claim brought by an insurer for the broker’s failure to ask sufficient questions to elicit the insured’s claims history.
• Solicitors – (during pupillage) drafted a Defence on behalf of a solicitor’s firm which allegedly breached the no-conflict duty by advising its client on an agreement entered into between the directors of the firm and the client under which the directors would raise capital for the client in exchange for an allocation of shares.
• Surveyors – (during pupillage) drafted a Defence on behalf of the Defendant Party Wall Act surveyor who faced allegations of negligence for failing to order an intrusive structural survey into the Claimant’s property before approving work pursuant to the Act.
• Planning consultants – (during pupillage) drafted pre-action correspondence on behalf of the Claimant in a claim concerning negligent advice on the scope of the permitted development regime for agricultural conversions. The Claimant’s newly built shed conversions had to be demolished pursuant to an enforcement notice.

Selected Cases

Awards

• Academic Scholarship, Oriel College (2017-2019)
• Oriel College Prize for Finals results (2019)
• Finalist (top 12 of over 100 essays), Times Law Awards (2020)

News

• Crown Office Chambers welcomes three new tenants

Qualifications

• BA Jurisprudence (Double First, 9/250 in cohort); Oriel College, University of Oxford
• Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction); Oriel College, University of Oxford
• Bar Vocational Studies (Distinction); City, University of London