In a recent case the Court has considered the scope of duty owed
by a solicitor retained on a fixed fee retainer.
For an agreed fee of £500, a firm of solicitors was
instructed to "look over" intellectual property
agreements and to discuss "certain key issues". The
Court found the solicitors were not required to make enquiries
about the ownership of the IP rights: this was not within the scope
of the retainer. However, the solicitors were negligent in
failing to ensure that the relevant clause dealing with the sale of
IP rights extended to licensing in addition to sale. The
Court said that this was not a matter on which the solicitors
required instructions; the antennae of any commercial lawyer,
especially one claiming expertise in IP law, should have been alert
to the issue, almost without thought. The Court also said
that where solicitors undertook work for a specific fee, they are
generally speaking obliged to complete the work to the ordinary
standard of
