Tankard v John Fredricks Plastics Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 1375 (11 December 2008)

Solicitor Has an Interest if a Reasonable Person Thinks it Would Affect Their Advice to the Client: The Court of Appeal held that, for the purposes of Regulation 4 of the Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000, a solicitor had an interest if a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts would think that the existence of the interest might affect the advice given by the solicitor to their client. Whilst membership of a panel of a claims management company could constitute such an interest, it would not do so in all the circumstances. In the instant case, the overriding consideration was the quality of the policy; this was why the solicitors subscribed to the scheme and recommended the policy. None of the other terms of the solicitor's agreement with the claims management company would affect that conclusion, subject to any impact they have on the overall test of reasonableness.