Lawyers are accused of urging surveyors to court

Solicitors are providing inadequate advice because they are not taking into account the conduct rules governing other professions, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has claimed.RICS raised the issue after it received complaints about its members taking clients to court for non-payment, following advice from solicitors.

This conflicts with the institution's conduct rules, stating that disputes should go to arbitration first.Suzanne Phillips, head of the RICS's professional conduct department, complained: 'This is also out of line with the Woolf reforms, which say that lawyers are obliged to look at ADR [alternative dispute resolution] as an option rather than going straight to court.'But the Law Society's head of professional ethics, Alison Crawley, said solicitors were not acting unethically or improperly in ignoring the conduct issues relating to surveyors or other professionals.

She said: 'If a solicitor is instructed by a client to sue, they will do that.

The RICS should not expect other professions to enforce their own conduct rules.'Paula Rohan