It was first reported following the release of Lord Hardie’s report into the first phase of Edinburgh Trams that the City of Edinburgh Council were considering legal action against the lawyers who had advised them during the project. And now reports are out there that they are seeking record damages – totaling up to £222 million.
DLA Piper advised the Council at the time of the signing of contracts for the construction of what should have been a three line network, and the Council are claiming that the lawyers failed to give enough warning of the financial risks included in the contracts.
The Council had originally started legal action in 2013 but agreed to put this on hold during Lord Hardie’s lengthy inquiry into what went wrong with the project. However, after the report was released in September 2023 they restarted the action.
The Edinburgh Inquirer has now revealed that the claim for damages totals £222 million, which the largest claim ever made in a Scottish court.