Solicitor – Negligence. A company, Beacon, provided loans secured by mortgages over residential property. Beacon then sold the mortgages to the claimant company, Redstone. Redstone brought proceedings, contending that the defendant conveyancing solicitors, whom Beacon had employed on a retainer, had acted negligently. In a preliminary judgment, the Chancery Division made rulings as to whether the defendant had discharged its contractual duties to Beacon or its common law duties to Redstone regarding four cases.