UK Law Society Still Failing To Meet Complaint Handling Targets

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

07 July 2004

The UK's Law Society has faced new criticism over its complaints handling from the Legal Services Ombudsman, Zahida Manzoor in the latter's recently published annual report.

According to Ms Manzoor, although the Society's performance appeared to have improved in terms of quantity, with a reduction of its live caseload by around 1,090 cases, the Ombudsman's Office was satisfied with the way that complaints were dealt with in just 53.3% of cases.

This represents a drop from the 67.2% satisfaction level last year, and is well below the acceptable level of 75% stipulated by the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

The report went on to reveal that the Law Society has failed to meet all but one of its targets for turnaround times, and has reduced the number of cases being referred to the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman (OLSO) substantially, for reasons that are not yet clear.

Concluding its review of the Law Society's complaints handling progress (or lack thereof) over the past year, Ms Manzoor observed that:

"The Law Society has also made efforts to remove the causes which give rise to complaints in the first place, through proposals relating to spot checks of firms; solicitors' compliance with Rule 15; customer care training; and extension of the 'polluter pays' regime."

However, she added that:

"The Ombudsman takes the view that, while these measures are welcome, they are insufficiently robust, and that the Law Society should undertake more compliance visits; augment the existing Continuing Professional Development requirements with compulsory training in client care; and undertake more spot checks on solicitors' firms."

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