Complaint lapses by firms OSS SURVEY: eight of 237 practices meet current requirementsOnly a tiny fraction of law firms has adequate complaints procedures in place even though most think they do research from the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors has shown.Just eight of 237 firms monitored over the past year by the OSSs accounts section met complaints requirements.

Law Society practice rule 15 requires firms to have a written complaints procedure and give a copy to any client who asks for it.Mike Frith, secretary of the Warwickshire Law Society and manager of the OSSs Lawyerline, outlined two main reasons for this failure.Firms franchised under the Legal Services Commission (LSC) often mistakenly assume that because they fulfil the LSC complaints-handling requirements, they must fulfil general requirements.

The LSC requires only that firms tell clients who will deal with complaints.Secondly, solicitors still rely on complaints-handling documentation pre-dating the introduction of the current requirements in 1999, said Mr Frith.

He added that it would be helpful if the LSCs complaints requirements from its franchise firms were revised to accord more with the requirements of rule 15.But an LSC spokeswoman said: The commissions quality standards incorporate rule 15.

If complaints are not handled effectively, she added, firms could ultimately lose their contracts.l For a copy of the OSS brochure Handling Complaints Effectively,tel: 0870 606 2588.See Practice, page 48Jeremy Fleming