Conduct and service

Solicitors can also be clientsA recent ruling by the Legal Services Ombudsman gave an interesting twist to the usual concept of who is a client and is thus able to make a complaint to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) about the service rendered by a solicitor.

A lawyer in the Irish Republic was instructed by a client living there to pursue a claim for damages following a road traffic accident in which he was involved in England.

The Irish lawyer, in turn, instructed solicitors in England to act as agents when it became necessary to issue proceedings.

Eventually the case was settled on the basis that the third party was responsible for the payment of the English solicitor's costs.

However, no account was taken of the costs due to the Irish lawyer, these apparently having been overlooked.

The client then found himself responsible for the discharge of his Irish lawyer's costs from the damages he received.

Unfortunately, the original instructions given by the Irish to the English lawyer asked that the Irish lawyer's costs be recovered if possible.

The Irish lawyer raised a complaint against the English lawyer, alleging delay in the prosecution of the claim and failing to follow instructions with regard to the recovery of costs.

The OSS terminated the matter on the basis that it could not resolve a dispute about payment of the Irish principal's costs and that, technically, the Irish lawyer was not a client of the English solicitors.

The matter was referred to the Legal Services Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman recognised that the OSS could (with the exception of certain probate matters) consider complaints only where the complainant was the solicitor's own client.

However, she said that in this case, the complainant, who was a foreign lawyer, was relying on the English lawyer to serve and protect her own client's interests.

Any inadequacy in the service provided by the English lawyer would have a direct effect on the client of the foreign lawyer.

Therefore, the OSS should have considered the complaint and the quality of service provided by the English solicitor.

The matter was referred back to the OSS for a full investigation to be undertaken.l Relationships between lawyers in different member states of the EEC are governed by the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the European Community, published as Annexe 10B of the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors, 1999, eighth edition.l Every case before the compliance and supervision committee is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents.

LawyerlineFacing a complaint? Need advice on how to handle it? Get in touch with Mike Frith at LAWYERLINE, the support service offered by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors; tel: 0870 606 2588.