Conduct and service

Get the job doneIt is surprising the number of complaints that reach the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS), particularly in probate or divorce matters, in which the complaint is one of delay and which, upon investigation, is found to be substantiated.Even more surprising is the fact that there is often no apparent explanation for the delay, the matter having started off, and having proceeded, at a reasonable pace until shortly before it would normally have been concluded.

Such was the situation with a complaint that finally made its way to the OSS in which the solicitor had been instructed by the widow of the deceased, who was one of two administrators, the other being her son.The only significant asset was a house and letters of administration were granted three months after the solicitors were instructed.

One month later the property was sold.

More than a year later the estate had still not been finalised.Upon enquiry some four months earlier, the solicitors had explained that they were liaising with the Inland Revenue about the deceased's tax position, but gave no more information about the nature of the problem.Eventually the complainant ran out of patience and took her complaint to the OSS.

It also made enquiries regarding the nature of the problem causing the delay and merely got the same explanation - no more and no less - than had been given to the complainant.An examination of the file was quite alarming.

Months at a time had elapsed with no evidence of any activity on the file at all.

Even more worrying was the fact that there was no evidence that the solicitors had had any contact with the Inland Revenue.

Nor was there any evidence that there were any tax issues that still remained to be dealt with.The whole matter was then compounded by the fact that some four months after the complainant raised her complaint, which was ignored by the solicitors, they deducted costs without having first rendered a bill or given some other intimation of their intentions.The result was that the solicitor's costs were wiped out and they were, in addition, required to pay the complainant the sum of 1,000 by way of compensation - a large price to pay for their failure to finish off an estate where all the essential work had been done.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.