Complaints against employment solicitors have risen by almost a third in the past year, while personal injury lawyers saw a 15% rise, the Gazette has learned.

However, complaints against conveyancing solicitors fell by nearly a fifth, to 1,184.

The latest figures, obtained from the Legal Complaints Service, show that the overall number of complaints from the public is slightly lower than at this time last year, at 6,166 compared to 6,234.

LCS caseworker Tim Miller said the complaints figures were largely related to changes in the volume of work overall. The growth in employment complaints, which still form only a small percentage of the total number with 231 complaints, is likely to be linked to a strong increase in employment work during the recession.

Miller said a ‘big drop-off in conveyancing transactions’ was behind the dip in conveyancing complaints. However, he warned that more complaints could be generated by law firms closing down partway though a transaction, or if remortgages and repossessions sparked issues relating to previous conveyances.

Personal injury complaints rose 15% from 1,077 in August last year to 1,242 in 2009, while the overall number of PI cases dealt with by solicitors grew by 11%, according to the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Miller added that solicitors had responded well in adapting to their clients’ needs during the recession.