Complaints: Legal Services Ombudsman backs Law Society but 'still a long way to go'

The number of formal complaints against solicitors remained virtually static last year at 17,074 - meaning there was one complaint for every six solicitors - the Legal Services Ombudsman revealed this week.


In her annual report, Zahida Manzoor said the Law Society has managed to keep pace with the incoming volume of cases and reduce its backlog as well.


However, speaking to the Gazette, she said 'substantial delays' remain in Chancery Lane's handling of complaints and insisted there is 'still a long way to go to ensure consumers are the real focus, rather than systems and processes'.


There have been improvements - the ombudsman was satisfied with the Law Society's handling of complaints referred to her by unhappy complainants in 62% of cases, up from 53% in 2003/4. However, this was below the level the year before that and still some distance from the government-agreed target of 75%.


While acknowledging some progress, Ms Manzoor said it came from a low starting point and was just returning the Society to the position it was in a few years ago.


She added that she would have hoped to see the number of complaints against solicitors fall as long-running Law Society work with solicitors to handle complaints internally had an impact.


Also released this week was the first annual report of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (LSCC) - a separate post held by Ms Manzoor - which said that work done by PA Consulting found 'much evidence that failure to operate an effective complaints-handling procedure exists in many firms'.


The LSCC's role is specifically to oversee the way the Law Society handles complaints and Ms Manzoor said the work done by both sides offered some hope that it would improve in the future. In May, following lengthy negotiations, she accepted a Law Society plan to improve the Consumer Complaints Service. (see [2005] Gazette, 19 May, 3).


Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'We are pleased that Ms Manzoor recognises the progress the Law Society has made and that we are handling complaints more speedily, closing more complaints per month than we receive. More than half (55%) of cases were closed within three months.


'The Legal Services Ombudsman's own quality index has also improved by 9%, but we recognise that there is still more to do to ensure that all our customers receive the high-quality service they deserve.'