LANDER REPORT: on average, solicitors will only encounter one dissatisfied client a year

The vast majority of law firms have a positive attitude to complaints handling and adequate procedures in place - but a small minority are letting the side down and bringing adverse publicity on the whole profession, research by the Law Society's independent commissioner has suggested.

Presenting his annual report to the Society's ruling council last week - which included a survey of 741 firms - Sir Stephen Lander revealed that solicitors, on average, only encountered one dissatisfied client a year.

Nine out of ten firms had a formal written procedure in place to deal with grievances, with 80% keeping a complaints register, and 85% drawing clients' attention to the procedure in initial correspondence.

However, Sir Stephen expressed concern that 6% did not have a written procedure, while 2% only informed clients about complaints avenues when a grievance arose.

He said one complaint per solicitor was a 'modest' number given the large number of clients they dealt with each year and argued that this 'did not support the contention that solicitors in private practice are besieged by dissatisfied clients'.

But he warned that some were bringing the profession into disrepute by notching up 20 or more.

'[The minority] is what you're being judged on, that's what is getting into the press,' he warned the council.

Sir Stephen recommended that taking serial offenders to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal should be a high priority, a move backed by the Society's compliance board.

He also said firms should be audited annually on their complaints procedures and records.

Richard Hegarty, chairman of the compliance board, suggested that firms could self-certificate, although he added that the issue would be considered in more detail.

Sir Stephen also advised that reviews by independent panels in poor service cases be abandoned, as they had little impact on the outcome of complaints and were relatively costly in terms of both time and money.

This would not apply to cases referred back by the Legal Services Ombudsman or where regulatory sanctions were a possibility.

He proposed that complainants be given a new option of a review of any Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) decision either to exclude a complaint altogether or to dismiss it as unfounded without detailed examination.

He welcomed many of the changes at the OSS, but said some were taking too long to implement.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'Stephen Lander has made a number of helpful recommendations which have been accepted by council.

We have already begun a programme of implementation.'

Paula Rohan