The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) has published for consultation a revised version of its draft rules.

The new rules reduce the timeframe it had originally proposed for clients to bring a complaint, in response to concerns from solicitors.

Under the new plans, complainants will have to notify the OLC of their complaint within one year of the act or omission in question, rather than the six years originally proposed.

Alternatively, they can make the complaint one year after the point at which they should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint, rather than three years, as initially put forward. The OLC may extend the time limits in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

Solicitors had raised concerns that the longer timeframes would present practical difficulties and evidence would no longer be available.

However, the new proposal will still double the six-month time limits currently in place at the Legal Complaints Service.

Law firms will be liable to pay a flat fee to the OLC for the resolution of complaints, unless it is satisfied not only that the complaint has been resolved in favour of the lawyer, but also that the lawyer took all reasonable steps to resolve the complaint.

The OLC said that, while solicitors opposed this second requirement, it is set in statute and cannot be dropped. The amount of the fee will be subject to a separate consultation.

The OLC is expected to replace the current Legal Complaints Service next year, though it is not yet clear if it will take over existing complaints.