OFT puts Law Society group credit licence on review

COMPLAINTS: fair trading chief criticises failure to take action

The Law Society received another rap over the knuckles last week for its complaints-handling record, this time from the Director General of Fair Trading.In a blunt warning, John Bridgeman said he had given 'serious thought' to removing the Society's group credit licence - which allows solicitors to counsel and broker on debt and engage in debt collection under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 - because of its 'continuing failure' to take effective action.

If the licence was withdrawn, solicitors would face having to apply to the Office of Fair Trading individually to carry on such work.

Mr Bridgeman renewed the group licence for a one-year period subject to quarterly reviews, rather than the usual five-year period.Mr Bridgeman said the volume of complaints against solicitors and the continuing failure of the Law Society to take effective action 'causes me great concern'.

While he accepted that 'some progress' had been made over the last year, it did not remove his underlying worry that 'insufficient importance' was given to customer care.

Law Society President Michael Napier said: 'This is a clear message to the profession and I take it seriously.' He added that although a lot had been done to reduce the backlog at the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, solicitors must realise that having a customer focus was not 'rocket science'.

Sue Allen