In the first Comment column of the year (see [2000] Gazette, 7 January, 12), I wrote that for the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS), 'this year must be a year of delivery'.It can now be assessed whether the OSS has delivered.

I can say which of the targets agreed with the Government in July 1999 will be met, and which will not.The most important has been a reduction of the OSS caseload from 14,905 to fewer than 7,800.

This is a huge achievement, especially when the volume of new complaints is taken into account.

The office is reasonably confident that it will meet the target of reducing the caseload to 6,000 by 31 December.I thank the staff at the office for their hard work.

A few solicitors appear to delight in knocking the OSS, but those in close contact with its staff recognise their considerable commitment and professionalism.This reduction of caseload means 6,000 fewer members of the public await resolution of their cases - and fewer solicitors are wrestling with correspondence with the OSS.

It also means the chance to tackle an issue of huge concern to both the OSS and its key stakeholders: casework quality.The Legal Services Ombudsman commented in March that until the OSS got to grips with the numbers it would not improve quality.

She is correct, but for reasons that might not be immediately apparent.The OSS's target is for the handling of at least 64% of the cases referred to the ombudsman not to be subject to criticism by her.

The office does not expect to meet it consistently until well into 2001, because the single most frequent reason for criticism has been delay.

Most of the cases being reviewed by the ombudsman now are ones stuck in the logjam of 1998-99.Because complainants have up to three months in which to approach the ombudsman, and because her office understandably takes, on average, several months to process cases, her reports are far from contemporaneous.So far this year the OSS has an overall average approval rating from the ombudsman of 80% for matters opened since 1 September 1999.

Since the election of the present Law Society office holders, there has been special emphasis on improving liaison between the Society and the Lord Chancellor's Department and the ombudsman.The Society's president rightly insists that the dialogue with these stakeholders should be honest and frank.

There will be no embarrassing confessions when the government reviews the OSS's performance at the turn of the year.The other area where progress has been patchy is the time taken to process complaints.

The current target is to process 90% in three months and all within five.

This could be achieved only if quality checks were abandoned and no effort made to deal with complex cases, which often involve suspected dishonesty.

The OSS is not prepared to countenance this.The Lord Chancellor's Department knows of our practical difficulties.

There is no pressure on us to squeeze cases through the system at any cost, although the government rightly insists that the OSS should be adequately resourced.

The Law Society has already committed itself to this.When David Lock, minister at the Lord Chancellor's Department, visited the OSS in October, he found 'significant progress, considerable professionalism and investment of money and time'.

He stressed that this was not an indication of what might happen after 31 December, but his remarks are encouraging.

Mr Lock also said: 'The only way to improve complaints handling is to sort out clients' problems at source.'He is right.

We are not talking merely about removing complaints handling as an issue between the Law Society and the government; the Society wants to diminish the role of the OSS.

The only way to cut the cost of regulation and restore the profession's reputation is fir st-class customer care.