Janet Pareskeva's article on consumer complaints included some statistics about the performance of the client relations office of the Law Society of Scotland in dealing with complaints (see [2004] Gazette, 24 June, 15).


The statistics used to compare the Law Society of Scotland unfavourably with the Law Society of England and Wales were incorrect, and we have clarified this matter with Ms Paraskeva.


The legislation governing complaint handling in Scotland is so different to that in England and Wales that a straight comparison between the performance of the two handling bodies is neither relevant nor practical.


Our respective organisations work with different systems and different trigger points for timing complaints, and report on different statistics.


The Law Society of Scotland recognises the improvements achieved by the Law Society of England and Wales in surmounting the difficulties it faced. Last year the Law Society of Scotland introduced a new system of complaints designed to speed up and simplify its handling procedures in line with the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Justice 1 Committee, which also recommended that the society continues to regulate solicitors in Scotland.



Duncan Murray, President, Law Society of Scotland, Edinburgh