Clients in dispute with solicitors will be able to get near-instant online advice from the Legal Ombudsman, the watchdog said today. It was announcing the extension of its ‘live chat’ service from disputes with claims management companies to all legal service providers. 

Legal Ombudsman offices

Legal Ombudsman offices

Live chat, which is available at www.legalombudsman.org.uk, coincides with a three-year plan by the ombudsman to improve the ease of consumers making and resolving complaints. The service runs from 9am to 5pm. 

Chief legal ombudsman Kathryn Stone said: ’Modernising our systems with live chat should fit better into people’s busy lives and make it much easier for consumers to seek support about poor service from the legal industry and get the advice they need. People often don’t know where to turn when they have issues with legal providers, but we want them to know that we are here for them online as well as just a phone call or email away.’

The ombudsman accepted 7,223 legal complaints and 2,290 CMC complaints for investigation in the past financial year.