UK Law Articles
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The Times
September 10 1997
Lawyers told to deal quickly with complaints
BY FRANCES GIBB, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT
LAWYERS were told yesterday that they must think like clients and adopt a more open approach if they are to win public confidence and cut the thousands of complaints each year from disgruntled clients.
Ann Abraham, 44, the new Legal Services Ombudsman who oversees the way the profession handles complaints, said that despite improvements it had a long way to go before it inspired public confidence.
Ms Abraham takes over at a critical time for the handling of complaints by solicitors and the Bar.
The Bar launched its first public complaints system earlier this year, which allows people to claim compensation for losses they suffer through shoddy work by barristers. A lay complaints commissioner has been appointed.
Solicitors set up the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors last autumn in place of the widely criticised Solicitors Complaints Bureau. The Government is closely watching how the new schemes work and lawyers fear that if they do not show improvement, they risk losing self-regulation.
Ms Abraham said at her first press conference yesterday that she did not plan to be a "champion of consumer rights" but to be even-handed, holding a balance between consumers and providers of legal services.
But she said that consumers were in a weaker position when "things start to go wrong". Solicitors needed to be more ready to say sorry and should be less legalistic and more proactive in resolving problems and complaints.
They also had to be readier to think about customer care. "Selling legal services is more important than selling cat food but some of the same principles apply and 'customer care' are words I would like to hear more often."
Ms Abraham, 44, who comes to her post from the National Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaux, added: "If the legal profession can get its head round putting itself in the position of clients, I will think ... we have made some progress."
There were 1,855 complaints to the ombudsman in 1996, 11 per cent down on the year before. The number is just under 10 per cent of the total complaints made to the professional bodies.
