UK Law Articles
These articles are reproduced from old newspapers. Whether you are looking for old articles about the Lord Chancellor's Department, or trying to find stories on solicitors, judges or courts, the law teacher article database is here to help you. You will find these articles useful for writing your law essays, law dissertations and law coursework.
The Times
December 9 1997
Faster system to tackle solicitors' mistakes
BY FRANCES GIBB
FASTER procedures and financial penalties to deal with increasing complaints against solicitors were announced yesterday by the newly formed Office for the Supervision of Solicitors.
However, the office's first press conference and presentation of its annual report were undermined when Martin Mears, the former Law Society president, attacked the new body as no more than a "cosmetic" change. It had the same attitude and culture - and many of the same staff - as the old, discredited Solicitors' Complaints' Bureau and people were equally dissatified with its workings, he said.
Mr Mears, who described the annual report as "a hypocritical PR document", accused the office of failing to publish details of research which showed that 85 per cent of respondents did not think their complaint had been satisfactorily resolved.
Instead, he said, the annual report was full of platitudes about tackling backlogs, implementing reforms and developing new technology.
Paul Pharoah, chairman of the new body's compliance and supervision committee, said that Mr Mears's accusations were "wholly wrong" and added that solicitors would not welcome attempts to "destabilise" the office before it had a chance to prove itself.
He announced two improvements after new figures showed that the office had received 22,305 complaints during 1996-97, a 7 per cent rise on the previous year. From January 1, most complaints which are not resolved through conciliation will not have to wait for several months pending a full investigation but will be dealt with under a simplified procedure within two weeks.
Solicitors will face financial penalties of up to £1,000 if they do not attempt to handle clients' complaints themselves. This is an attempt to ensure that all law firms have formal complaints procedures, and that where possible complaints are tackled at source.
Peter Ross, its director, admitted that delays of several months in the handling of complaints which required full investigation were much too long and had still to be tackled. But other initiatives were bearing fruit, including the "client care" guide for solicitors, "client care surgeries" at the Law Society headquarters at Chancery Lane - soon to be extended to regional offices - and a solicitors' helpline.
