UK Law Articles
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The Times
March 25
Ombudsman will be given power to speed up complaints process, writes Frances Gibb
Swifter justice for victims of bad lawyers
THE Legal Services Ombudsman is to be given extra powers requiring speedier investigations into complaints against solicitors.
Ministers have ruled out removing self-regulation from the profession and creating an independent complaints agency. But they plan to amend the Access to Justice Bill, which will shortly enter the Commons, to strengthen the office of the ombudsman, which is charged with overseeing the way that lawyers handle complaints.
Geoff Hoon, Minister of State at the Lord Chancellor's Department, said this week: "There is very considerable concern about complaints about solicitors. There has been a lot of correspondence from MPs about cases and the Government does believe there ought to be further efforts to tighten up on the way complaints are investigated."
The ombudsman would be given powers to set targets to cut delays and to monitor whether lawyers are meeting them. Sanctions would be likely for failure to meet targets.
Last week the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, spoke of his concern that the performance of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) seemed to be deteriorating. His comment that he did not rule out legislative change prompted speculation that the legal profession was about to lose self-regulation.
The office, which receives 32,000 new complaints and other matters a year, is struggling to cope with a backlog which is increasing by 90 cases a week. But it has not been given a corresponding increase in its £9 million budget and people may have to wait several months for adjudication on complaints, many of which concern delays by solicitors in the first place.
A spokesman for the office said: "It is like running up an escalator backwards."
The Law Society said yesterday that it was considering an overhaul of complaints handling and urged greater powers for the office to deal with firms failing to provide a proper service.
More than two in three clients think their solicitor is approachable, efficient and competent, it added. Only an estimated 0.2 per cent of legal transactions lead to complaints about solicitors.
But the society says it recognises the need for a new approach in view of rising consumer expectations.
Michael Mathews, its President, said: "We are determined to provide effective and efficient complaints resolution, because giving clients a good service goes to the heart of solicitors' reputations. We need to look closely at the 20 per cent of solicitors' firms which give rise to 80 per cent of complaints."
A spokesman for the Bar Council, which represents barristers, said that it took complaints seriously and had appointed an independent complaints commissioner.
