Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
This page contains information about the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible?
When can a complaint be considered?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commissioner (SLCC) investigates complaints made by members of the public about services provided by legal practitioners in Scotland. It is independent of the legal profession, and opened for business on 1st October 2008. It replaces the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman.
Complaints about legal services in England and Wales are dealt with by the Legal Services Ombudsman.
Complaints about Legal Aid or the administration of the courts in Scotland are dealt with by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
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Advantages
- it is a single gateway for all complaints about legal practitioners in Scotland
- it is independent of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates and of Scottish government
- it is free
- it offers the options of mediation, investigation or determination to resolve the complaint
- it is possible to get ‘modest’ compensation for inconvenience, distress or loss
- it can direct practitioners to take action, adjust fees, or pay compensation
- it will feed back issues of concern and recommendations for good practice to the profession
Disadvantages
- you must take your complaint to the practitioner first
- complaints about professional conduct must first be investigated by the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates
- the SLCC can refuse to take on complaints which it considers are frivolous, vexatious or without merit
- you can’t complain about Judges, Sheriffs, the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the Scottish Courts Service or the police service
- the SLCC only make a recommendation to the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates – it can’t force them to comply with its decisions
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Which complaints are eligible?
The SLCC can consider complaints about the service provided by a solicitor or advocate ion Scotland, but only if you have first taken your complaint to the practitioner concerned. If you are not happy with the way they have dealt with your complaint, you can go straight to the SLCC.
The largest category of complaints to the SLCC in its first nine months involved residential conveyancing (buying and selling homes), followed by litigation and family law issues.
Complaints about the professional conduct of solicitors and advocates should first go to the professional body concerned – either the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates. If you are not happy with the way these bodies have handled a complaint, you can go to the SLCC and ask them to investigate the way the professional body has dealt with the issue.
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When can a complaint be considered?
If you want to make a complaint about a solicitor or an advocate, the first step is to complain directly to the legal practitioner, or to the firm.
If you are not happy with the way in which they respond to your complaint, there are two routes:
- if the complaint is about service you can go straight to the SLCC
- If the complaint is about professional conduct you must first go to the relevant professional body – the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates
If you are unhappy with the way the professional body has handled your complaint, you can then ask the SLCC to investigate.
Complaints about service must be made within 12 months. Complaints about the handling of a complaint about professional misconduct must be made within 6 months.
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Cost
The scheme is free to complainants. It is funded by the legal profession.
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Timescale
Once you have made your complaint, the SLCC will contact you within 10 working days to let you know whether they will accept it. After that, the time taken will depend on whether both sides agree to mediation, or whether a full investigation is needed. The SLCC intends to publish targets for the time taken to resolve disputes, but has not yet done so.
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Procedure
Complaints must be made on the SLCC complaints form, and signed by the person complaining. You can download this form from the SLCC website – there is a link at the bottom of this page.
If your complaint is accepted by the SLCC, there are three options:
- If both sides agree, the SLCC can arrange mediation with an independent mediator
- If one or both sides don’t agree to mediation, or if the mediation is unsuccessful, the SLCC will investigate the complaint
- If both parties do not accept the investigator’s findings, a panel of Members of the SLCC will make a final determination
You can appeal to court if you are not happy with the final decision of the SLCC.
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Outcomes
If the SLCC upholds a services complaint it can take whatever steps it considers fair and reasonable in relation to:
- determining what fees and outlays are due to the legal practitioner
- directing the practitioner to rectify any error, omission or other deficiency at their expense
- directing the practitioner to take other action specified by the SLCC
- where someone has been directly affected, have the practitioner pay compensation
- where there is a competence issue, ensure that that is reported to the relevant professional organisation
The SLCC can order compensation up to £20,000, but it explains on its website that most compensation awarded is likely to be ‘modest’.
If the SLCC finds that a professional body has failed to handle your complaint properly, it can recommend that the professional body:
- provide you with more information
- exercise its powers in relation to the practitioner
- investigate the complaint further
- reconsider its decision
- pay a modest amount of compensation for inconvenience loss or distress caused to you by poor complaint handling
Where the SLCC upholds your complaint, the SLCC may recommend reimbursement of part or all of your costs such as stationery and postage.
The SLCC's Annual Report 2008-09 covers its first nine months of operation (October 2008 - June 2009). In that time it made no final determinations of complaints. It received 1,217 legal complaints, but only 154 of these were considered as to their eligibility (the vast majority were closed and referred back to the Law Society of Scotland because they were related to matters from before the start of the SLCC). At the time of the Annual Report 46 complaints had been assessed as eligible, and of these:
- 19 turned out to be about conduct and were referred to the regulator (eg the Law Society of Scotland)
- 1 was resolved through mediation
- 1 was awaiting mediation
- 1 was resolved and closed
- 19 were being investigated
- 5 had gone to the determination stage and were awaiting final decision
In that nine-month period the SLCC also dealt with a number of cases under the old ombudsman rules because they arose before October 2008. It accepted 180 of these cases and completed 160, of which 61 were upheld.
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March 2010
