Legal Ombudsman
This page contains information about the Legal Ombudsman, including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Who can make a complaint?
When to make a complaint
Which complaints are eligible?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) investigates complaints about legal services provided by a lawyer who is regulated in England and Wales - this includes solicitors, barristers, legal executives, trademark attorneys and other legal service providers.
LeO is a new ombudsman service. It opened in October 2010 as part of new arrangements for handling legal complaints that came about with reforms brought in under the Legal Services Act 2007. LeO replaces the former complaint-handling arrangements that included the Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales, which oversaw the professional bodies' own complaints organisations - in particular the Legal Complaints Service.
The service providers LeO investigates are regulated by a range of bodies called Approved Regulators. These in turn are regulated by the Legal Services Board. These bodies are:
- the Law Society
- the Bar Council
- the Institute of Legal Executives
- the Council for Licensed Conveyancers
- the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents
- the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys
- the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen
- the Master of the Faculties
Each body must, by law, separate their professional representative activities from their regulatory arms. For instance, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board are the separate bodies responsible for regulating the profession and also handle complaints about lawyers' conduct.
The chief ombudsman cannot be a qualified lawyer and is independent of the legal profession.
This information applies in England and Wales.
Complaints about legal services in Scotland are dealt with by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and those in Northern Ireland by the Lay Observer for Northern Ireland.
Complaints about the Legal Services Commission (which administers Legal Aid) and about the Court Service are dealt with by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
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Advantages
- it is free
- it is private and confidential
- it is relatively quick
- it is independent of the lawyers and law firms it investigates
- there is no need to attend a hearing
- an ombudsman's decision is binding on the law firm
- it is possible to get compensation for inconvenience, distress and/or loss
- it can lead to improvements in complaints-handling procedures within the profession
Disadvantages
- you have to use the lawyer's complaints procedure before the Legal Ombudsman will take it on
- the complaint might not be within the ombudsman's jurisdiction and so may not be eligible for investigation
- the complaint may not be upheld
It is important to remember that the ombudsman will not act as the complainant's advocate or enforce their rights as consumers. The ombudsman has to be impartial.
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Who can make a complaint?
The Legal Ombudsman service is available to all members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts.
The complainant must have been someone who directly benefits from the service provided - for instance, a client and paying customer, or the person who inherits from an estate - of the legal services provider, whether that was a solicitor, a barrister or a legal executive. That means that LeO cannot consider a complaint made about someone else's lawyer. If you are concerned about this you should contact one of the regulators such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board.
Where the complaint is about a barrister who was instructed by a solicitor, the consumer (the client of the solicitor) can complain to LeO, but not the solicitor.
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When to make a complaint
You should first make your complaint to the lawyer or law firm responsible, and give them a chance to put things right. If they do not respond within eight weeks, or if you are not happy with their response, you can take your complaint to LeO.
You need to make your complaint within six months of receiving a final response letter from the lawyer or firm.
The complaint should be made within one year of the event you are complaining about or one year after you became aware of the problem. LeO has some limited discretion to consider complaints outside these time limits in exceptional circumstances.
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Which complaints are eligible?
LeO covers complaints related to service and not conduct. Service issues relate to how the service was provided. Conduct issues relate to the lawyer's behaviour or ability to do their job. Conduct complaints must be made to the relevant 'approved regulator' such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board. LeO can help identify whether your complaint is a conduct or service complaint.
Among the legal services that LeO can consider are:
- buying and selling a house or property
- family law such as divorce
- personal injury
- intellectual property
- criminal law
- immigration
- employment issues
Common complaints are:
- delay or inaction
- disregarding instructions
- failure to keep the client informed
- dishonesty
- conflict of interest
- no reply to letters/telephone calls
- inadequate costs information or overcharging
- giving bad advice
LeO cannot consider complaints about:
- the outcome of legal action, such as a court judgment
- the actions of someone else's lawyer, such as the lawyer of an ex-partner
- Solicitors Regulation Authority
or the Bar Standards Board
employment matters, about a law firm as your employer
contractual matters, about a service that you provided to a lawyer
matters that have already been considered in court or in another dispute resolution process]
Note also that, as with other ombudsman services, many enquiries are made too early, before the person or business providing the service has had a chance to consider the complaint. In these cases, LeO will forward the complaint directly to the lawyer concerned, or direct you to the right person in the law firm or chambers, so that they can deal with it directly.
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Cost
The scheme is free to complainants.
You should not need legal representation to make a complaint, and if you use a claims management company to represent you then you will have to pay their costs.
However, you may ask a friend, family member, or adviser to make the complaint on your behalf.
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Timescale
Figures are not yet available for the time it takes for LeO to complete its investigation, but it aims to resolve most complaints within three months of receiving them.
Complaints dealt with through informal resolution are likely to be concluded more quickly than those requiring an investigation.
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Procedure
The first point of contact is the Assessment Centre. You can phone, write or email, and a member of LeO's assessment team will discuss the problem with you and identify if the complaint is eligible. All the contact details are on the LeO website. There is also a complaint form on the website which you can print and complete and send to LeO.
If the complaint is not eligible, the Assessment Centre staff will help identify if there is another route you can take to getting the complaint resolved. For example, if your complaint is about what a bank did, LeO can refer you to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If your complaint has not yet been considered by the lawyer or law firm involved, the LeO Assessment Centre staff will direct you back to that organisation, providing you with the contact details if necessary. You will be given a reference number so that if you are not satisfied with the response from the lawyer, you can return to LeO to ask them to consider the complaint.
Not all complaints will go to an ombudsman for decision. It is expected that the majority of cases will be resolved at a relatively early stage by informal resolution.
Informal resolution
Initially LeO investigators will attempt to negotiate a settlement between the two parties through 'informal resolution'. It is up to each party to decide whether or not to accept this. If the complaint is not settled, then the case goes on to investigation.
Investigation
Where the complaint cannot be resolved informally, the investigator will look into the case and produce a written report, with reasons and recommendations about whether a remedy is required or not. If one or both parties do not agree with the investigator's recommendation, either side can ask instead for a review and a final decision by an ombudsman.
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Outcomes
The ombudsmen consider what is fair and reasonable, not the strictly legal position.
If LeO finds that the lawyer's service was unsatisfactory, it can recommend that the lawyer:
- apologises
- returns your documents
- does more work to put things right
- refunds or reduces your legal fees
- pays you compensation (up to £30,000)
The ombudsman's decision is binding on the lawyer or law firm, but only once the consumer accepts it. You can reject it and take your claim to court instead. But once you do accept it, it becomes legally binding and you can't then take the same complaint to court.
There is no appeal against an ombudsman's decision. However, if you are dissatisfied with the way LeO has handled your complaint, you can complain about LeO itself. There is an independent assessor who can provide an impartial review of the service you received, but not the outcome.
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January 2012
