News In Focus
11 May 2005
Public debate opens on complaints
Proposals to improve the handling of complaints against lawyers in Scotland have been published by the Executive for consultation today.
Clients at present are encouraged to resolve grievances directly with the solicitor or legal firm involved. If the matter is not resolved, the Law Society of Scotland will investigate. The Faculty of Advocates deals with complaints against advocates. If the complainer is not satisfied with the handling by these bodies, the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman provides an independent overview.
Ministers are examining four main options:
increasing the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Ombudsman; making the office of the Ombudsman a "single gateway" to receive and sift all complaints where local resolution has not been possible, with wider powers to monitor the complaints handling processes of the professional bodies; turning the Ombudsman's office into a single gateway which would itself investigate most complaints; creating a new independent complaints handling body, with a board led by a lay chair and with a lay majority. These build on recommendations made by the Justice 1 Committee which favoured retaining the current system of self-regulation of complaints handling by the professional bodies, but recommended a number of measures to make the system more accountable.
Launching the consultation, Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "Lawyers - like politicians - often get a bad press. The reality is that most people receive an excellent professional service from their lawyer. But when things go wrong, the road to a satisfactory resolution of a complaint can sometimes be a long and difficult one. Consumers have become much more aware of their rights in recent years, and clients with a justified complaint expect it to be well handled and speedily resolved.
"An efficient, transparent and accountable complaints handling system is essential.”
She added that while substantial progress has undoubtedly been made since the Justice 1 Committee report, more needs to be done.
Duncan Murray, President of the Law Society of Scotland said the publication of the consultation paper on complaints against lawyers is "an opportunity to show how much progress has been made by the Society in complaints handling as well as an opportunity to discuss further modernisation".
He said: "The Society is approaching this consultation with an open mind and will respond to it in detail. We will be looking to make the most of the opportunities the consultation presents. We will also be looking for decisions from this consultation which balance the interests of solicitors and the public, which are workable, cost effective and can endure the test of time.
"We agree with the Scottish Executive that the public must have faith in the system and it is important that those beliefs are based on fact and not perception. With 50% of those who decide complaints now being non-solicitors, the Society, as a responsible regulator, is showing that public involvement in the system works and that listening and acting on the feedback received from the Society's committee members as well as dissatisfied clients is very effective", he added.
Improvements made since the Justice 1 Committee report include the speeding up complaints handling - the target of 90% of complaints being closed in nine months was reached in December 2004 - and increased non-solicitor involvement to 50% of members on client relations committees.
Mr Murray added that the cost of these reforms - about £1.4 million last year which is expected to reach £1.7 million this year - is paid for by Scottish solicitors and those costs do not take account of the time given voluntarily by committee members.
He said: "The Society has called for further legislation to allow the organisation to improve its systems. These include legal powers to discipline solicitors for their conduct and powers to suspend a solicitor who does not co-operate with a complaints investigation."