Law Weblog

Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales. Annual Report for 2004.

Tuesday 6 July 2004 at 8:23 pm | In News | Post Comment

The Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman completed 1,731 investigations into complaints between 1 April and 30 September 2003 and 1,485 new cases were accepted during that period. The average turnaround for investigation of complaints by the Ombudsman decreased from 5.6 to 2.5 months. The total amount awarded in compensation was £200,090, with an average of £431 per award; the highest award was £4,000 for distress and inconvenience, while the lowest was £50 for inconvenience. Complaints about solicitors comprised 87 per cent of the Ombudsman’s workload. Of these, she made no formal recommendation or criticism in 53 per cent of cases, indicating more dissatisfaction with the Law Society’s complaints handling procedures compared with last year’s figure of 67 per cent. However, the Law Society did reduce its live caseload by 1,090 cases (8.5 per cent).

The Ombudsman provides an independent check on the complaint-handling activities of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, as well as the General Council of the Bar, the Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents. The current Ombudsman, Ms Zahida Manzoor CBE, was appointed in March 2003.

Sir David Clementi was commissioned by Constitutional Affairs Secretary of State, Lord Falconer, to produce a wide-ranging review of the regulation of legal services. Sir David will report by the end of the year.