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SOLICITORS’ COMPLAINT HANDLING IN THE SPOTLIGHT (AGAIN)
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has been conducting a review of complaints handling by solicitors firms and is not happy with what it has found. Its research indicates that nearly half of the complaints reviewed by the Legal Ombudsman were inadequately handled by firms and often complaints reached the Ombudsman before the first-tier process had even been completed due to a lack of confidence in the process or its perceived complexity.
In response the LSB has introduced new policies and guidance aimed at improving the handling of first-tier complaints and these look likely to be adopted in some form by the SRA.
Ivan Roots and Stacy Smit of Womble Bond Dickinson, who are specialists in defending professional negligence claims, consider what steps firms can take to ensure that their complaint handling processes are fit for purpose and so do not attract the unwelcome attention of the SRA.
Ensuring swift legal complaint handling
To the extent that firms are not already doing so, they should ensure that, save in exceptional cases, complaints that can be resolved are resolved as quickly as possible and ideally well within an eight week timeframe.
A firm’s complaints procedure should be prominently displayed and accessible, outlining the steps a firm will take when a complaint is made. Complainants must also be informed of their right to make a first-tier complaint and to escalate it to the Legal Ombudsman after eight weeks if it is unresolved.
Firms should provide regular updates to complainants and ensure communications are in ‘plain and appropriate’ language, by which the LSB means ‘professional and empathetic’, considering any sensitivities of the particular matter complained of, or of the complainant in question.
Firms with a disproportionately high number of complaints, whether resolved or unresolved can expect to be referred by regulators to the Legal Ombudsman for enforcement actions that the LSB describes as ‘targeted, proportionate and in the public interest’.
Particular work areas of concern
As readers will appreciate, the era of accruing a minimum number of CPD points is over, with the current rules requiring solicitors to take individual responsibility for keeping their legal knowledge and professional skills up to date. Two work areas have been singled out by the LSB as areas where the process of self-reflection and self-improvement may not be serving clients well.
The first is family law where there has been a 25% increase in complaints, with a third of these relating to lack of knowledge of the law or process. The second is landlord and tenant law, where complaints increased by an even higher percentage (49%), half of which concerned lack of knowledge of law or process.
To address this, the SRA will be conducting inspections at a random sample of firms to assess whether solicitors are meeting their obligations and being properly supervised. Firms practising in these areas can also expect a letter from the SRA reminding them of their obligations and providing practical tips on maintaining competence.
Conclusion
The LSB says that the aim of its new policies and guidance is to revolutionise the handling of first-tier complaints within the legal sector, to restore client confidence and ensure that legal service providers are held to the highest standards. Those firms that already have robust policies in place to ensure that (1) their fee earners are up to date on developments in the law (thus avoiding complaints in the first place) and (2) they effectively deal with the complaints that are made will be best placed to withstand increased scrutiny from the SRA and the Legal Ombudsman.
Ivan Root
Associate
