Solicitors attacked on complaints

The way complaints against solicitors are handled is still "unacceptable", a watchdog for the profession has said.

The legal services complaints commissioner said an audit had found average delays of nearly six months by the Law Society in England and Wales.

The society deals with about 16,000 complaints from people unhappy with solicitors' work every year.

It said the audit figures were outdated and last month it had published a plan on improving its service.

'Shift focus'

The commissioner, Zahida Manzoor, found delays stretched to 27 months in one case.

In another case, which lasted 18 months, the Law Society made four separate compensation payments.

The findings were based on an audit of 114 of the 3,035 cases concluded between July and August 2004.

Ms Manzoor said there needed to be less reliance on paying compensation and a greater focus on improving the service for customers.

The audit showed there was "considerable work" ahead to make the service better, she said.

"It is unacceptable that of the sample audited, there were found to be delays in seven out of 10 cases," she said.

"These are people who have turned to the Law Society because they already feel that their complaint has not been dealt with appropriately by their solicitor."

'Faster now'

Ms Manzoor said she was worried the problems she had found were similar to those she had identified before, suggesting the society had not yet "turned around" its handling of complaints.

She said the society's plans to improve its service was "adequate" but only a "small step forward".

The Law Society said it was pleased Ms Manzoor had agreed its improvement plan and argued that handling complaints was often a specialised and long process.

Chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: "It is simply wrong to say that there are currently delays in seven out of 10 cases.

"The audit the LSCC [commissioner] refers to looked at cases up to 18 months old. Since then, our records show that we consistently resolved over 50% of cases in less than three months.

"However, we are not complacent, and have worked with the LSCC who has agreed our plan of action for the next 12 months."