The society said it has apologised to the complainer

Linda Costelloe Baker, the legal services ombudsman, has criticised the society for failing to deal adequately with a complaint.

A member of the public had raised the grievance against a solicitor.

The ombudsman has published an official notice in three newspapers criticising the way the society handled the case, which dates back to 1997.

Mrs Costelloe Baker could not reveal the exact nature of the complaint, but the move was the harshest penalty she could impose.

She also expressed concern about the time it was taking for the society to investigate complaints and complaints that were not dealt with.

It's my most serious penalty for the law society and it's the first time I've issued a formal notice in the press media Linda Costelloe Baker Legal services ombudsman

Mrs Costelloe Baker said she would like to be given powers to perform an audit of the society's complaints system.

When she first took up her appointment in 2000, the average time taken for an investigation was almost 100 weeks.

She said: "That average figure obviously hides the fact that some take a great deal longer."

In this case, she said the solicitor's client won a sum of money in a court case in 1996 and complained to the society that the solicitor had been slow to collect the debt in 1997.

Unprofessional conduct

The society took three years and eight months to investigate that complaint, ordered �500 in compensation and found the solicitor guilty of unprofessional conduct by writing a letter about the client and circulating it amongst the business community.

Mrs Costelloe Baker had made specific recommendations about how the lawyers' body should deal with the case.

However, she discovered that some of those recommendations were not wholly implemented.

The ombudsman has posted a notice in newspapers

Mrs Costelloe Baker said: "It's my most serious penalty for the law society and it's the first time I've issued a formal notice in the press media.

"In this case I thought the failure was so serious. It wasn't a difference of opinion between me and the law society, it wasn't a difference of judgement, they failed to do something they had given an undertaking to do and an undertaking to me as the ombudsman and I do view that very seriously."

The ombudsman said she was not satisfied with the society's initial investigation of the client's complaint.

She ordered another inquiry but was not satisfied with the outcome of this either.

The Law Society of Scotland has since accepted it failed to handle the complaint adequately.

Its president, Joe Platt, said the complaint had been "complex and unusual".

'Sifting panel'

However, he said: "We are disappointed that it wasn't handled properly and fully understand that that sanction is available to the ombudsman.

"We accept the failure in this case, we've apologised to the complainer concerned."

Responding to the ombudsman's concerns about complaints which were not investigated, Mr Platt said the society could only investigate complaints within the terms of Part 4 of the Solicitor (Scotland) Act 1980.

"We do have a sifting panel, which is made up of a solicitor and a non-solicitor who look at these and it's only if both are agreed that the complaint doesn't come within the system that the society does not look at the complaint," he said.