 The Law Society of Scotland has welcomed the ombudsman's report |
Complaints about the way Scotland's legal bodies handle disputes involving solicitors and advocates shot up 27% last year. Ombudsman Linda Costelloe Baker published the figure on Tuesday.
The rise was mostly due to an increase in complaints about the way the Law Society of Scotland handled concerns about endowment mis-selling.
The society welcomed the findings and said it was pleased no formal recommendations had been made to it.
The ombudsman looked at 426 complaints about the way the Law Society had handled grievances involving a practitioner.
She concluded that the body had acted fairly and thoroughly in 47% of the cases that she had examined.
The president of the society, Caroline Flanagan, said she would continue to modernise the complaints system which had already undergone significant reform.
She added that the body had consistently met its target of handling 90% of complaints within nine months since December 2004, in spite of an increase in the number of complaints.
Ms Costelloe Baker said she recognised that the Law Society had displayed a much improved complaints handling system.
She added: "The signs are good, but there have been problems along the way as all the stages in the process pick up the strain."
The ombudsman, who is appointed by Scottish ministers, is tasked with looking into complaints about the way the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates has handled, or is handling, a complaint about a legal practitioner.
Ms Costelloe Baker made one formal recommendation to ministers that it look into why people cannot obtain legal representation, where cost appears not to be an issue.
 | OMBUDSMAN FINDINGS 2003-04: 391 complaints to ombudsman 2004-05: 505 complaints to ombudsman 2004-05: 2,948 complaints to Law Society The Law Society took an average 72 weeks to deal with a complaint The Law Society recommended to pay �32,718 in compensation The Faculty of Advocates received 52 complaints about advocates The Faculty of Advocates recommended to pay �2,800 in compensation |
She said: "Having a right of access to justice means being able to present a legal case effectively.
"People who cannot find a lawyer to act for them can take their case forward on their own, acting as party litigant, though the legal system itself does not make that easy and it is not a course for the fainthearted.
"It would be worth finding more out about the circumstances when solicitors and advocates do not accept instructions."
Ms Costelloe Baker noted in her report that complaints had surfaced at the stage where the final decision was made.
In 2004-05, the ombudsman, which is publicly funded and cost �310,566 last year, received 18 complaints about the way the Faculty of Advocates had handled a complaint about an advocate.
In cases where the faculty conducted an investigation, Ms Costelloe Baker was satisfied that it had been fair and thorough in all but one of the cases examined.
In all, the Law Society and Faculty of Advocates refused to accept the ombudsman's recommendations in 12 cases.
If the ombudsman, who is independent of government and the legal profession, finds that a complaint has not been investigated adequately, she can make one of a number of recommendations.
They include:
- providing more information to the complainant
- exercising its powers in relation to the practitioner
- investigating the complaint further
- or reconsidering the complaint.
Ms Flanagan said the Law Society was in the process of introducing a new target of handling 75% of complaints within six months.
 Ombudsman Linda Costelloe Baker produces an annual report on complaints |
She also pointed out that the work covered by the ombudsman's report related to the society's old system of complaints handling.
Ms Flanagan said: "It is important to remember that, while there is an upward trend in complaints, this still represents only around 0.2% of the total number of items carried out by Scottish solicitors every year.
"In saying that, the society believes that the overall rise reflects a greater confidence in and awareness of people's rights to complain about professional services - something the society has worked hard to encourage.
"The percentage rise in complaints to the society is mirrored in the number which then go to the ombudsman.
"She has repeated today that she is relaxed about overall increases in complaint numbers."
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The percentage rise in complaints to the society is mirrored in the number which then go to the ombudsman
