Legal services Ombudsman report

The Law Society’s handling of complaints against solicitors is still “shaky”, according to the annual report of the Legal Services Ombudsman. After achieving a good clearance of backlog of cases, this is now rising again, up from 4,113 at the start of 2001 to 5,430 at the end of March of this year. Noting that she was only satisfied with about 60% of cases dealt with by the Society, and that decision-making by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors “remains stubbornly low” more oversight by the Ombudsman’s office is to be expected in the current year.