Annual Reports
Summary of the Annual Report 2004–2005
The Ombudsman
What does the Ombudsman do? What are the Ombudsman’s powers? What exactly is an Ombudsman’s Opinion, how is it prepared and what happens to it? What is the connection between the Ombudsman and the Scottish Executive and Ministers? How much does the Ombudsman’s Office cost?
The Ombudsman’s Office
Complaints made to the Ombudsman about the way the Law Society of Scotland or Faculty of Advocates handled a complaint about a solicitor or advocate rose this year by 27% to 505. We achieved a 22% increase in formal Opinions issued — 394 in total. A survey showed that a large proportion of complainants find our letters and Opinions easy to read.
The Law Society of Scotland
In 2004, complaints to the Law Society of Scotland about solicitors rose by 26%, caused mainly by a surge in complaints about endowment mis-selling. The Law Society has put a great deal of time, money and effort into its new complaints process.
We took on for investigation 426 complaints about the way the Law Society had handled a complaint — up by 33%. I was satisfied that the Law Society had acted fairly, efficiently and reasonably in less than half of the cases I examined.
The Faculty of Advocates
In 2004 the Faculty received 52 complaints about advocates, double the 2003 total.
We took on for investigation 23 complaints about the way the Faculty of Advocates had handled a complaint — up by 53%. In most of the cases that the Faculty had investigated, I was satisfied that the investigation had been thorough. I am concerned that the Faculty may be failing to recognise complaints that are within its powers to investigate.
The Wider World
We met a wide range of legal practitioners and consumers to improve our understanding of the provision of legal services, and with complaint handling bodies in the non-legal world to learn about best practice in modern complaint handling.
Linda M Costelloe Baker
Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman
July 2005
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Source: http://www.slso.org.uk/2004summary.shtml