Annual Reports

Summary of the Annual Report 2005–2006

The Ombudsman

Information about the Ombudsman’s role and powers. The Ombudsman’s role is to investigate the way the Law Society of Scotland or Faculty of Advocates have handled a complaint about a practitioner. A complaint to the Ombudsman must be in writing, and must be made within six months of the Law Society or Faculty of Advocates sending its decision on the complaint about a practitioner. If the Ombudsman is not satisfied that the investigation has been fair or thorough, she can recommend that the professional body investigates the complaint further, reconsiders its decision, exercises its powers, and pays compensation for loss, inconvenience and distress.

The Ombudsman’s Office

Information about the Ombudsman’s Office. Who works there? How much does the Ombudsman’s Office cost? How much work does it do?

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 only 3% this year to 519. We achieved a 20% increase in formal Opinions issued — 474 in total.

The Law Society of Scotland

In 2005, complaints to the Law Society of Scotland about solicitors rose by 30%. The Law Society continued to put time and effort into improving its complaint handling processes, with some success despite the increase in complaints. We took on for investigation 465 complaints about the way the Law Society had handled a complaint — up by 11%. I was satisfied that the Law Society had acted fairly, efficiently and reasonably in 60% of the cases I examined, the highest rating ever recorded.

The Faculty of Advocates

In 2005 the Faculty received 49 complaints about advocates, a slight fall compared with 2004. We took on for investigation 17 complaints about the way the Faculty of Advocates had handled a complaint. In 60% of the cases that the Faculty had investigated, I was satisfied that the investigation had been fair and thorough.

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
May 2006

Source: http://www.slso.org.uk/2005summary.shtml