Compl-i - October 2009

Open Consultations

Complaints Consultation
The Office for Legal Complaints has published a consultation on the revised version of their draft rules on complaints.  These new rules will reduce the timeframe for clients to bring a complaint against their solicitor following concern voiced by the legal profession.  A client will now have one year from the date of the act or omission in question or from the point at which they ought reasonably to have known there was a cause for complaint, to make their complaint to the OLC.  The deadline may be extended in exceptional circumstances.

It has also been announced that law firms will have to pay a flat fee to the OLC for the resolution of each complaint, unless the OLC is satisfied that the complaint was resolved in favour of the lawyer AND the lawyer took all reasonable steps to resolve the complaint.  The amount of the fee is yet to be decided and is being consulted on separately. The OLC’s preferred option is to charge between £200 and £400 per case.

We would strongly recommend that as many of our readers as possible review the consultation and submit their own views on this scheme. The implications cannot be ignored and we must have our say.

Consultation closes on 4 December 2009.
For a commentary on the need to start gearing up for the new complaints regime, see the article by Michelle Garlick in our last newsletter.  

To view the draft rules which are subject to this consultation, please click on this link.

Handling Complaints about the SRA
This consultation considers the SRA’s draft policy for handling complaints made against the organisation.  Ends 13 November 2009.

Repeal of Solicitors’ (Non-Contenious Business) Remuneration Order 1994
This looks at the SRA’s proposed addition to Rule 2 of the Code of Conduct to replace the requirements in the current Remuneration Order on giving information to clients and others on how to question a bill.  Ends 16 October 2009.