Complaints about lawyers’ standards of service are being upheld by the ombudsman (LeO) in the majority of cases, it has emerged. Complaints data published today for 2023/24 reveals that in 69% of cases the standard of service was below what was expected.
In residential conveyancing, personal injury and wills and probate, there was evidence of poor service in three-quarters of cases. Immigration and asylum complaints saw poor service in 80% of complaints, albeit in only a small number of cases.
Paul McFadden, chief ombudsman, said too many firms and lawyers are failing to use complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve, adding that the data ‘doesn’t paint a positive picture’.
‘It’s disappointing we’re not seeing change or improvement in the types of issues consumers are raising,’ added McFadden. ‘Lawyers should welcome feedback from clients – including, and perhaps especially, about what’s not gone well. It’s clear a cultural shift is needed in lawyers’ approach to complaints – they’re opportunities to learn and do things better.’
Analysis of the complaints resolved by LeO suggests that lawyers’ standards of customer service and complaints handling are not improving – with areas of failing not changing over time.
The ombudsman resolved 7,918 complaints from legal services users and accepted 6,652 cases overall. Just over half of cases were accepted for early resolution, where an outcome is reached in under 60 days.
One-third of complaints related to residential conveyancing, with criminal and employment law the next most likely to be complained about.
As is usually the case, the two biggest areas of complaint were poor communication and delay, which featured in 47% of cases. Consumers were more likely to complain about costs in family law (13%) than any other area of law, with personal injury having the lowest proportion of complaints about costs (4%).
Complaints about delays and failure to progress appear most frequently in cases about personal injury (25%), wills and probate (25%), and residential conveyancing (24%).
Across all the cases investigated and requiring a remedy, 52% included compensation for the distress and inconvenience the consumer had been through as a result of the legal provider’s failings, with an average value of £458.
Where providers were told to reduce, refund or waive their costs, the average penalty was around £2,500.
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