The Legal Ombudsman was last week accused by a consumer watchdog of capitulating to ‘spurious objections from the legal profession’, after announcing plans for a ‘staged approach’ to publishing information about complaints against law firms.

In the first part of a three-stage approach, LeO has begun publishing some anonymous case studies of complaints against law firms on its website.

The second stage, which will begin this summer, will see the ombudsman publish anonymous summaries of all cases that are resolved formally by an ombudsman decision.

However, LeO said it will then ‘track its data’ over nine months before deciding in February 2012 whether to adopt the more controversial policy of publishing information that identifies firms or lawyers.

Dr Dianne Hayter, chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, said: ‘This excessively cautious, and consumer-unfriendly, decision will be a huge let down for present and future clients… In its first big policy test, the Legal Ombudsman has fallen for spurious objections from the legal profession.’