The Legal Ombudsman has begun publishing anonymous case studies as part of a drive to improve client service and complaints-handling by law firms.

The published complaints have been broken down into areas of law.

Complaints revealed so far include a criminal defendant who felt his lawyers were not following his instructions properly to get new evidence for an appeal against his conviction.

In another case, a family law firm took seven years to process an order that was supposed to have been completed within eight weeks.

The publication forms part of LeO’s plan to increase the amount of information available to the public about complaints against law firms. However, the ombudsman was criticised last year by the Legal Services Consumer Panel for delaying plans to publish information that identifies firms that have had complaints made against them.

The complaints information can be found on the LeO website.