The Legal Ombudsman was accused of having fallen for ‘spurious objections from the legal profession’ today as it revealed its plans for a ‘staged approach’ to publishing information about complaints against law firms.

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

The second stage, which will begin in the summer of 2011, 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 a more controversial policy of publishing information that identifies firms or lawyers.

Dr Dianne Hayter, chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, which advises the Legal Services Board on consumer issues, said: ‘This excessively cautious, and consumer-unfriendly, decision will be a huge let down for present and future clients.

‘It completely flies in the face of government policy to empower citizens by opening up data on provider performance.

‘In its first big policy test, the Legal Ombudsman has fallen for spurious objections from the legal profession for which they have provided no evidence.

‘This decision puts second the needs of consumers who depend on legal advice at critical life moments, but struggle to tell a good lawyer from a bad one.’

She added: ‘The only winners from today's announcement are the small minority of firms that persistently fail consumers - their poor behaviour will now not be unmasked.

‘This is vital information before a client engages a lawyer.’

A LeO spokeswoman said the ombudsman had not ‘backed down’ over publishing complaints data, but it was right for it to look carefully at the evidence before publishing information that named firms.

She said LeO had always said that it would implement a staged approach.

The full consultation, published today, can be found on the Legal Ombudsman site.