I was interested to note that Zahida Manzoor, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, has announced in her valedictory annual report that LCS managers and staff are to be praised for meeting all three of targets of the service (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 2)

As with other services, such as the NHS, meeting targets is only part of the equation. The other part is to achieve the satisfaction of customers and we, as solicitors, are indeed the ‘customers’ of what has become an incredibly bureaucratic institution. For example, in order for a solicitor to complain about the service received there are no fewer than three stages before the legal services ombudsman can become involved. A recommendation from a caseworker (who need have no legal training) is made to an adjudicator (who may or may not have any legal training), in respect of whose decision there is no appeal, even in the case of manifest error.

Now that the new Office for Legal Complaints is upon us, we can expect the bureaucracy to increase exponentially. With every client care letter bound to emphasise the right of every client to complain, our profession and, consequently, our insurers can expect an avalanche of claims, all of which must be dealt with within 14 days. No matter how unmeritorious the claims may be, and no matter how many hours are spent dealing with them, there will be no recompense for the solicitor and no sanction whatever upon the client.

As a profession we seem to have been sleepwalking while these additional burdens were being placed upon us, at a time when our profession is at its most vulnerable.

Michael D Freeman, Grower Freeman, London