Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman has revised its target costs for resolving complaints downwards for the next financial year, which if achieved would be almost 20% lower than a year ago.

A barrister has failed in his judicial review of a decision of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) that he did not deal with a complaint properly. LeO has welcomed the ruling for setting the bar high when challenging its decisions.

The focus of the Legal Services Board on competition in the legal market looks set to intensify after it appointed the inquiry director at the Competition Commission as its new strategy chief. It is one of several key appointments announced recently.

A High Court judge has overturned a Legal Ombudsman decision that a barrister had not earned his fee, but separately upheld a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decision to hand out a record fine.

The Legal Ombudsman today appealed to solicitors’ bottom line to persuade them to take complaints more seriously, saying that law firms and other providers could increase their profits by up to 3% if they do.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has fought off the first judicial review to reach court, brought by a former solicitor unhappy that it had ordered his bill to be slashed. The case, involving a CFA, comes as LeO issues a report outlining problems caused by ‘no win, no fee’ deals.

Former policeman Steve Green today cleared the final hurdle to his appointment as the new chair of the Office for Legal Complaints – the body that oversees the Legal Ombudsman – after he was endorsed by MPs on the justice select committee.

The Legal Ombudsman should swap the telephone for the internet as the main way it deals with the public and in doing so reflect the market it serves, according to the man likely to become chair of its oversight body, the Office for Legal Complaints.

The Legal Ombudsman is to attempt to build an early intervention capacity, including mediation and arbitration. Launching its 2014-17 draft strategy and budget, LeO also said it would seek to shave a further 5% off the cost of each case it handles.

The government has pledged in Parliament to “make every effort” to end the impasse and enable complaints against claims management companies to be handled by the Legal Ombudsman, more than a year after it committed to the move.