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.

The Legal Ombudsman compares well with similar schemes on case resolution speeds, client satisfaction and perceptions of fairness, but many complainants reject its findings and its cost per complaint is high, according to a study.

The Legal Ombudsman’s plan to widen its jurisdiction will cause a “muddle”, the Institute of Professional Willwriters has warned, revealing that other ADR providers had indicated an intention to move into the sector themselves.

Solicitors and consumer representatives have come out on opposite sides of the Legal Ombudsman’s proposal to extend its remit to the estimated 130,000 unregulated legal services providers operating in England and Wales.

The Legal Ombudsman is to begin work on what types of complaints it should accept from non-clients amid reports of lawyers harassing third parties over alleged debts, violating their privacy and doling out abusive treatment in court.

Primary legislation will be required to bring complaints against claims management companies within the remit of the Legal Ombudsman, the government has admitted for the first time.