Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Services Board is likely to survive the government’s triennial review of its functions largely unscathed, despite a series of attacks from those it oversees, it has emerged.

Consumers using online legal services should have access to proper redress, the Legal Ombudsman has suggested. Adam Sampson said he was not convinced there is a difference between a legal product and a legal service.

The Legal Ombudsman is to reduce its budget by 14% – amounting to nearly £3m – over the next year, it has revealed. It is in large part accounted for by a far lower receipt of case fees last year than had been expected.

Prospective clients and third parties will be able to make complaints about lawyers, if plans unveiled by the Legal Ombudsman today go ahead. The one-year time limit for making complaints to LeO will also be extended, as will the level of compensation it can award.

Lawyers must provide clearer pricing information to their clients or risk losing out to new entrants to the market, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has warned. LeO today issued a report on the problems issues around cost causes consumers, accounting for up to a quarter of all of its investigations.

The High Court has handed a suspended four-month sentence to a solicitor who failed to co-operate with an investigation by the Legal Ombudsman. The judge only held back from committing him to prison because of his personal mitigation.

The Legal Ombudsman is to press ahead with bids to take over complaints against claims management companies, and also extend its jurisdiction to unregulated groups such as will-writers and employment advisers.

Our latest news round-up reports on an apology over the sudden change in the Legal Ombudsman’s address, which affects all lawyers, a unique agreement between a law firm and a barrister, a crucial ruling on interest on costs, and the exit of the CLC’s chief executive.

Our latest news round-up takes in an innovative partnership to combine financial, taxation and legal advice, an update on ABS applications, the role for ABSs in the conveyancing market, growing fraud claims against solicitors, support for provisional assessment, and new blood at the OLC.

The government has been urged to oppose European proposals that could allow lawyers to make complaints about their clients. The Legal Services Consumer Panel has otherwise welcomed the EU proposals which could provide redress against unregulated providers.

The government review of the “continuing need for the functions and the form” of the Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints began yesterday with a call for evidence. It will take up to six months to complete.

Law firms and barristers’ chambers may be forced to publish statistics on how efficiently they handle complaints internally – including how many they receive – the Legal Ombudsman has suggested.

The Legal Ombudsman has warned “phoenix” law firms that seek to avoid the consequences of their actions by closing down and reopening – and even changing regulators – that it can still pursue them for past complaints.

The Legal Ombudsman has successfully fought off two judicial reviews against its decisions, with a further five currently going through the court process, Legal Futures can reveal. The SRA has also fought off the two JRs of its new qualified lawyer transfer scheme.

A solicitor has for the first time been fined by the High Court for failing to co-operate with an investigation by the Legal Ombudsman. The High Court used the case to stress that such failures could also lead to immediate imprisonment.