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There are concerns about the outstanding level of complaints at the outgoing Legal Services Ombudsman, Legal Futures has learned. Zahida Manzoor’s personal contract comes to an end on 2 March, and her office in Manchester will close on 31 March, with a number of cases likely to be outstanding – although Ms Manzoor says her office has been performing to a high standard in difficult circumstances.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has passed a complaint to the Criminal Cases Review Commission after a solicitor and a barrister’s errors potentially led to a man’s conviction for theft, in one of 365 cases that the service has informally resolved so far, it has emerged.

Last week I highlighted alternative business structures, the Legal Services Board and diversity as three of the key themes I expect to pervade Legal Futures’ coverage of the market in 2011. Here are three more, again in no particular order: the Legal Ombudsman, professional indemnity insurance, and outcomes-focused regulation/the new Solicitors Handbook.

Confusion in the rules around complaints means law firms are having to “err on the side of annoyance” by referring commercial clients to the Legal Ombudsman even though it does not have jurisdiction to deal with them, it has been claimed.

With a month to go until the Legal Ombudsman opens for business, I went up to Birmingham last week to see how things are shaping up. So, how are the profession’s millions being spent?