NEWS STATEMENT
LAW SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND STATES CONCERNS OVER PROPOSED CHANGES IN COMPLAINTS HANDLING
REFORM of the system for making complaints against solicitors must improve on the current process, the Law Society of Scotland said today.
The Society made the comments in response to the publication today of the Legal Professional and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill. It gave conditional support to proposals aimed at providing greater consumer choice for those accessing legal services but raised concerns about key features of the Bill, which related to the complaints system.
The Bill follows on from the executive consultation, which started in May last year. The responses were published at the end of October.
Following publication, the Society’s ruling Council recognised that the public wished to see a more demonstrably independent system for dealing with complaints and in November the Council indicated its desire to see an independent body created to handle service (consumer) complaints.
In December 2005 the Executive announced its intention to publish a Bill including the creation of a new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) for the purposes of handling service complaints against the legal profession.
Caroline Flanagan, the President of the Society, said: “Whilst we have recognised the demand for a more demonstrably independent system for dealing with service complaints about the legal profession we can only fully support changes to the current system if that sees an improvement to what is currently on offer.”
“The proposals outlined in the Bill, in our view, are not an improvement on the current system and seem likely to give rise to confusion amongst the public and see a significant increase in costs. We have significant concerns about a number of key features in the Bill and we will be highlighting those as the Bill passes through the Scottish Parliament”.
The Society’s key issues are that the legislation should ensure: -
- The independent appointment of the Commission and its Board without the involvement of Scottish ministers.
- That the proposed process should be compliant with the European Convention of Human Rights particularly in relation to the right to appeal against decisions.
- That the costs of the proposed new System are properly calculated to ensure that any burden on the Profession in paying for the Commission is both reasonable and justifiable.
- That consideration of any increased costs should take account of the potential knock on effects on small firms and those firms in rural areas. There is also the problem of access to justice which may arise if solicitors decide not to carry out types of work which traditionally have given rise to complaints.
- That there is no actual evidence to suggest or clear explanation as to why the Commission should have oversight of the operation of the Guarantee Fund or Master Policy which remain excellent public protections.
- That the quadruple rise in compensation from £5,000 to £20,000 seems to have been imported from England and will usurp the function of the courts in relation to negligence claims.
Mrs Flanagan went on to indicate however, that there were parts of the Bill which the Society believed were steps are the right direction: “The Society is pleased that the Executive intends to allow the professional bodies to continue dealing with complaints about conduct and professional discipline. There are proposals that the Society should have the power to make findings of unsatisfactory professional conduct which would assist in highlighting concerns to members of the profession where their conduct falls short of professional misconduct”.
Another feature of the Bill relates to the extension of rights of audience in Scottish courts being extended to professionals out with the legal profession. The Society is generally in favour of the proposal providing those professionals offer the same safeguards and high standards of public protection as solicitors. Mrs Flanagan indicated: “The Society has no concern over this extension of rights of audience in the courts but there must be assurances that non solicitors in the courts provide clients with a professional, independent and trustworthy service which compares with that currently offered by solicitors.”
ENDS 2 March 2006
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Number of complaints. Only 0.4 per cent of the work carried out by Scottish solicitors ends up in a complaint to the Society. Around 80 per cent of the complaints handled by the Society are principally about service.
The consultation, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, closed in August 2005. At the request of the Executive, the Society sent around 20,000 leaflets on the consultation to complainers and solicitors encouraging responses.
The Society’s response to the consultation stated that it should continue to handle complaints and complete its ongoing programme of modernisation. Once Council had considered the consultation responses and saw the increasing desire for a more demonstrably independent complaints system it agreed that there needs to be more radical change than was envisaged by the Society or the Executive after the Scottish Parliament's Justice 1 Committee Report in 2002 and, in November, called on the Executive to create an independent complaints body to deal with complaints about inadequate professional service from solicitors. The Executive announced its legislative intentions in December.
The consultation followed on from the recommendations in the Justice 1 Committee report in its inquiry in the regulation of the Scottish legal profession, published in November 2002. The report recommended that all regulatory powers remain with the Society subject to changes, most of which the Society has made.
The Society’s regulatory responsibilities also include deciding on membership of the Society from the Society, continuing professional development, admission to the profession and other areas of work that are not covered by the proposals.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION/INTERVIEW: Please contact Val Mcewan or Jody Fitchet in the Law Society of Scotland’s Media Relations Office on 0131 476 8115 / 0131 476 8186 or email suzypowell@lawscot.org.uk / jodyfitchet@lawscot.org.uk
