header-logo header-logo

Be prompt & watch your tone, says LSB

29 August 2023
Issue: 8038 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Legal services
printer mail-detail
Solicitors, barristers and other lawyers could be required to provide complaints information to clients at repeated intervals during the working relationship, under Legal Services Board (LSB) proposals.

Current professional rules state this information should be given at the time of instruction. The LSB proposes that lawyers be required to acknowledge receipt of complaints within five working days, provide updates on progress of the complaint and use ‘plain and appropriate language… to address the perceived power imbalance that may arise’. Communications should also be ‘empathetic’, since anecdotal evidence reported lawyers responding with ‘cold’ and ‘dismissive’ language. The LSB notes the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has observed language and tone as ‘a potential weak spot in first-tier complaints handling’.

The LSB, which regulates all eight branches of the legal profession, launched a consultation last week intent on tightening up ‘first-tier’ complaints procedures, where a client complains directly to the service provider rather than a regulatory body.

According to the LSB consultation paper, a ‘sizeable proportion’ of clients are ‘silent sufferers’, dissatisfied with the service they receive yet reluctant to complain because they believe it will be ‘an arduous process’ and their complaint won’t be taken seriously anyway. The LSB notes this problem is amplified where the client is in vulnerable circumstances, notably immigration and asylum clients.

LeO reported in its annual complaints summaries for 2019-20 and 2020-2021 that it found first-tier complaints handling ‘inadequate’ in about a quarter of cases investigated, with providers not responding or not responding within the eight-week time limit, or not addressing all the issues raised.

Richard Orpin, director of regulation and policy at the LSB, said: ‘Our proposals are designed to support a culture in which the sector responds positively and proactively to complaints, and embraces consumer feedback to learn lessons and raise standards.’

The consultation ends on 17 November 2023.

Issue: 8038 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Legal services
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Private client division announces five new partners

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Banking and finance team welcomes partner in London

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
back-to-top-scroll