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10 July 2008 / Zahida Manzoor
Issue: 7329 / Categories: Opinion
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Looking beyond the horizon

With major changes ahead the Law Society cannot afford to be complacent in its approach to complaints handling, says Zahida Manzoor

The service provided by the Law Society's complaints handling arm—the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)—to consumers and the profession has improved over the last three years. This is in the large part the result of them working to the targets that I set and improvement plans I have required. More acknowledgement letters are now sent within five working days, more consumers are receiving regular updates on how their case is progressing, and more complaints are dealt with (and closed) in under a year. This is good news for the consumer—but importantly also for the profession who pays for this service.

But let's get down to the basics. It is hard to ignore that many of the improvements have been in administrative processes; those that users would rightly expect from any profession's complaint handling organisation. This “process focus” was in part the result of the low level of service the

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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