The Gazette 1993

JAN/FEB 1993

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Dealing effectively with complaints benefits clients and solicitors

Arising from the privilege of being a self-regulating profession we have a duty to discharge this function scrupulously and with the utmost fairness and to be seen to do so. The Registrar's Committee carries out the statutory duty of the Society to consider and deal with complaints of professional misconduct against solicitors. This is an onerous task for the Committee as it involves in assessing the merit of any complaint and making a judgment on the reasonableness or otherwise of the solicitor's performance. Many solicitors may view correspondence from the Society as an unwarranted intrusion into a busy practice and may resent the role of the Society in this respect, seeing the Society mainly as a representative body whose primary role is the protection of their interests. Clients now have very high expectations of their solicitors. With the hectic pace of present-day commercial life, the greater financial risk now involved in many legal matters and the substantial attendant cost insofar as the client is concerned, clients rightly demand the most competent, efficient and stream-lined service possible from their solicitor and a constant flow of information confirming the progress of their affairs at all stages. Consequently, solicitors are under pressure to produce work of higher quality in an environment of increasing complexity. Moreover, the forces of competition require such service be produced more quickly and cost effectively. Against this background it is a regrettable fact that the development of certain State institutions involved in the legal process has not kept pace with modern requirements, with the result that delay in the client's affairs is frequently beyond the control of the solicitor, though, understandably, the client may have difficulty understanding this.

Purposes Committee of the Society to ensure that the matter is dealt with rather than delayed. It has become apparent to the Society that many complaints would be eliminated if solicitors were to keep their clients fully informed of progress being made by them and when necessary, to copy their clients with relevant correspondence. When investigating a complaint, the Society operates on the basis that, while the complainant is, of course, seeking justice he is also, invariably, seeking a practical resolution of the difficulty he perceives he has experienced in dealing with his solicitor. Accordingly, in such cases the Society, acting through the Registrar's Committee, will propose immediate solutions and will recommend that the solicitor take certain steps to resolve the particular problem speedily and efficiently. Following upon this, the Committee will closely monitor the solicitor's performance. Where the Committee finds serious misconduct, or a solicitor who is the subject of the complaint fails to comply with the recommendations of the Registrar's Committee, then the matter will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. This occurs in less than 10% of the complaints investigated by the Registrar's Committee (i.e. less than 1% of the total number of complaints lodged with the Society). The fact that only 1% of complaints received by the Society are ultimately referred to the Disciplinary Committee is not, as is sometimes thought, due to the laxity of the Registrar's Committee but due instead to the fact that, firstly, the vast bulk of complaints are readily solvable by instant action on the part of the solicitor and, secondly, that the process of investigation and interview followed by close monitoring invariably results in the

Raymond Monahan, President of the Law Society. Failure by a solicitor to provide the service expected invariably results in a complaint by the client. The experience of the Society in recent years shows that, of the large number of complaints received, approximately 90% can be dealt with at the preliminary stage by the Society's secretariat. These are mostly straightforward complaints of delay or failure to communicate and explanatory letter from the solicitor. This fact alone quite clearly shows the merit of solicitors answering correspondence from the Society as thoroughly and as promptly as possible. The remaining 10% of complaints will be more serious and will require investigation by the Registrar's Committee. It is the Committee's experience that many cases of delay arise from the fact that a solicitor, perhaps unsure as to the correct action he should take in a particular case, simply puts the matter on the long finger. The Committee is already on record as stating that, in such circumstances, a solicitor should seek the help or the position can usually be regularised by means of an

assistance of a colleague or, alternatively, the Professional

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