GAZETTE
I
N
S
M
JAN/FEB 1993
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.
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
the position can usually be
regularised by means of an
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
assistance of a colleague or,
alternatively, the Professional
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
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