The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

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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