LEGAL SERVICES OMBUDSMAN

We have formal powers to resolve complaints about lawyers. It is a free service. Our job is to look at legal complaints in a fair and independent way – we will not take sides. As with any kind of dispute, it is always best to complain to your lawyer first to give them a chance to resolve the issue. If you are still not satisfied or are not sure about what to do, then please get in touch with us.

Our job is to resolve legal complaints in a fair and independent way – we will not take sides. We are the Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales, set up by the Office for Legal Complaints (our Board) under the Legal Services Act 2007. Parliament wanted to simplify the system and make sure consumers had access to an independent expert to resolve complaints. We opened on 6 October 2010. Our service is open to all members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. Our service is free to these consumers. We can get involved in different types of complaints about legal services. Some examples are wills, family issues such as divorce, personal injury and buying or selling a house. There are many others. We are independent and impartial. This means that when we start to receive complaints, we will look at the facts in each case and weigh both sides of the story. We are not consumer champions or part of the legal profession, and we are also independent of Government. If we decide the service you received was unsatisfactory, we can ask the lawyer and the firm to put it right. We may also say that we think that your lawyer provided a reasonable service – if we think this, we will explain why. Most complaints can be resolved informally. If needed, we will carry out a formal investigation. As this could involve us getting more information from you and your lawyer, it could take longer to deal with. Once an Ombudsman decision is accepted, we can make sure that the lawyer does do what we say is needed. We don't have to investigate every complaint we receive, even if we have the power to do so. For example, we may decide not to investigate if we think the problem you have told us about has only had a slight impact on you. Our help doesn't cover any disappointment you feel because you don't agree with the outcome of a court case. We don't write the rules for lawyers or police them if the rules are broken.