Complaints against solicitors highlighted

The number of solicitors about whom there were multiple complaints last year is "unacceptable", according to the ombudsman of the Law Society.

Speaking at the publication of his annual report in Dublin yesterday, Mr Éamon Condon said 327 complaints (30 per cent) related to about 80 solicitors. They account for just 1.24 per cent of all solicitors in the State.

"This is really unacceptable and I am aware that the society is of the view that certificates to practise not be renewed" in some circumstances, he said.

The report shows that among these 80 solicitors, some 41 had three complaints made about them, 18 had four complaints made about them, eight had five complaints against them, six had six complaints, three had seven, two had eight, one had nine and one had 10 complaints made about them between September 1st, 2002 and August 31st, 2003.

The ombudsman also expressed dissatisfaction with the number of solicitors failing to attend at registrar's committee meetings when requested to do so as part of the society's investigation into a complaint about them.

The report indicates that of the 211 solicitors requested to attend the committee during the period covered, 115 were requested "because of failure to respond to the society" in the first instance. A further 35 failed to attend the committee and failed to provide an excuse.

Overall, there was a slight increase in the number of admissible complaints, from 1,039 in 2001/2002 to 1,095 in 2002/2003.

Some 268 of these were made by other solicitors while 827 were made by non-solicitors.

The highest proportion of these complaints - a total of 562 - were about misconduct including undue delays, failure to communicate, conflict of interest and about witness expenses.

There were also 35 complaints in relation to solicitors' advertising not complying with the new solicitors advertising regulations.

Some 445 complaints related to alleged inadequate professional service, including delays (162), failure to communicate (139), shoddy work (102) and "other" (42).

There were a total of 88 complaints about overcharging.

A high proportion of complaints (325) were resolved.

The ombudsman does not publish the names of solicitors against whom complaints are made.

He said some complaints are not upheld or do not warrant disciplinary action.

Those which are upheld are published in the Law Society Gazette.

The office of the ombudsman of the Law Society was established in 1997 to provide an independent forum for members of the public to apply to, if they are unhappy with the manner in which the Law Society has dealt with a complaint.

Complaints about a solicitor should be made to the Law Society.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator of the Law Society reviews files on how the society deals with complaints.