More than 800 complaints were made against legal professionals in the six months from early March to September, according to the latest report of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
The report, published on Wednesday, shows 841 new complaints were received in the period, while 893 complaints were closed.
Legal practitioners, including solicitors and barristers, were directed by the authority to pay a total of €73,525 in compensation to their clients in the reporting period. In addition, fees amounting to €20,705 were directed to be waived or refunded.
The authority can receive and investigate three types of complaints – inadequate legal services, excessive costs (overcharging) and misconduct.
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Of the 841 complaints received by the authority, 799 related to solicitors and 42 related to barristers. The authority said this reflected the higher number of solicitors and their greater level of contact with consumers.
A breakdown of grievances showed:
• 419 complaints ( almost 50 per cent) related to alleged misconduct.
• 240 (28 per cent) regarded allegations of legal services of an inadequate standard.
• Nine (1 per cent) were solely about excessive costs, or overcharging.
• 173 (21 per cent) were a combination of the above.
The report also details the authority’s High Court enforcement activities against solicitors who did not comply with its directions or determinations.
During the six-month period covered in the report, a total of 34 pre-action letters were issued to legal practitioners seeking compliance with the authority’s directions or determinations within a set time.
The authority said of the 893 complaints closed in the six months from March 8th to September 2nd, 337 (37 per cent) were inadmissible .
Another 27 per cent (247) were resolved with the assistance of the authority.
Eleven per cent (97) were upheld and 12 per cent (105) were not.
Wednesday’s report focused on conveyancing-related complaints which made up 9 per cent of the total number. Future reports will focus on probate and wills, and litigation.
The authority’s chief executive, Dr Brian Doherty, said he was pleased to see lawyers “increasingly reflect on their own behaviours and practices”.
“I have too often found the need in these reports to highlight the small number of instances where legal practitioners have failed to engage with their regulator, or have failed to comply with the authority’s directions or determinations in complaints which we have upheld,” he said.
“In such circumstances, the Legal Services Regulatory Authority has and will bring High Court proceedings to enforce its decisions.”
