We provide an independent and impartial service – we don't take sides. 

The Questions

The questions and answers below cover some of the most popular queries we've received so far. If your question isn't covered here, or you're not sure, please contact us.

To read a selection of our most frequently asked questions on our publishing decisions policy, click here.

What is the Legal Ombudsman's postal address and why has it changed?

How does the Legal Ombudsman differ from the Legal Complaints Service? Aren't you just the same thing in a different guise?

Where do you get your funding from?

Does the Legal Ombudsman service just look after complainants?

Do you consider complaints about professional negligence?

What happens if a complaint turns out to be about misconduct?

What if you can't get everyone to agree informally how to resolve a complaint?

There's lots of talk about providing a remedy that consumers think is 'reasonable'. What does this mean?

How much does all this cost the lawyers involved? Do you always charge lawyers a case fee when you accept a complaint for investigation?

Do you accept every complaint made to you for investigation?

Are there any time limits set on when you can accept a complaint?

What do you expect lawyers to provide through their own complaint handling procedures?

Suppose a lawyer responds quite quickly to a complaint and makes what they think is a reasonable final offer to resolve it, but their client doesn't accept it. What should they do?

When you accept a complaint for investigation, what information will you want from the lawyer?

What will happen to any documents we send you?

How long after you receive the complaint file will it take for you to reach a decision?

Do you publish your decisions and identifying the lawyers involved?

What if the lawyer involved is unhappy with the way you have conducted an investigation?

What if a lawyer thinks a consumer has taken their complaint to you as an excuse not to pay their bill?

I've heard the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman has closed. What does this mean for me?



Q: What is the Legal Ombudsman's postal address and why has it changed?

A: All written correspondence should be sent to Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ. Our scanning partner was acquired by a new company who made the decision to move offices. This forced us to change our PO Box address. We have been assured by EDM, who provide our scanning service that there will be no further changes in the foreseeable future. All post sent to this address is subject to strict data security protocols.


 Q: How does the Legal Ombudsman differ from the Legal Complaints Service? Aren't you just the same thing in a different guise?

A: There are several really important differences.

First, the Legal Ombudsman provided a new approach to handling complaints about legal services in England and Wales. We offer a more streamlined, efficient and effective way of resolving complaints about lawyers.

Secondly, we are completely independent from the legal profession - not a subsidiary or operating arm of any other body. And although we are ultimately accountable to Parliament (under the Legal Services Act 2007), our management, decision-making processes and funding do not depend on the government of the day. Finally, as a one-stop-shop, the Legal Ombudsman can consider complaints about legal services provided by the full range of legal practitioners registered in England and Wales – from solicitors to barristers. We bring all legal service complaint handling under one roof for the first time.


Q: Where do you get your funding from?

A: We get the vast majority of our funding from the annual levy charged to legal practitioners by their regulatory bodies. We also charge a case fee to lawyers in certain circumstances, but this isn't our main source of income.


Q: Was the Legal Ombudsman service set up just to look after complainants?

A: No, we provide an impartial service to all our customers – complainants and lawyers alike. We don't take sides. We don't make any assumptions about who's right or wrong in any particular case. Our job is to the look at all the relevant facts in each case and, where we find there is a problem, to help everyone involved resolve things informally if at all possible.


Q: Do you consider complaints about professional negligence?

A: Our job is not to decide whether what happened amounted to professional negligence, or if there has been a 'legal wrong', such as breach of trust.  We're here to consider the level of service provided. So, while missing an important deadline, for instance, could amount to professional negligence, that would not be a matter for us.  The question for us is whether the level of service provided was acceptable and, if not, what the consequences were.  Clearly, if something a lawyer has done (or not done) looks like negligence it is also likely to be poor service. Coming to the Ombudsman or taking an action for negligence are both remedies that could be pursued if something has gone wrong.  Both options might be open to a consumer where the same set of circumstances and facts apply.  But we will only look at whether we can consider a complaint.  We don't provide legal advice.


Q: What happens if a complaint turns out to be about misconduct?

A: This will depend on whether the complaint combines elements of poor service and conduct or is just about conduct. If it's about both, we will consider the service issues separately and refer the complaint about conduct to the relevant regulator for them to deal with. If the complaint is only about the lawyer's conduct, we will probably refer it directly to the relevant regulator. We have agreements in place with each of the Approved Regulators that set the framework for how we do this.


Q: What if you can't get everyone to agree informally how to resolve a complaint?

A: We will prepare a recommendation report to put to both parties for their comments. This will summarise all the facts, outline our conclusions based on these facts and say what we think it will take to resolve the complaint. Once both sides have had the chance to comment, the report will be passed to an Ombudsman to make a decision. This might include a specific remedy which an Ombudsman can insist on if needs be.


Q: There's lots of talk about providing a remedy that consumers think is 'reasonable'. What does this mean?

A: What counts as 'reasonable' will always depend on the circumstances of each complaint – the scope and nature of the service issues involved and the degree of disadvantage, if any, suffered by the consumer.


Q: How much does all this cost the lawyers involved? Do you always charge lawyers a case fee when you accept a complaint for investigation?

A: No, the Legal Services Act 2007 says we must charge a case fee to lawyers, unless a complaint is resolved in favour of the lawyer and we are satisfied that the lawyer took all reasonable steps to try to resolve the complaint under their own procedure. We charge a flat fee of £400 for each complaint where such a charge is considered appropriate. The case fee structure is set out in Chapter six of our Scheme rules.(pdf opens in a new window)


Q: Do you accept every complaint made to you for investigation?

A: No, our Scheme rules (pdf opens in a new window) spell out the circumstances under which we can and cannot accept complaints for investigation. These relate to things like the timing of the complaint - when the problem first cropped up, and when (and whether) the complaint has been made to the lawyer. We will also need to consider whether the complaint is about a service issue, and what the lawyer has done to resolve things themselves.


Q: Are there any time limits set on when you can accept a complaint?

A: Yes - there are two relevant time limits: the '12 month rule' and the '6 month rule'. Generally, the complaint should be brought to us no later than 12 months after the consumer found there was a problem and within 6 months of the consumer receiving a final response from their lawyer. Both of these time limit rules should normally be satisfied for us to accept the complaint.


Q: What do you expect lawyers to provide through their own complaint handling procedures?

A: We have published our Guide to good complaint handling (pdf opens in a new window) which explains what we expect to see from lawyers.


Q: Suppose a lawyer responds quite quickly to a complaint and makes what they think is a reasonable final offer to resolve it, but their client doesn't accept it. What should they do?

A: Where the lawyer and their client have reached a stalemate, and whether or not the eight week time limit has expired, the lawyer should refer their client straight to us. Part of our role is to help resolve deadlocks where they arise.


Q: When you accept a complaint for investigation, what information will you want from the lawyer?

A: When we accept a complaint for investigation, we won't need to see the whole client file, just the complaint file. This should only contain the record of events, correspondence and other documents that relate specifically to the complaint. We won't need anything else at this stage.


Q: What will happen to any documents we send you?

A: We're running a paperless office here as far as possible. We ask for copies of documents rather than the originals, although we prefer to receive them as email attachments. Any documents sent to us in the post will be scanned in to our computer system and then destroyed, unless we have specifically asked for originals. In this case, we will keep the originals safe and return them to you once the complaint has been resolved or closed.


Q: How long after you receive the complaint file does it take for you to reach a decision?

A: This will depend on the scope of the complaint and each side's response to any informal resolutions suggested by our investigators. In any event, our intention is to resolve things as quickly as possible. We aim to resolve most complaints within three months.


Q: Do you publish your decisions and identify the lawyers involved?

A: We are consulting on this issue at the moment. You can feed back any comments you may have by going to our consultations page. In the meantime, we will be publishing anonymous summaries and statistical information.


Q: What if the lawyer involved is unhappy with the way you have conducted an investigation?

A: If the complaint is about how we have provided our service to customers, including lawyers, we have a complaints procedure of our own that they are be encouraged to use.

If the complaint is about anything to do with the decision to accept a complaint or its outcome (a resolution or an Ombudsman's decision), we will always explain our reasons. If these decisions are still not acceptable, customers can take their concerns to court for judicial review.


Q: What if a lawyer thinks a consumer has taken their complaint to you as an excuse not to pay their bill?

A: We aim to resolve complaints as quickly as possible and to resolve most of them within three months. We will not delay, so we shouldn't get in the way of lawyers resolving other issues with their clients, such as payment.


Q: I've heard the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman is closing. What does this mean for me?

A: When the Legal Ombudsman opened in 2010, the previous complaints handling bodies began to prepare to close. We are just reaching the final stages of this process. As part of this, we have agreed with the Ministry of Justice that we will assist to carry out the function of the Legal Services Ombudsman for the final few months of the operation of this role. Click here to find out more.