Our scheme rules

Our Scheme Rules are approved by the Legal Services Board and the Lord Chancellor as required by the Legal Services Act 2007.

The rules set out the framework for how the Legal Ombudsman resolves complaints about legal services.

Scheme Rules (pdf – opens in new window)

You can also view our short video ‘Here to help’ which helps explains our rules.

We have updated our Scheme Rules several times since the Legal Ombudsman first opened. Our most recent update was in April 2018. You can see all of the documents that accompanied these changes in our publications section. A copy of our immediate past Scheme Rules is available on request.