Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

APPENDICES
Complaints under the Legal Profession Act 2004
2.7 What were the new complaints about?
The following table shows the allegations raised in complaints to the Legal Services Commissioner in 2008-09.
A complaint may contain a number of allegations. This means that there are more allegations than complaints.
Table: Nature of allegations
Nature of Allegation Total 2008-09 Total 2007-08
Costs/Bills 938 (32%) 845 (29%)
Negligence – including bad case handling 444 (15%) 465 (17%)
Other disciplinary issues 285 (10%) 163 (5%)
Communication with client – including failure to return calls, give progress reports 192 (6%) 250 (8%)
Dishonest/ Misled 137 (5%) 138 (5%)
Trust money – including failure to account, mismanagement of funds 134 (5%) 171 (6%)
Delays 109 (4%) 116 (4%)
Instructions – including failure to comply 107 (4%) 132 (4%)
Costs communication – including failure to comply with s3.4.9 of the Act 97 (3%) 63 (2%)
Breach of Act, rules, court order or undertaking 94 (3%) 101 (4%)
Documents – including retention and lost 90 (3%) 139 (6%)
Abusive/Rude 89 (3%) 72 (2%)
Conflict of interest 87 (3%) 94 (3%)
Duress/ Pressure/ Intimidation 62 (2%) 92 (3%)
Debts – including practitioner’s failure to pay 25 (1%) 18 (0.6%)
Communication with other party 20 (0.6%) 13 (0.4%)
Confidentiality breach 14 (0.4%) 23 (0.8%)
Advertising 7 (0.2%) 0
Court system 4 (0.1%) 3 (0.1%)
Sexual impropriety 2 (0.06%) 5 (0.1%)
Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report 107