Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

Chapter TWO
Handling complaints
Our performance (key complaint data)
The following information and data is a summary of complaints
handled by the Legal Services Commissioner in 2008-09. Full
details of complaints handled by the Legal Services Commissioner
during the year can be found in the appendices of this report.
New complaints
During 2008-09, the Legal Services Commissioner received
2057 new complaints. A complaint may involve a civil
complaint, a disciplinary complaint or a mixture of both.
Graph: New Complaints
2250
2000
1750
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
2007-08
2008-09
Civil Disciplinary Mixed New Complaints
See graphs 2.2 and 2.3 in the Appendices for further details
about new complaints
Consistent with previous years, disciplinary complaints
outnumbered civil complaints in 2008-09. The ratio of civil
to disciplinary complaints is not unexpected, given that
any person may make a disciplinary complaint but only
certain persons may make a civil complaint. Further, while
a complaint may raise civil issues such as costs, as well as
disciplinary issues, if the disputed costs are not lodged, the
costs complaint aspect is dismissed and the file handled as a
disciplinary complaint.
Complaints generally include a number of allegations
against a legal practitioner or law practice. As with the
previous reporting period, the most frequently made
allegation in complaints related to costs and bills. This was
followed by negligence and communication problems. It
is notable however that the number of allegations about
poor communication by lawyers has decreased since
2007-08. This may indicate that lawyers are improving their
communication skills.
Graph: Top 3 allegations mentioned in complaints
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Costs
Negligence
See Table 2.7 in the Appendices for further details about
allegations made in complaints
Often the areas of law that feature in complaints are those
that affect an individual’s private affairs (eg family law,
probate and estate). When an individual consults a legal
practitioner about these matters there is a lot at stake both
financially and emotionally. The area of law that has featured
the most prominently over the last few years is family law.
The same occurred in 2008-09, where family law was highly
represented, along with probate and estate, commercial law
and conveyancing.
Graph: Top 4 areas of law in complaints
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Family/
Defacto
2007-08
Total 2007-08
Total 2008-09
Communication
with client
2008-09
Probate & Estate Commercial Conveyancing
See Table 2.8 in the Appendices for further details about areas of
law featured in complaints
Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report 15