Annual Report 2008-09 - Legal Services Commissioner

Chapter ONE
About the Legal Services Commissioner
The Commissioner’s Report
Educating the community
In 2008-09, we conducted seven community outreach visits
to parts of metropolitan and rural Victoria. We significantly
increased the number of meetings with community groups
from 39 in 2007-08 to 67 in 2008-09. These meetings form
an essential part of our education program, in which we aim
to inform consumers of their rights and obligations when
accessing legal services.
During the year, we met with five community legal centres
and five specialist legal centres to discuss key legal issues
affecting Victorian consumers. We aim to increase our level
of engagement with these groups in 2009-10.
Our commitment to continuous improvement
My office is committed to improving our standards for the
benefit of complainants and lawyers accessing our service.
During the year, we undertook several initiatives to improve
the operations within our office.
For example, we developed several online surveys to gather
feedback from lawyers and complainants in relation to their
experiences with our complaint handling operations. The
feedback will guide the development of processes and
procedures to improve our overall operations. Our office
focused on writing all external correspondence in plain
English for the benefit of consumers and practitioners. We
also instigated a review of our templates to implement
necessary enhancements. Furthermore, my office expanded
the information on our website to provide further details
in relation to our complaint handling processes and
procedures.
In 2007-08, we engaged an external consultant to identify
areas within our organisation where operational efficiency
could be increased. The consultant identified a number of
key improvements, which included the implementation
of an organisational restructure to increase productivity.
After much consultation with management and staff, we
successfully implemented the restructure in 2008-09. I am
pleased to report that no jobs were lost during the process;
conversely the restructure resulted in the creation of several
new jobs across the entire organisation. The restructure is
already delivering considerable benefits for both staff and
key stakeholders.
Additionally, staff undertook extensive training throughout
the year to enhance their complaint handling skills. As part
of the staff training, my office convened a national training
course, to enhance staff knowledge and skills specifically
relating to the handling of complaints about lawyers. The
course attracted participants from numerous interstate
legal regulators, including Western Australia, South Australia,
Tasmania, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
Thank you
I would like to take this opportunity to commend my
staff for their industrious efforts throughout 2008-09 and
acknowledge the array of individuals and organisations who
assisted my office with a range of activities and initiatives
during the year.
Victoria Marles
Legal Services Commissioner
15th September 2009
“During the year, we increased the number of ethics workshops for
Victorian lawyers from 10 in 2007-08 to 15 in 2008-09. We also lectured
100 trainees enrolled in a practical legal course.”
Legal Services COMMISSIONER 2009 Annual Report 5