After you make a complaint

Once we receive your completed complaint form, we will review it.

As part of this process:

• We will notify the solicitor or barrister who you have made a complaint about.
• We will provide the solicitor or barrister with a copy of your written complaint and ask them for a response.
• We may contact you to request your comments on the solicitor’s or barrister’s response.
• We may also contact you if we need to ask you for additional information.

We will then review all the documentation submitted to us and decide if your complaint is admissible. We will review your complaint as quickly as possible, but please be aware that this process can take time.

If we decide that your complaint is admissible, it means that we can take it forward. There are two different avenues it may take depending on the type of issues in your complaint.

Informal Resolution – complaints about services or costs

If your complaint is about inadequate legal services or excessive costs, we will invite you and the solicitor or barrister to first try to resolve the complaint informally. We call this process Informal Resolution and it involves an LSRA trained mediator speaking to you and the solicitor or barrister. You can read more about this on our Resolving Complaints page.

Investigation – complaints about misconduct

If your complaint relates to misconduct, we will investigate your complaint directly.

You can read more about this on our Investigating Complaints page.

If we decide that your complaint is not admissible, it means we cannot take it forward. We will notify you and explain the reasons why we have made this decision. We will also notify the solicitor or barrister. It is not possible to appeal this decision.

Please read our Complaints Information Guide ‘What to Expect When You Make a Complaint‘ for full details of what happens when we get your complaint, what we can do and what you can expect from us.