Government must "Be bold and innovative" on legal reforms say The Legal Services Ombudsman and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner

10 January 2006

The Legal Services Ombudsman and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor CBE, today welcomed the Government's White Paper, "The Future of Legal Services: Putting Consumers First", and said:

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform the way legal services are regulated and delivered both in the interests of consumers and the legal professions."

However, in responding to the White Paper Ms Manzoor has urged the Government to be bold and innovative in its decisions, commenting that:

"The Government should grasp this opportunity and see the radical reforms through in spite of the challenges from those who will seek to preserve their own interests. Merely tweaking what already exists should not be considered a serious option."

Talking about the Legal Services Board and the Office for Legal Complaints, Ms Manzoor said:

"As regulator of complaints handling for the largest legal professional body, in my role as commissioner, and as Ombudsman, where consumers know my decisions are independent and impartial, my experiences have highlighted that both the proposed new Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints need to be recognised and trusted by the public. It is imperative that they are not only independent of Government, the professions and the existing structures and systems, but are seen to be independent and impartial. Anything less would be unacceptable."

View the response from the Legal Services Ombudsman and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner to the Legal Services Reform White Paper

“The Future of Legal Services: Putting Consumers First”

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