Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman
Strategy 2007 - 2010

OLSO Office staff

Why we have a strategy

This strategy provides an overview of the high level activities that we must engage in to achieve our remit.

Our strategy is intended to be an informative document, to both internal and external stakeholders. It is intended to cover the period 2007-2010. However, it will continue to be reviewed to ensure that it remains relevant within a legal and judicial environment that is constantly changing.

Our strategy informs and is closely aligned with our more detailed operating plan. The operating plan is primarily an internal document that outlines how we will deliver our strategy at an operational level and gives a clear guide to our staff as to how we will achieve our objectives.

The Remit of the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman

The Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman (OLSO) was established in 1991 by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. The Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO) is appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice and is responsible for overseeing complaints about solicitors, barristers, legal executives, licensed conveyancers, patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys if the complainant is not completely satisfied with the way that a complaint has been dealt with by the relevant professional bodies.

The Legal Services Act 2007 will fundamentally change the way that legal services will be regulated in England and Wales. The Act has created two new bodies, the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC); and in due course will result in the creation of Alternative Business Structures. The Act requires the current legal professional bodies to separate their functions as both regulator and representative of their professions. Under the reformed system, the professional bodies will be known as Approved Regulators. The LSB, as the oversight regulator, sits above the Approved Regulators and will have a range of powers over them. The LSB will also have responsibility for the OLC which will take over the handling of consumer complaints from the legal professional bodies. The formation of the OLC will result in the closure of OLSO, although this is unlikely to occur before December 2010.

The Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales is Zahida Manzoor CBE. The LSO is independent of the legal professional bodies and is not a lawyer. OLSO is an Associated Office of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and works to the Ministry’s Strategic Objectives.

What does the Legal Services Ombudsman do?

The main function of the Ombudsman is to investigate the handling of complaints about the 6 legal professional bodies, referred to her by consumers. OLSO deals with approximately 2000 cases and 6000 enquiries a year. The Ombudsman also has a role in promoting best practice in complaint handling, and influencing the ability of 5 of the legal professional bodies (the General Council of the Bar, the Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, and the Institute for Trade Mark Attorneys) to improve standards of legal services. However, it is the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (LSCC) who oversees the performance of the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in complaint-handling.

The Ombudsman can widen an investigation to include the cause of the original complaint to the lawyer. The Ombudsman will investigate a small number of strategic cases if she believes this is in the interests of consumers.

After the Ombudsman has finished an investigation into the way a legal professional body has handled a complaint, where the investigation has been found to be inadequate, their decision unreasonable, or their investigation has caused distress or inconvenience to the complaint, then the Ombudsman has the power to recommend redress. This might mean that the professional body is asked to reconsider the complaint, pay compensation to the complainant or, in some cases, both. The Ombudsman can also record a formal criticism of the professional body.

The Ombudsman cannot review the handling of a complaint by a professional body until that professional body has finished their investigation and issued a final decision.

The Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint where the issues complained about have been decided by a court or a disciplinary tribunal.

Our Aim and Values

Our Aim: To undertake an effective role in contributing to the development of high quality, fair and effective legal services. Our Values: We will provide an exemplary service to complainants, professional bodies and individual lawyers. We will deal fairly and impartially with all complaints, ensuring our staff provide an efficient and courteous service. We will be proactive, in striving to improve the service of the legal profession. We recognise, respect and value diversity and will strive to serve the interests of people from all sections of society. We will work as a team and train and develop our staff to meet changing demands. We will achieve value for money for the public purse.

Our Strategic Objectives


*Objective 1
We will investigate complaints about the professional bodies effectively and efficiently ensuring even-handed investigation and redress where appropriate; maintaining the confidence of all parties in our impartiality. 		*Objective 2
We will promote the application of best practice in complaint handling by the legal professional bodies, with a view to raising standards of services for consumers; liaising appropriately with the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner ( LSCC) in relation to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). 		*Objective 3
We will endeavour to be involved in shaping the future of the regulation of legal services in England and Wales, ensuring that the consumers interest is at the heart of the new regulatory framework

Our Strategic Objectives: What we will do

*Objective 1
We will investigate complaints about the professional bodies effectively and efficiently ensuring even-handed investigation, and redress where appropriate; maintaining the confidence of all parties in our independence

We will deal with all enquiries efficiently and effectively; taking account of the diverse needs of our consumers.

We will investigate complaints against professional bodies in a timely manner, ensuring that complainants are regularly informed of progress and that a fair outcome is achieved for all parties.

Where relevant we will ensure that a complainant receives appropriate redress from the professional body/lawyer, which may include compensation.

We will monitor the implementation of all recommendations/orders made by the Ombudsman against the professional bodies/lawyers.

Our Strategic Objectives: What we will do

*Objective 2
We will promote the application of best practice in complaint handling by the legal professional bodies, with a view to raising standards of services for consumers; liaising appropriately with the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (LSCC) in relation to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

We will liaise with the professional bodies on matters of performance in relation to their complaint handling; and work closely with the LSCC to share data, best practice and areas of concern in relation to complaints abut the Law Society.

We will recommend to the professional bodies improvements in their complaint-handling processes based on the outcomes seen in our investigations.

We will monitor and evaluate recommendations we have made to the professional bodies.

Our Strategic Objectives: What we will do

*Objective 3
We will endeavour to be involved in shaping the future of the regulation of legal services in England and Wales, ensuring that the consumers interest is at the heart of the new regulatory framework

We will maintain the profile of OLSO across consumers, the legal profession, parliament, government, other ombudsmen and other public bodies.

We will respond to consultations in connection with any subjects that are relevant to OLSO, jointly with the LSCC if necessary.

We will compile reports on issues of importance and/or wider interest for general publication.

How will we measure our success?

We will manage our performance based on a system of planning, acting, monitoring and analysing in relation to speed of service; customer satisfaction; quality assurance; and value for money.

We will set targets and record our achievements on an ongoing basis via our Operating Plan; and make the results available to our external stakeholders by the publishing of an Annual Report.

We will undertake a continuous programme of customer feedback surveys and report our findings in our Annual Report.

We will operate a comprehensive budgeting system with an annual budget. We will live within the budget allocated by MoJ, which incorporates a 5% year on year efficiency saving set by MoJ.

We will maintain a system of risk management; identifying, evaluating and controlling risks, and recording the process in the form of a risk register, which is monitored by MoJ on a regular basis.