UK Has a New Lawyer-Complaints Czar: The Legal Ombudsman
In an effort to streamline complaints about lawyers that used to be made to four different agencies and eliminate the appearance of bias in favor of the legal profession that was created by putting attorneys in charge of disciplining other attorneys, the United Kingdom has rolled out out a new method of handling such complaints—an ombudsman.
Hired to head the new office created under the Legal Services Act, Adam Sampson is now the official lawyer-complaints czar for England and Wales, assisted by a staff of sub-ombudsmen that includes a number of lawyers, according to the Guardian and the Legal Ombudsman website for the office.
In Sampson’s first day on the job yesterday, the office fielded nearly 500 calls and e-mails and it is expected to get about 100,000 complaints annually.
“We are hoping to resolve the majority in an informal manner and to do things quickly,” Sampson tells the British newspaper.
