Manzoor to Government: 'Put consumer first'

The Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales, Zahida Manzoor, has called on the Government to make the consumer its first priority when the new Legal Services Bill comes into force.

In her annual report published today (19 June), Manzoor urged Whitehall to demonstrate how and why the new system will be an improvement for consumers over the current mechanisms for complaints-handling in the legal profession.

She also expressed concern that recent amendments introduced by the House of Lords could mean a watering-down of the powers handed to the Government's new over-arching regulator, the Legal Services Board - one of the key planks of the Bill.

Manzoor slammed the complaints-handling record of the Law Society, finding that 32% of cases reviewed received unsatisfactory service, prompting her to describe Chancery Lane as "well short of where a modern, customer-focused organisation should be".

However, Manzoor heaped praise on the Bar Standards Board (BSB), which oversees 15,000 barristers in England and Wales, commending its "strong performance" handling complaints against barristers.

Welcoming the report, BSB chair Ruth Evans said: "Providing an efficient and fair complaints and disciplinary system is one of our fundamental objectives and today's report will reassure both clients and the profession that they can be confident in the service we provide."

She added: "Today's report will give the [House of] Commons the independent evidence that our system works well and that the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater in the rush to sort out the problems with complaints against solicitors."

The news comes as the BSB braces itself for the Bar Complaints Commissioner's report into its performance and disciplinary processes, due to be published on 3 July.

In a further finding, Manzoor's report revealed the average compensation payout for unsatisfactory service was £411 per claim between April 2006 and March 2007.