Society looks for solicitor comments on SLCC levy proposals

Scottish solicitors' views on the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission's draft budget, levy and operating plan for 2016-17 are being canvassed by the Law Society of Scotland as it prepares its own response to the proposals.

The SLCC has proposed a 6.8% increase to its overall operating budget, which would be partially absorbed using its reserves, an increase in the general levy from £312 to £316 for private solicitors and an unchanged rate of £95 for in-house practitioners.

In a separate consultation running at the same time, it is asking for views on a revised strategy with new complaints procedures, to which the Society is also intending to respond.

Chief executive Lorna Jack commented: “We’re keen to see continued efforts made by the SLCC to deal with complaints effectively, keeping a firm focus on its statutory purpose. It will be interesting to see how the organisation is proposing to develop in the longer term to ensure that it can meet those obligations.

“We are committed to ensuring that we have a robust regulatory system to ensure that solicitors meet the standards required of them and that effective action can be taken where these standards are not met. We depend on the SLCC to support us in that.

“We will be examining the proposals in the SLCC annual plan, including the proposed increased costs, and its newly published four-year strategy in further detail. It will be essential that the SLCC focuses on its core role as the gateway for all complaints against legal practitioners, deals with complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible and investigates service issues as a priority. This is what the SLCC was established by the Scottish Parliament to do."

Solicitors are asked to send their comments to the Society by 5pm on Wednesday 17 February at: slcclevy@lawscot.org.uk.

This month's Journal will lead with a feature on the strategy proposals.