Society needs to shorten conduct investigations: SLCC
Action to reduce the time taken by the Law Society of Scotland to investigate conduct complaints has been recommended by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, in a report produced under its oversight function.
The report follows an investigation in which data analysis showed that the majority of complaints investigations take longer than the Society’s published average timescale of "about 12 months" to complete.
Complaints raising issues of possible professional misconduct are referred to the Society by the SLCC. The analysis showed that of the 295 investigations open as at 31 March 2022, 40% had been open for more than 12 months, and 25% for more than 21 months. Of 497 closed complaints sent since 2017, the average time taken was 15.9 months and the median time 14.4 months.
The report concludes that delays in the investigation of conduct complaints carry a number of risks, including public protection issues associated with solicitors continuing to practise while under investigation, and complainers concluding that their complaint is not being taken seriously, which may impact public confidence in the complaints process.
Although progress had been impacted by Covid restrictions, the Society accepted that further steps were needed to reduce the timescales, focusing on improvements at the recommendation stage where most delay occurs, including through increased resourcing for the Professional Conduct team.
Recognising the Society's "positive engagement on this issue", the SLCC has made three statutory recommendations for improvement;
- set a realistic and achievable target timescale for the completion of conduct investigations as a key performance indicator (KPI);
- improve the transparency of communications with both complainers and solicitors on the timescales for the completion of investigations and on the progress of investigations; and
- create a plan of action to achieve the new key performance indicator, detailing how and when the improvements outlined in the Society's response to the SLCC's reports will be achieved.
Sarah Hamer, oversight and assurance manager at the SLCC, commented: "The SLCC’s independent oversight of the professional bodies’ conduct complaints processes forms a core part of the regulatory system for legal services in Scotland. By analysing trends in complaint handling we aim to drive improvement and ultimately to promote public confidence in the regulation of legal services."
Discussions with the Society had been "constructive and productive and we thank the Society for their time and co-operation with this work".
She added: "The Society has already confirmed its commitment to reducing the time taken to investigate complaints. That is very welcome, and we look forward to seeing the Society’s response to our recommendations, and to the impact on its complaint timescales in due course."
Responding to the report, David Gordon, convener of the Society’s Regulatory Committee, said: "We are committed to reducing the time taken to investigate and process conduct complaints. We have already introduced changes that have led to improvements and we continue to monitor their impact.
"However, it’s widely accepted that the current complaints system just does not work. It is too slow and too complicated. Much of this is down to the constraints imposed by the current legislation, some of which is over 40 years old."
He added: "Publication of the SLCC report today further underlines how the Scottish Government’s upcoming bill must overhaul the complicated and bureaucratic processes so complaints can be dealt with and action taken much more quickly."