Lawyers have been told to pay out over €470,000 in compensation and refunds since the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) began handling complaints five years ago, a new report reveals.
The LSRA today published its second bi-annual complaints report of 2024 and the 10th since the LSRA took over the receipt and investigation of complaints about solicitors and barristers on 7 October 2019.
Almost one in four of all closed complaints over the past five years were successfully resolved by the parties.
The LSRA receives and investigates complaints about inadequate legal services, excessive costs (overcharging) and misconduct.
A total of 7,091 complaints were received between October 2019 and October 2024, with 5,724 complaints closed. Of complaints received, 6,857 were made about solicitors and 234 about barristers.
During this time, the LSRA directed legal practitioners to pay a total of €256,996 in compensation to their clients arising out of complaints. It also directed legal practitioners to refund or waive a total of €213,479 in professional fees.
In addition, a total of €354,020 in unpaid barristers’ fees were recovered following complaints made to the LSRA by barristers about solicitors.
More than six in 10 (61 per cent) of complaints received over the five-year period were about alleged misconduct, while 28 per cent related to legal services of an inadequate standard and five per cent were of excessive costs (overcharging). Six per cent were a combination of these categories.
Of the 5,724 complaints closed in the five year period, 47 per cent were inadmissible, 23 per cent were resolved, five per cent were upheld and seven per cent were not upheld.
A total of 98 complaints of alleged misconduct — two per cent of the total — were referred by the LSRA to the separate Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal which, unlike the LSRA, can make findings of misconduct.
Some 16 per cent of complaints were withdrawn, deferred or closed for other reasons.
Chief executive Dr Brian Doherty said: “The LSRA this month marks five years of our independent complaints handling. During this time we received 7,091 complaints and closed 5,724.
“A welcome trend that we document in today’s report is the fact that almost one in four of all complaints closed in the past five years were resolved between the parties with the assistance of the LSRA.
“The successful early resolution of complaints is something we have repeatedly championed and it is heartening to see that such a significant number of complainants and legal practitioners have taken this message on board.
“For consumer complaints about poor services or overcharging, it is very often a much more satisfactory and speedy outcome that means both parties to the complaint do not have to go through the investigative process with their complaint being determined by the LSRA and either upheld with a sanction or not upheld.
“Legal practitioners and complainants alike who adopt a flexible and positive approach to complaints resolution both stand to benefit.”
He added: “Enforcement actions taken by the LSRA due to the failure of legal practitioners to comply with directions and determinations made following the investigation of complaints have increasingly been a feature of our work since we took our first High Court proceedings in 2022.
“It is of significant concern that the LSRA has to date been forced to apply to the High Court and been granted a total of 19 enforcement orders under section 90 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
“Such actions should be unnecessary and the failure of legal practitioners to comply with the directions of their regulator only creates unnecessary work, serves to slow down the complaints process, and creates additional and unnecessary costs which are ultimately passed on to all legal practitioners through the LSRA’s annual levy on the legal professions.
“The LSRA once again urges all legal practitioners to be mindful of their professional responsibility to engage with the complaints process and to comply with any determinations and directions made.”
