Complaining about barristers/solicitors and conduct of judges.
 |
||
| This section deals with complaining
about barristers/solicitors and conduct of judges. Please Note: The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) is a former government department. The Ministry of Justice took over all the previous responsibilities of the DCA on 9th May 2007. Any links below can be used to access the DCA website, which is now an archive. Ministry of Justice 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Phone number 020 3334 3555 Fax 020 3334 4455 Email address general.queries@justice.gsi.gov.uk Website (opens new window) Ministry of Justice Some pages/links included on the Fassit UK site are in PDF format. Download the Free Acrobat Reader 1. Making a complaint about a judge In England and Wales The Lord Chancellor has overall responsibility for the behaviour or conduct of judges and judicial office holders. He is able to guide, counsel, advise or rebuke judges. In the most serious cases, he has the power to dismiss a circuit or district judge and other full and part-time judicial officers. This power would be exercised only with the agreement of the Lord Chief Justice. Judges of the High Court and levels above can only be removed by The Queen after a request from both Houses of Parliament. If you have evidence to support a complaint about the personal conduct of a judge or other judicial office holder in England and Wales, for example about their language or behaviour you must:- Visit the Office for Judicial Complaints website where you can submit a Complaint Online. Website How will the complaint be handled? What will happen when OJC receives your complaint about a judge's personal conduct? 1. Your complaint should be acknowledged within two working days. If you apply online you should receive an acknowledgement shortly after you submit it. 2. Your complaint will be allocated to a named caseworker who will write to you within 15 working days. 3. If your complaint is not about personal conduct we will tell you why OJC cannot help you. Where appropriate, we will tell you about other organisations that might be able to assist. 4. If we can deal with your complaint, we will write to you summarising what we think the issues are and how we intend to take your complaint further. Sometimes we will ask for further details about the complaint to help us decide whether we can investigate. It is important to note that OJC caseworkers cannot investigate criminal offences. If you think that a criminal offence has been committed by a judge you should inform the police so they can decide if it can be investigated further. A criminal conviction, following a police or other prosecuting body’s investigation, would then be a matter of personal misconduct which the OJC would be able to refer to the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor. 5. If the complaint requires further investigation by the OJC, or appears to be a matter requiring a disciplinary sanction, we will then; •listen to the audio recording of the hearing; •request comments from the Judge; and •ask you, or others who may have witnessed the incident, for further evidence. 6. In some cases it may be necessary to ask a senior judge to carry out an investigation into what has happened (Investigating Judge) or consult a senior judge for their view about whether the behaviour is appropriate for a judge (Nominated Judge). Investigating and Nominated Judges are appointed by the Lord Chief Justice with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor and carry out this role in addition to their day to day judicial role. If they find the complaint is justified, a report will be sent jointly to the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor. If the complaint is not considered to be justified, then your caseworker will write to you telling you why the complaint was dismissed. 7. Your caseworker should send you written updates about the progress of your complaint every four weeks. We aim to complete investigations within ninety days. However, it can take longer if an investigation or Review Body is required. 8. If the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice uphold your complaint, they will consider what disciplinary action, if any, is appropriate. The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice have the power to advise, warn reprimand or remove a judge for misconduct. A complaint upheld by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice will not alter the findings or any aspect of a court case. 9. The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice will not normally pay compensation for losses arising from actions by judges. They may consider making an ex-gratia payment, but only in the most exceptional cases where actual loss has arisen as a result of personal misconduct. 10. Where the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice decide to take formal disciplinary action, the judicial office holder has a right to request that his or her case be referred to a 'Review Body'. 11. Each Review Body consists of four members, two judicial office holders and two non-judicial members (lay people) chosen from a panel appointed for this purpose. At this stage, the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice must accept any findings of fact made by the Review Body. They cannot impose a disciplinary sanction on the judicial office-holder that is more severe than that recommended by the Review Body. 12. All complaints are handled in accordance with The Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) (Amended) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/2098), which should be read in conjunction with, The Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/676). 2.Complaints about magistrates or tribunal members There are separate procedures for complaints against magistrates or tribunal members. Complaints against magistrates should initially be taken to the local advisory committee. You can find further information on the magistrates' association website. If your complaint is about a tribunal member you should write to the head of the tribunal, who may be called the president. For large tribunals the address for complaints may be available from the relevant website or you should contact the local office. There is a list of tribunals websites on the tribunals service website. 3. This Section deals with complaining about a Solicitor Solicitors code of conduct (full) PDF LEGAL COMPLAINTS This Section deals with complaining about a solicitor Making a complaint about a solicitor If you would like to complain about your solicitor’s standards of service, professional misconduct or high billing you should first raise your complaint with them. You don't have to complain in writing – you could phone (make sure you get the name of the person you speak to) or make an appointment to visit the solicitor. If you want to complain in writing we have a form (called the resolution form) to help you do this – available from The Law Society Helpline (0845 608 6565) or most Citizens Advice Bureaux. If you don't receive a detailed reply from your solicitor within a reasonable time (approx. 28 days) or you are not happy with the solicitor's response you need to write to The Law Society, sending details of your complaint. You must ensure you contact them within six months of the end of the work which the solicitor did for you, or within six months of the solicitors final response to you your complaint, whichever is later. The Law Society is responsible for setting the rules for professional conduct for solicitors and monitoring them to make sure they comply with the rules. They deal with complaints against solicitors by investigating and if necessary disciplining them. You can contact the law society (England & Wales) complaints dept. through the following direct link: Law society complaints Law society for England and Wales 113 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1PL Tel: 0207 2421222 Contact Website For Scotland you must contact: Law Society of Scotland 26 Drumsheugh Gardens Edinburgh EH3 7YR Tel: 0131 226 7411 Fax: 0131 225 2934 Contact Website For Northern Ireland you must contact:- Law Society of Northern Ireland 98 Victoria St Belfast BT1 3JZ Tel +44 (0)28 90 231614 Fax +44 (0)28 90 232606 Contact Website THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN If you feel the Law Society has not upheld your complaint properly you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman. They oversee the handling of complaints about solicitors. ENGLAND AND WALES The Legal Services Ombudsman oversees the handling of complaints about lawyers in England and Wales. Website SCOTLAND The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) receives all complaints about legal practitioners in Scotland. Website NORTHERN IRELAND The Lay Observer The Lay Observer receives and examines guidelines about the complaints process operated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland and about the way the Client Complaints Committee in the Law Society handles complaints about solicitors. Website 3. This Section deals with complaining about a Barrister The Bar Council will look into complaints about any aspect of a barrister's professional work. If the Bar Council decides that you have a case for complaint, it has to decide how serious it is and whether it involves professional misconduct or inadequate professional service or both. Normally you must complain to the Bar Council within 6 months of the complaint arising. They will only look at complaints which arrive later than that date if they are particularly serious or if there is a good reason for the delay. There is no charge for the complaints service. Contact Website PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT Professional misconduct is a serious error or misbehaviour by a barrister which may well involve some element of dishonesty or serious incompetence. It might include: -misleading the court failure to keep your affairs confidential -leaving a case without good reason at short notice -acting against a client's instructions or best interests Depending on how serious it is, the Bar Council has a number of penalties which range from simply giving advice to disbarring the barrister (i.e. so that he or she ceases to be a barrister) and include suspension for a period of time, a fine or an order to repay fees. INADEQUATE PROFESSIONAL SERVICE This is defined as service towards the client falling significantly below that which would normally be expected of a barrister. It is not as serious as misconduct but may well have caused significant concern or inconvenience to a client such as: delay in dealing with papers poor or inadequate work on a case serious rudeness to the client The Bar Council can require a barrister to apologise to a client, to repay fees or to pay compensation of up to £5000. They can only do this if the complainant is the barrister's client. They can deal with a barrister for both misconduct and inadequate professional service in respect of the same complaint. We hope this page as been of some help to you. |
||
|
Go Back |
||