Legal practitioners must comply with directions of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority on foot of consumer complaints or risk being brought to the High Court, the complaints body has warned in its 2022 Annual Report.

The report published this morning shows that the LSRA received a total of 1,352 complaints and closed a total of 1,483 complaints in 2022, the third full year that it has operated as the independent complaints handling body for complaints about solicitors and barristers.

The Annual Report 2022 provides a county by county breakdown of complaints received during the year based on the business locations of the legal practitioners against whom complaints were brought.

The LSRA began receiving and investigating complaints on 7th October 2019. Highlights in the LSRA Annual Report 2022 include:

More Complaints Closed than Opened in 2022

  • The LSRA’s Complaints, Resolutions and Investigations Department received a total of 1,352 complaints during the year, down 15% from 1,599 in 2021.
  • The largest category of complaints received, at 861 (64%), related to alleged misconduct. A total of 433 (32%) were about inadequate standards of legal services, and a further 58 (4%) were about excessive costs.
  • A total of 1,310 complaints were made against solicitors while 42 related to barristers, reflecting the higher number of solicitors and their greater level of contact with consumers.
  • Out of the total of 1,352 complaints, 504 (37%) were made against legal practitioners based in Dublin city and county, while 151 (11%) were brought against legal practitioners based in Cork, 67 (5%) were in Limerick and 60 (4%) were in Galway. Multiple complaints may be brought against an individual legal practitioner.
  • A total of 1,483 complaints were closed during 2022. Of these, 677 (46%) were found to be inadmissible following a statutory assessment. A further 348 complaints were resolved with the assistance of the LSRA, and 212 were withdrawn or could not proceed.
  • The LSRA issued seven applications to the High Court for orders to enforce its directions against legal practitioners.
  • The LSRA received a total of 2,925 phone calls and e-mails in the year requesting information and/or complaint forms.

 Steady Increase in Limited Liability Partnerships in 2022

  • The number of partnerships of solicitors seeking authorisation from the LSRA to operate as Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) grew at a steady pace in 2022, with a total of 82 LLPs authorised during the year. This brought the total number of LLPs authorised since November 2019 to 424 at the end of 2022, up from 364 at the end of 2021.
  • A total of 40 LLPs were authorised in county Dublin, with nine in Cork, seven in Galway and four in Tipperary.
  • The vast majority of partnerships of solicitors (73) authorised as LLPs had between two and five partners. A total of four solicitors’ partnerships authorised as LLPs had more than 25 partners.
  • Authorisation to operate with limited liability permits existing partnerships of solicitors to limit their personal liability. For example, their personal assets are protected from the negligence of other partners in the LLP.

Increase in Numbers on Roll of Practising Barristers in 2022

  • The LSRA maintains the Roll of Practising Barristers, a searchable online register of all barristers entitled to provide legal services in the State which was established on 28th December 2018. The Roll of Practising Barristers is an important tool which allows members of the public to be assured that the barrister providing legal services on their behalf is lawfully entitled to do so.
  • A total of 2,957 barristers were on the Roll of Practising Barristers on 31st December 2022. This is an increase of 24 on the previous year. Of these, 2,173 were members of the Law Library and 784 were practising outside of the Law Library.


LSRA Chief Executive, Dr Brian Doherty, said he was pleased to report that for the first year since the LSRA began receiving and investigating complaints against legal practitioners, more complaints were closed than were received in 2022.

Dr Doherty also advised all legal practitioners to comply with the LSRA’s directions or face legal action. He said:  “In 2022, due to the failure of a small number of legal practitioners to comply with directions made following the investigation of a complaint, the LSRA began applying to the High Court for enforcement orders. Where a direction has been made by the LSRA or one of its committees and the legal practitioner fails to comply within the required timeline, the LSRA will apply to the High Court for enforcement and will also seek an order for costs.

“Such action should not be necessary as every legal practitioner should comply with the directions of the regulator. Failure to do so creates unnecessary work, which slows down the system and also creates additional costs which are passed on to all legal practitioners through the annual levy collected by the LSRA to fund its operations.”

The LSRA’s Annual Report is available here: LSRA Annual Report 2022 English and Irish (pdf)

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