Investigating Complaints

We will carry out an investigation into your complaint when:

• we cannot help resolve your complaint about legal services or costs through informal resolution
  or
• your complaint relates to conduct or behaviour (misconduct)

You can watch a video on our investigation process below.

If your complaint relates to alleged misconduct, it will be investigated by the Complaints Committee. If your complaint is about inadequate legal services or excessive costs, it will be investigated by our Complaints Resolution Officers. At the end of our investigation, we will make a decision on your complaint.

After our investigation, we will decide to:

• Uphold your complaint, in full or in part.
• Not uphold your complaint.
• Refer your complaint to a separate disciplinary tribunal for investigation (the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal – see more information below).

If your complaint is upheld
If we uphold your complaint about legal services or costs, we can sanction the solicitor or barrister and direct them take certain actions to rectify the issue. For example, we may direct the solicitor or barrister to:

• correct your legal work;
• transfer your legal documents;
• refund or reduce your legal bill;
• pay compensation to you of up to €5,000 for any financial or other loss you have suffered.

Review of decision on your complaint
If you believe our determination about a complaint of inadequate legal services or excessive costs was wrong or unfair, you can request a review of the decision by the Review Committee. The solicitor or barrister that you have complained about can also request a review by the Review Committee. Read more about the the Review Committee and its members here: Review Committee.

You cannot ask for a review of a decision of the Complaints Committee in a complaint about alleged misconduct. You can read more about the Complaints Committee and its members here: Complaints Committee.

If your complaint is referred to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal

If your complaint is about conduct or behaviour (misconduct), the Complaints Committee may refer it to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal for an inquiry. The Disciplinary Tribunal is a separate organisation to the LSRA. It can make findings of misconduct against a solicitor or barrister.

The Tribunal has the power to sanction a solicitor or barrister and also to order them to take certain actions. It can also recommend that a solicitor or barrister be sanctioned by the President of the High Court.

For more information see: www.lpdt.ie

If the Disciplinary Tribunal finds a solicitor or barrister guilty of misconduct, it can impose a range of sanctions. The finding(s) and sanction(s) imposed on the legal practitioner are published on the Disciplinary Tribunal’s website here.

These outcomes are also published in the monthly Law Society of Ireland’s Gazette magazine.

The LSRA’s Publication Policy for Findings and Sanctions for Misconduct

The LSRA has a statutory obligation, under section 88 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, to arrange for the publication of certain Disciplinary Tribunal determinations, High Court Orders and decisions on appeal.

The Authority has developed a publication policy that is linked to the severity of sanction imposed. This policy provides for the ongoing publication of the most serious sanctions and the publication of less serious findings and related sanctions for specified periods of time.

The LSRA’s publication policy for these notices is as follows:

• Where an order includes a sanction to strike a legal practitioner’s name off the roll of solicitors or the roll of practising barristers, the notice will remain published indefinitely.
  • Where an order includes a sanction to suspend a legal practitioner from practising as a legal practitioner, the notice will be published for the duration of the period of suspension or three years, whichever is the longer.
  • Where an order includes a sanction to impose a condition or conditions on a legal practitioner, the notice will be published for a period of three years, or the duration of time specified in the order, whichever is the longer.
  • Other notices relating to misconduct will be published for a period of three years.

Our Complaints Information Guide ‘What to Expect When You Make a Complaint‘ has details of what happens when we get your complaint, what we can do and what you can expect from us.

Our Complaints Information Guide ‘Your Right to Review our Decision‘ explains when you can ask for a review of our decision on your complaint and what you can expect from the review process.