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What
to do if you have a complaint against a lawyer
If
you have a complaint against a lawyer, you should write to the Executive
Director of the Law Society, briefly setting out the nature of your
complaint. Please limit your letter to 2 pages and if we require
further information, we will contact you.
We
will then write to the lawyer concerned, requesting his comments
on the complaint. We will request a response within 7 days. If a
response is not received, a reminder will be sent with a further
request that they respond within 7 days. If we do not receive a
response, your complaint will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee
to consider.
If
a response is received, a copy will be sent to you for your comments
and it will be reviewed by the Society. If it is a matter which
raises issues of professional conduct, it will be referred to the
Disciplinary Committee.
Discipline
The
Society has a Disciplinary Committee which consists of the Solicitor
General and two other Society members. It will inquire into the
conduct of legal practitioners either at the request of the High
Court, or on a complaint made by members of the public which indicates
that the legal practitioner has done one of the following acts:
-
taken legal instructions in any cause or matter from someone
other than yourself;
- is
guilty of fraudulent or improper conduct in the discharge of
his professional duty or has misled the Court, or allowed it
to be misled in such manner as to cause the Court to make an
order which he knew or ought to have known to be wrong and improper;
- has
made or agreed to make any payment or has consented to the retention
of the whole or any part of any fee paid or payable to him for
his services, in consideration of any person procuring or having
procured the employment, in any legal business, of himself or
any other legal practitioner;
- has
directly or indirectly procured or attempted to procure the
employment of himself as a legal practitioner through or by
the intervention of any person to whom any remuneration for
obtaining such employment has been given by him, or agreed or
promised to be so given;
- has,
without previous written consent from the Law Society, made
charges for professional services other than those which have
been prescribed;
- has
been adjudicated bankrupt;
- has
practised for one month after having been warned in writing
by the Registrar that he has no annual licence to practise;
- has
been convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment for
a term of twelve months or more;
- has
been guilty of conduct tending to bring the profession of law
into disrepute; or
- has
failed to comply with any of the provisions of the Legal Education
and Legal Practitioners Act or of any subsidiary laws governing
the Law Society and lawyers.
What
happens if a lawyer is found to have committed one of the above
acts?
The
High Court may suspend, strike off the Roll, or admonish a lawyer
found to have committed one of the above acts.
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