THE handling of the public’s complaints against solicitors has been a story of incompetence and failure that has prompted a radically different regulatory framework for the legal profession.

The Law Society’s record over two decades had brought it constant criticism and widespread dissatisfaction from aggrieved clients, who saw its efforts as more protectionist than in the interest of consumers.

The handling of the miners’ compensation claims added fuel to public anger over the way the society deals with its rogue members. The society estimates that there could be as many as 150,000 cases where solicitors improperly deducted “handling” or “referral” fees from the miners’ compensation payments.

But only 1,200 cases have been dealt with so far, and illegal payments returned, because without a complaint from the miners involved, the society insists it cannot act.

The advent in the past ten years of “no win, no fee” deals has also spawned an industry in which lawyers and insurers end up litigating over fees that can be charged and accident victims are sidelined. The deal allows solicitors to charge up to double their fees if they take on a claim and win.

Yet while widening access to justice for claimants, it also spawned the rise of claims- handling companies that take a slice of accident victims’ winnings to cut deals with insurers. The practices of ambulance-chasing claims companies, including some law firms, has also cast the profession in a bad light.

To stem complaints the society introduced reforms. But government intervention could not be staved off and ministers pledged to set up an independent body to deal with all legal complaints. Now ministers are creating a legal services board to oversee the way lawyers regulate themselves. The measures, in the Legal Services Bill, would leave the Bar and Law Society as frontline regulators.

It has had one good effect: the Law Society and Bar split their functions, hiving off regulation to outside bodies.

Separately, the Compensation Act created a regulatory board for claims-handling companies, which, by April, must be licensed.

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