The Investigation Process
Once your
conduct complaint has been received it shall be reviewed by the Professional
Conduct team to determine whether same can be registered for investigation.
If your complaint
is not registered you will be contacted and advised of the reasons why the Law
Society cannot assist i.e., if there are live proceedings before the Court or
the issues that you raise are not matters for the Law Society to consider.
Where the
complaint is registered for investigation, it shall be assigned to a Caseworker,
and you will receive the Society’s triage letter confirming that a complaint has
been commenced. This will usually result in the conduct complaint form and
accompanying documents, you have provided, being shared with the solicitor for
their comment.
Upon
receipt of the solicitor’s reply, the relevant Caseworker may need to raise
further enquiries with you prior to progressing the matter to the Professional
Conduct Committee (“the Committee”) for determination. There may, however, be instances where the
matter does not need to be referred to the Committee for consideration i.e.,
the complaint has been resolved or subsequently withdrawn.
A Caseworker
will, where appropriate, keep you updated of the progress of the complaint.
Depending
on the nature of the complaint the Law Society may have to take specific
regulatory action which they are unable to disclose to you in the first
instance.
Where the Committee consider the complaint both
you and the relevant solicitor will be provided with a letter advising of the
determination of the Committee. There may, however, be times where the Law
Society can provide only limited information regarding the regulatory and/or
any other action that is being taken.
The
Committee may:
(1) make further enquiries
(2) uphold the complaint
(3) not
uphold the complaint
(4) issue a warning letter to the solicitor or
(5) make a
referral to the independent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the PSNI or other
statutory Agencies.
The
Committee are unable to review their decision in the absence of any change in
circumstance or where there is no new and material evidence relevant to the
complaint.
While the
Law Society aims to conclude complaint investigations within 26 weeks there may
be instances where this timeline cannot be adhered to.