New Zealand Law Society - How the complaints process works
When you make a complaint, you will be asked to provide:
The Lawyers Complaints Service (LCS) facilitates the administration of the complaints process by:
We may try to help you and the lawyer, or the law firm, to resolve the complaint where it is appropriate to do so.
The LCS is not the decision maker on complaints. Decisions on complaints are made by Standards Committees which are established under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006.
Standards Committees
There are 22 Standards Committees based around New Zealand that consider complaints and make decisions on them. Standards Committees are made up of lawyers and lay people from within the community.
A Standards Committee will consider the complaint, check whether the conduct, service or fee concerns are supported by appropriate documentation, and decide whether any disciplinary action is warranted.
You will receive acknowledgment of receipt of your complaint by email or over the phone.
Your complaint and any supporting material will be assessed to make sure it meets the requirements to be accepted. You will be contacted if we need anything further from you. Otherwise, you will not hear from us until later in the process.
During the initial assessment, we will also consider whether we can help you resolve the complaint upfront without it needing to go further. This may involve talking to you about what you consider to be a suitable outcome, contacting the lawyer on your behalf to explain your view and asking whether they would be willing to consider resolving the complaint.
We will notify the person or firm you complained about and provide them with a copy of the complaint. When we notify the person or firm, we will let them know that they can provide a response to the complaint. They may contact you directly to try and resolve the complaint once they have been notified of it. If it is resolved, you will need to let us know.
Sometimes we will ask a lawyer, firm or employee to respond to the complaint and provide their view on what happened. If they do, their response will be included with the complaint material when it is considered by a Standards Committee.
If the person or firm you have complained about expresses a willingness to resolve the complaint with you as part of their response, the LCS will consider whether this is appropriate and contact you.
If your complaint is unable to be resolved via our Early Resolution Service, it will be allocated to a Standards Committee for consideration.
Each Standards Committee is able to consider complaints from any area of law and about any conduct, service or fee issue. However, sometimes the type of complaint you have made will determine which Standards Committee it is allocated to. The LCS has Standards Committees which can specifically consider:
You will be contacted if the Standards Committee considering your complaint needs further information from you.
Standards Committees meet at different frequencies. When your complaint is to be considered, the Standards Committee will look at all the information you have provided. It may:
For complaints about fees, see how Standards Committees assess complaints about fees.
Once a decision has been made on your complaint, you will receive a copy of a written decision as soon as practicable. The decision will explain the Standards Committee’s reasons for its conclusions on the key aspects of your complaint.
Standards Committee decisions are confidential to the parties involved.
Neither the lawyer nor the complainant can share the decision of a Standards Committee with anyone else unless the Standards Committee directs it. See possible complaint outcomes.
If you do not agree with the decision of the Standards Committee, you have 30 working days from receiving a copy of the decision to apply for a review to the Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO). The LCRO sits within the Ministry of Justice and is independent of the LCS and Standards Committees. Find out more about what happens next when the LCRO receives your application.
If you wish to make a complaint about the LCS or have concerns about how your complaint was processed, our complaints handling policy explains how you can do this.
How long does it take?
Timeframes for processing complaints vary depending on the type of conduct complained about, complexity of the complaint, and the process the Standards Committee chooses to follow. We aim to compete the majority of complaints within six months.
If you need an update on your complaint, you can contact the LCS on 0800 261 801 or complaints@lawsociety.org.nz
Please be available for questions and to provide further information, if needed. When additional information is not needed but you’d like to provide extra material, please talk to us about it first.
We will update you as your complaint moves through the key stages, such as being received and allocated to a Standards Committee, or if further information is needed or a decision has been made. Please also update us if your complaint has been resolved or if you no longer wish to continue with it.
Different stages of the complaint can take different amounts of time so do not worry if you have not heard anything from us for a while.
Lawyers cannot take action to collect any unpaid fees while a complaint is in progress. However, they may charge interest on any unpaid balances while the complaint is processed.
To avoid interest, you may choose to pay the fees in full before the due date. You can still make a complaint even if you have already paid. If the fees are determined to be unfair or unreasonable, the lawyer may be required to fully or partially refund you.
The LCS cannot suspend a lawyer while a complaint against them is in process so they are still able to practise. The Disciplinary Tribunal can make an interim suspension order, but only after a Standards Committee has determined that the matter should be referred to the Disciplinary Tribunal.
¹Possible reasons why a Standards Committee may decline to accept your complaint:
The complainant doesn't have the necessary authority to make the complaint on someone's behalf.
The Standards Committee doesn’t consider it has the jurisdiction to consider it i.e., the lawyer they are being asked to consider isn't named by the complainant in the complaint material.