Potential Complaint Outcomes

Complaints against lawyers may be originated by third parties (typically clients, other lawyers or opposing parties) or by the Law Society itself. For information about how to make a complaint, please visit Making a Complaint.

Complaints are received by Law Society Professional Responsibility Counsel, who investigate the matter to determine under which category the concern falls: ethics, professional standards, or conduct that might require discipline. If the matter raises valid concerns regarding a lawyer, Professional Responsibility Counsel may recommend one of the following courses of action:

• That the matter be referred to the Ethics Committee for review with a view to providing guidance to the profession (typically done with matters that are novel or fall into a grey area).
• That the matter be referred to the Competency Committee with a view to addressing practice management issues that may have led to the complaint.
• That the matter be referred to the Conduct Investigation Committee for a discipline response.