Legal Ombudsman heads towards opening


Birmingham HQ: close to the LCS in Leamington Spa, but not too close

The Legal Ombudsman – the operating name of the Office for Legal Complaints – has officially opened its new home in central Birmingham and announced its first wave of recruitment for more than 300 workers.

Justice minister Bridget Prentice cut the ribbon at the new office in the city centre on 25 March in front of representatives from Birmingham City Council and local organisations. They were joined by members of the legal profession, legal professional bodies and consumer groups.

It is charged with beginning to accept complaints before the end of 2010 (it will only take on new complaints – the existing complaints bodies will be wound down as they dispose of their caseload), although Legal Futures has previously been told that the intention is for the ombudsman to open from 1 October. 

The ombudsman is based at the recently refurbished Baskerville House, in Centenary Square, where offices are now being fitted out for between 300 and 350 staff.

In late February, the Law Society failed in its legal bid to have Legal Complaints Service (LCS) staff in Leamington Spa transferred over automatically to the Legal Ombudsman.

The complaints body has been moved away from Leamington to ensure that it does not look like a repackaged version of the LCS, while there have also been concerns for some time that the LCS has virtually exhausted the pool of candidates in the local job market.

Tags:




    Readers Comments

  • Brian Rogers says:

    Please could someone tell me what the profession is supposed to call the Office for Legal Complaints on a day-to-day basis as it is unclear from the articles I have read; is it:

    The OLC
    The Legal Ombudsman
    The LeO
    Something else

    Thank you


Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


GEO – the impact of AI on digital marketing for law firms

GEO represents the biggest change in online business generation that I can remember. You cannot afford to stick with the same old engine optimisation techniques.


What the law can learn from fintech’s onboarding revolution

Client onboarding has always been slow. It’s not just about the paperwork and manual workflows; it’s also about those long AML checks and verifications.


Civil enforcement – progress at last with CJC report

‘When do I get my money?’ is a question that litigators acting for successful parties are used to fielding. The value of judgments is of course in the recovery made.


Loading animation