The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

appointed by the Scottish Ministers responsible for overseeing the internal complaints procedures of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constit ...

and the

Law Society of Scotland The Law Society of Scotland is the professional governing body for Scottish solicitors. It promotes excellence among solicitors through the support and regulation of its members. It also promotes the interests of the public in relation to the ...

but with considerable constraints on their investigatory remit. It was replaced by the

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) ( gd, Coimisean Ghearanan Laghail na h-Alba) is a non-departmental public body responsible dealing with unresolved complaints against legal practitioners operating in Scotland. It was established un ...

in 2008 The legal profession in Scotland is essentially self-regulating with solicitors licensed by, members of, and responsible to the Law Society of Scotland, with Advocates having the same relationship with the Faculty of Advocates. The Ombudsman was theoretically independent from the legal professions and the Scottish Executive; (but see below) the Ombudsman's findings and recommendations were not reviewed by Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Executive. All allegations of criminal activities of Scottish lawyers are handled by the

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the ...

, the public prosecution service for Scotland headed by the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...

. The organisation

Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

did not believe the system provided by the Ombudsman gave sufficient independent scrutiny of the legal profession. The concerns however were held more broadly than this, with some observers fearing the Ombudsman had shown repeated bias in favour of the legal establishment when considering complaints.

Decisions

The Ombudsman decided: *if the professional body has given each complaint proper attention; *if it has taken appropriate action on the basis of a fair and thorough examination of all the evidence; *if it has acted reasonably, impartially and effectively.

References

External links

Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman
Defunct organisations based in the United Kingdom Defunct organisations based in Scotland 2008 disestablishments in Scotland {{Scotland-org-stub