Dr. Brian Doherty:

The balance of complaints relate to misconduct. Only a client of a legal practitioner can make a complaint of inadequate services or excessive costs. This makes sense because they are the person receiving the services, but anyone can make a complaint in respect of misconduct. There is also a three-year time limit for bringing a complaint of inadequate service or excessive costs, but there is no time limit in the context of bringing forward a complaint of misconduct. Because the definition is so broad, many complaints that do not fall into the first two categories would fall into the misconduct category. Approximately 65% or two thirds of complaints relate to misconduct and a third relate to inadequate legal services. It has been falling over the past couple of years, but around 3% to 5% relate to costs.