Guide · Complaints & Disputes

Complaining about a solicitor

Distinguish poor service from regulatory conduct concerns and route them to the firm, Legal Ombudsman or SRA as appropriate.

Reviewed 9 September 2026General information

Separate poor legal service from professional misconduct: Legal Ombudsman and SRA have different roles.

If you are unhappy with a solicitor’s service - delay, communication, costs or the work provided - complain to the firm first. The Legal Ombudsman can consider eligible service complaints after the firm has had the required opportunity to respond.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates professional conduct and the wider public interest. It is not a replacement compensation scheme for ordinary poor service.

Key points

  • Use the firm’s complaints procedure first for service issues.
  • Keep client-care letter, bills and key correspondence.
  • Legal Ombudsman generally expects the provider to have up to eight weeks to resolve the complaint.
  • Report serious conduct to SRA where it meets the regulatory threshold, but pursue redress separately.

Service issues for Legal Ombudsman

  • Unreasonable delay
  • Failure to communicate
  • Costs/service complaints
  • Failure to follow instructions
  • Poor complaint handling linked to legal service

Conduct issues for SRA

  • Dishonesty or integrity concerns
  • Serious conflicts
  • Misleading court/third parties
  • Misuse of client money
  • Serious regulatory breaches

The same event can engage both routes

For example, a conflict may affect service to you and also raise a regulatory issue. State what remedy you want from Legal Ombudsman and what conduct you are reporting to SRA.

In practice

  • Address the firm’s complaints partner/route and number each issue.
  • Ask for a final response.
  • Do not assume an SRA report pauses the Legal Ombudsman referral deadline.

What to do

A practical next-step plan

  1. Read the client-care letter and complaints procedure.
  2. Write a formal complaint to the firm.
  3. Preserve the final response/eight-week date.
  4. Refer eligible service issues to Legal Ombudsman in time.
  5. Report serious regulatory concerns to SRA separately.

Common traps

Things that often confuse the issue

  • Do not ask SRA to award a routine fee refund.
  • Do not treat every mistake as misconduct.
  • Do not miss Legal Ombudsman time limits while waiting for the firm indefinitely.

Evidence worth keeping

Client-care letter or retainer
Bills and statements of account
Relevant advice/correspondence
Complaint to the firm
Firm’s final response
Documents showing service impact or financial loss

Frame dual-route cases explicitly.

Useful wording.

“My complaint to the firm/Legal Ombudsman concerns service and redress: [issues]. Separately, I consider [conduct] may raise a regulatory issue for the SRA because [reason]. I am keeping those routes distinct and do not ask either body to exercise powers it does not have.”

Do not ask the SRA to award the service remedy that belongs elsewhere.

The SRA regulates solicitors and firms and can investigate conduct that engages its rules, but it is not a substitute for the Legal Ombudsman’s service-redress role or the courts. If reporting to the SRA, identify the rule/standard concern, dates and evidence rather than sending a service complaint with “please compensate me”.

Start with the firm unless an urgent regulatory issue requires otherwise.

Set out the retainer, what the solicitor was asked to do, the alleged service failure and the remedy sought. Ask for the complaint to be handled under the firm’s published procedure. Keep the client-care letter, bills, key advice and complaint response.

The Legal Ombudsman currently says a service provider generally has up to eight weeks to respond before a consumer can refer an unresolved complaint, subject to its detailed eligibility and time-limit rules.

Service complaints and regulatory misconduct go to different places.

A solicitor’s firm must have a complaints procedure. Problems with service, communication, delay or bills may ultimately fall within the Legal Ombudsman’s role. Serious conduct concerns or breaches of professional rules can be reported to the SRA. One set of facts can raise both issues, but the bodies have different purposes and remedies.

Related ConsumerWise guidance

Continue from here.

Reporting to the SRAWhen to report a solicitor or law firm to the SRA, how regulatory concerns differ from Legal Ombudsman service complaintSolicitors Regulation AuthorityRegulatory concerns about solicitors and firms, particularly serious breaches of professional standards.Evidence for an ombudsmanHow to submit a concise, indexed evidence set that shows the facts the ombudsman actually needs to determine.Legal OmbudsmanComplaints about poor service from legal service providers after the provider has had the opportunity to resolve the com

Official sources

Check the rules behind this guide

These are official or primary sources for this topic. Rules, scheme terms and deadlines can change, so check the live source before relying on a formal time limit or procedure.