Expanded role for legal ombudsman?
The legal ombudsman has proposed expanding its role to cover the overlap between lawyers’ services and legal services provided by professionals such as accountants and architects as well as unregulated providers. In a discussion paper published this week, Redress for Legal Services, it estimated more than 130,000 providers make up an “alternative” or “third” legal market that is not regulated, leaving consumers confused about where to turn when they have a complaint.