Legal Ombudsman Reviews 

Totally incompetent and useless. Clearly on the side of the solicitors.

Don't bother. Clearly they are on the side of solicitors. Took months to respond and then dismissed our complaint having refused to carry out a proper investigation.

Totally useless. Was offered £100 which was actually the same as the solicitors who mishandled my claim offered me, which I thought was derisory. Both admitted it had been poorly handled. The compensation levels are pitiful - the most serious level (which includes if a solicitor disclosed the address of a domestic abuse sufferer to her abusive partner) is only £1000! I really wouldn’t bother, you’ll spend more time writing your complaint than any compensation is worth. Yet another example of UK’s toothless regulatory bodies!

Can’t give less than one star. Suffering PTSD after dealing with totally unscrupulous Legal Ombudsman. Changed complaint, ignored evidence, refused to accept evidence of court order, refused to accept deeds from Land Registry, didn’t know there was a legal definition of a highway. Every time proved incorrect by written evidence he just ignored it and moved on. Gaslighting, bullying, biased…. Guess what…under their own regulations public can’t complain about any of it! Used FOI to find if L Ombudsman is subject to Nolan Principles, they are, but under their own rules public can’t complain. Only public servant not subject to Nolan Principles. The Senior Partner Conveyancing missed a highway 134 feet wide 120 yards long! Ombudsman says this was really good service! Says we are liars and states that he is certain highway doesn’t exist….. in direct contradiction of court order Stopping Up the highway in question, and in contradiction of two legal teams, three surveyors, magistrates court, Ramblers Association, Land Registry, County Highways Department, Open Spaces Society…..etc. anything to support the solicitor. All written evidence submitted was just ignored. 18 months of sending in evidence, investigators report unbiased and professional, all destroyed by Ombudsman. Used case law misrepresented to intimidate us. All incorrect analysis by ombudsman challenged and proved to be incorrect, he just ignored it, didn’t respond and changed his position, bringing in irrelevant matters in final report which were never raised previously and of course not allowed to challenge. Clear bias, disgraceful ignorance and in a safe job without scrutiny. Please lobby your MP to have this organisation closed down. Are we living in a democratic country???

Not fit for purpose!! There’s no use providing proof as it can be crystal clear and they won’t see it. We went through hell with 2 solicitors and absolutely nothing happened apart from the legal ombudsman offering £500 compensation but the solicitors had taken nearly a million pounds in fees !! If we agreed they would only pay the £500 if no claim for compensation was made against the solicitors ! So basically a £500 pay off which we turned down. No details of the solicitors are displayed as having complains made against them or being found guilty of 5 points Novum law , which trades under several names ( I thought this was called a push scam? ) and Marson’s Llp have got away with absolutely abhorrent behavior and they have been aided and abetted by the Legal ombudsman and SRA . Let’s push to get individual prosecuted at the legal ombudsman when it is obvious that they are complicit. They are only going to change when they face some serious consequences for their actions.I wasted 2 years providing evidence for nothing.

I agree with other reviewers that the legal ombudsman needs a thorough overhaul and is biased towards solicitors.
All of the reviewers are correct the Legal Ombudsman has tried to drop our case. The solicitor sent eleven highly confidential emails to a individual not part of the case. Three contained our defence, our defence and counter claim and our barristers opinion. To avoid an action from us the solicitor dropped us as clients,giving no notice and no valid reason for doing so.Contrary to the Law Society recommended actions and the CPR procedures The Legal ombudsman agreed with the lies of the solicitor. One is defendant shouted at an office some 30 miles away and Legal ombudsman agreed with the solicitor, who said the notice period ,was the fact the solicitor had THOUGHT about ending the retainer some 14 days earlier. What utter nonsense. Neither can the solicitor or the Legal ombudsman produce any evidence to support their decision.
A decision that breaches the Solicitors Act 1974, the Law society recommendations (3 months notice) and Solicitors code of Conduct 2007
Further the solicitor attempted to deceive us by saying we should Fill out and sign the Notice of Change for the courts. which we refused as it would makes us responsible for ending the retainer. They are in fact in breach of Contract The Legal ombudsman keeps ignoring his point and by ignoring it they are ignoring the Civil Procedure Rules on terminating a retainer
When i asked for HARD copy of their evidence they sent it to a totally different address with occupants known the the plaintiff. The ICO says i am to give them an opportunity to advise why they have breached my and the defendents GDPR. The Legal ombudsman is failing to answer my questions on this. Further i requested a SAR from them, a subject access request. 454 pages arrived all split in a Post Office plastic bag saying sorry the envelope split(Clearly the envelope used was not of good quality ) and every one at the Post Office sorting had a good read.
The biggest danger in using them is ,if you accept any paltry offer then you lose the right to sue the solicitor of take them to the Solicitors Regulation Authority

I agree with other reviewers that the legal ombudsman needs a thorough overhaul and is biased towards solicitors.

I agreed that my mother's estate would be passed to a solicitor for them to deal with. My mother died under very tragic circumstances and it was beyond upsetting. I chose to remain as power in reserve as an executor as there is an estrangement in the family and I thought this would be best to let them deal with it.

Fifteen or more months later, all communication with the solicitor ceased and I was told by them on the phone that I was not a 'client' and I had no right to an update (I am also a beneficiary on the will).

The excuse the solicitor gave to the Legal Ombudsman was that I 'did not sign a client care letter'. The legal ombudsman thus far has accepted this at face value.

The fact was that I was never sent a client care letter. Despite the fact that I AM a client, I have checked this legally. Not only was I never sent a client care letter to sign by the solicitor but no one checked the will - or the file, before communications were made. No one checked that I had been sent a client care letter, and no one chased it up.

I have pointed this out to the Legal Ombudsman who is currently refusing my request for my mum's estate to be settled, and my request for compensation from the solicitor for distress caused.

I would like to see the Legal Ombudsman wriggle out of this one. I never received a client care letter and I certainly have never signed one. The solicitor is trying to say I was sent one but didn't sign it. This is a lie.

I advise anyone dealing with the Legal Ombudsman to challenge them if they are biased in favour of the solicitor.

Being able to use the Legal Ombudsman is part of what is supposed to be our democratic process. Don't give up! Make a complaint, we deserve better!

Don’t even bother. They side with the solicitor even if the solicitor’s behaviour is bordering on corrupt. I made my complaint last August and up to date nothing was done so I closed the complaint even though I am absolutely livid. I have made a complaint about a very junior solicitor trying to extort £300 an hour for any “work “ done. He was rude and arrogant and probably working a flanker without the knowledge of his senior partners. Totally angry and upset.

I enquired without reading the reviews so please don`t do the same mistake with me.
I found Legal Ombudsman a truly useless and incompetent service, after 5-6 months they finally reply back with a dismissal note claiming the firm has already offered fair and reasonable redress in
relation to the circumstances alleged by the complainant. I claimed to lost over £500 and I am asked to accept £100 as that seems reasonable from legal ombudsman perspective and the case is already decided to be dismissed in any way.
Clearly, they didn't bother to look at the case to protect my rights, only kept the case for months and months and then turned around and said we cannot help as we have the right to dismiss the case. Gave me some vague reason on why and have no interest in helping a tax paying citizen in reaching a fair ground. As a result, what I would do If I knew this? I`d directly speak with a solicitor and consider small claims court without wasting 6-7 months waiting to hear dismissal note.

They didn't even bother to look at my case. Kept it for months and months and then turned around and said we cannot help. Gave me some vague reason why and have zero interest in helping the average person attain justice against crooked solicitors.

I have shared feedback directly with the Legal Ombudsman, but it is very clear that the Ombudsman practice is in no way impartial; they act to the benefit of the solicitors (and thereby, to the detriment of the general public). It appears there is very little human consideration as part of the work they do, everything seems to be driven by stringent guidelines and processes...unfortunately, this leads to Legal 'Professionals' knowing how poorly they can behave and still get away with it. It is definitely not serving the purpose it's designed for, to protect the integrity of the legal profession

It took 3 years with the help of a barrister who thank god acted on a no win no fee through the legal ombudsman in a complaint against a crooked firm of solicitors . I found that the the legal ombudsmen were not a very straight organisation and if we did not have a barrister pointing out the law (these people are not legally trained) then we would have been failed by the solicitor and ombudsmen .One senior ombudsmen was very good but some are clueless . We had several over the years .
Our barrister got us an award of 106 thousand after 3 years of hell and 5 year legal matter before that .Our whole legal system is corrupt and crooked but there are some honest ones with integrity like our barrister .
Never again would I trust a solicitor , they are so dishonest .

So having read the reviews, now I know why my solicitor was eager to take the good will gesture off the table without enough time to consider it and shamelessly point me towards the Legal Ombudsman. Interesting! Well people solicitors have a reviews section somewhere or another and I would suggest utilising that instead. I wont be wasting my time with this useless lot.

It’s just another arm of the legal system that covers for its own , pointless waste of time , when you think it’s an organisation funded by lawyers it’s not much of a stretch to work out it’s intended purpose , keep fighting for truth never give in .

There is no justice. They're toothless. They try to persuade you to accept whatever paltry amount you're offered by the solicitor in 'compensation' - generally an hour or two of the going rate for a solicitor. Their hands are tied as to what they can do, and it isn't much. Why is there no accessible list of the firms complaints have been upheld against? How are you supposed to find a good solicitor? I've dealt with six over the last few years and they have all been shockingly bad, except for one who left the firm after 3 months.

As everyone else says, just there to take the side of the solicitor. In my instance they refuse to investigate as there is an open offer from the solicitor, even though they refuse to investigate they have managed to find in the solicitors favour/ They have based this on the response from the firm to my original complaint, which is basically a work of fiction, and can easily be disproved with documented evidence.

Don’t bother going through this process, it will only add to your stress. If you have legal insurance with your house cover, cut the crap and go straight there!.

I agree with everyone else’s comments and this organisation should be shut down as it is far from fit for purpose.

This organisation really should be closed down - it only seems to exist to protect the legal profession.

It seems to have got no better since I suffered serious stress trying to deal with someone who didn’t want to listen and took the side of the solicitor.

People should be ashamed to work by this organisation. A total waste of time and money.

SHUT THE PLACE DOWN, EVERY THING SAID WITH ALL THE REVIEWS I AGREE WITH, ALWAYS SIDING WITH THE CORRUPT SOLICITORS THE ONLY PEOPLE IT SERVES IS THE PEOPLE WORKING IN THAT WASTE OF TIME PLACE, GET RID OF IT

Corrupt to the core. Professional liars, ruling in favour of bent solicitors in spite of the evidence.

Hopeless, absolutely hopeless.