What to do first

Before you consider whether to make a complaint, you should first raise any concerns with your lawyer. Lawyers (and law firms) are required to have their own process for handling complaints and must tell their clients about this before they start any work.

Here are some tips to help you raise concerns with your lawyer or raise any dispute about fees. You can also contact the Lawyers Complaints Service (LCS) if you would like to discuss your concerns and need help deciding on the best way to raise them with your lawyer.

If you have raised your concerns with your lawyer and you are not satisfied with the response, you may wish to make a complaint to the LCS. There is no cost to make a complaint.

Complaints to the LCS must be made in writing and cannot be made anonymously.

There is no cost to make a complaint, but you must be able to provide the LCS with information about the complaint and answer any questions.

If you don’t want to make a formal complaint but would like to raise some concerns with the LCS, you can send us your contact details by submitting an online ‘Raise a concern’ form. We will then contact you to discuss your concerns.

Who can you complain about?

You can complain to the LCS about the conduct, service, and /or fees of:

• a lawyer or former lawyer
• an incorporated law firm or former incorporated law firm
• a non-lawyer who is or was an employee of a lawyer or an incorporated law firm.

The person you are complaining about must have been a lawyer, an employee of a lawyer, or an incorporated law firm at the time the conduct you are complaining about occurred.

You do not need to be a client of the lawyer to make a complaint, however, you should be aware that the duties that lawyers owe to non-clients are limited.

Having a support person

You can choose to use a representative, lawyer, or support person to assist you with your complaint. This is especially important if you are unable to make your complaint in writing yourself. However, they may charge you for that service. You should discuss how they can help you first and check the cost.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

You can complain on someone else’s behalf as long as you have their permission. The complaint form will require them to sign to say that they authorise the LCS to communicate with you.

What can you complain about?

It’s important to know your rights and the lawyer’s obligations and understand how lawyers charge for their services before they start any work for you.

Matters you can complain about include:

• conduct – for example, if you believe your lawyer has a conflict of interest or has treated you in an unprofessional way
• service – for example, if you believe your lawyer has caused unreasonable delays or given you incorrect information
• fees – find out more on how the Standards Committees assess complaints about fees
• failure to comply with orders – for example, if a lawyer fails to comply with an order or final determination made under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 by a Standards Committee or the Legal Complaints Review Officer.

Complaints the LCS is unable to help with

While you can make a complaint at any time, the LCS is unable to consider complaints about:

• conduct that took place before 1 August 2002 (also, Standards Committees can only consider conduct that occurred between 1 August 2002 and 31 July 2008 in limited circumstances.)
• conduct that has previously been considered under the Law Practitioners Act 1982
• conduct that you have already complained about (unless you have new evidence)
• fees over two years old and/or that do not exceed $2,000, excluding GST (unless there are special circumstances)
• fees charged by legal aid lawyers (these are managed by the Ministry of Justice)
• decisions or actions of a lawyer in the course of their duties as a trustee or executor
• lawyers who are deceased (depending on the circumstances, you may be able to complain about the firm or another lawyer instead)
• Judges (these complaints are managed by the Office of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner).

More information about what we do and don’t do.

What to do next

After an initial assessment of your complaint by the LCS, the LCS may determine that no action should be taken or refer the complaint to a Standards Committee (who can make decisions depending on the circumstances). To help you decide whether making a complaint is the right thing to do for your situation, check out possible complaint outcomes.

Read about the complaints process and find out how to make a complaint. You can also have a look at recent Standards Committee decisions where publication has been directed by the Standards Committees in a particular case.

What the LCS needs from you

We understand that making a complaint can be stressful. To help the LCS assess your complaint effectively, please:

• only make a complaint once you have all the relevant documents to hand
• do your best to clearly identify your concerns and provide only relevant documents
• if using artificial intelligence (AI) to make your complaint, make sure everything you provide is correct and relevant to your situation
• be available to speak with us and to provide further information if requested
• be open to resolving your concern or complaint early in the process. This may involve the LCS communicating directly with the person or firm complained about in an attempt to resolve the issue for you.
• communicate with the LCS promptly if you have any questions or concerns during the process
• treat LCS staff with respect and courtesy. We are here to help.

The content here is reviewed annually. While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of the information on our website, there may, on occasion, be minor differences between translated versions. Information here is as up to date as possible but may be subject to change at times.