Administrative Triaging

The amendments to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (LCA) allow administrative triaging of complaints by the LCS. This means that, if the administrative requirements¹ for a complaint have been met, the LCS may undertake an initial assessment of a complaint and decide whether to take no action or no further action on the complaint if one or more of the following grounds apply:

• Too much time has passed between when the conduct occurred and when the complaint was made, making investigation impractical or undesirable.
• The complaint is trivial – for example, based on minor or unrealistic concerns.
• The complaint is frivolous, vexatious, or not made in good faith – for example it lacks serious purpose, is meant to annoy, or is dishonest.
• The person affected doesn’t want action taken – for example they’ve since resolved the issue with the lawyer.
• The complainant doesn’t have a personal connection to the subject matter of the complaint – for example they’re not directly affected.
• There is an adequate alternative remedy or appeal available – for example through a court, tribunal, or another legal process.

If the LCS does not consider that any of these grounds apply, the LCS must refer the complaint to a Standards Committee for consideration. A Standards Committee can then decide whether the complaint warrants a finding of unsatisfactory conduct or a referral to the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal, or whether no further action should be taken on the complaint.

These amendments to the LCA received significant support when the Law Society consulted the profession in 2022 on proposed changes aimed at improving the efficiency of the LCS. The changes are expected to allow the LCS to focus on complaints that raise substantive concerns and require full investigation. By using its resources more efficiently, the LCS will be able to better serve the parties to a complaint. All parties stand to benefit from a more responsive complaints service.

The Law Society will share guidance for the profession and public on the new grounds for triage and how they will be applied.

In addition to the changes to allow triaging, other technical amendments to the LCA were passed. These clarify that officers and staff of the Law Society and Standards Committee members, who hold practising certificates, are not providing regulated services when carrying out duties or functions relating to the complaints process. This limits the circumstances in which a complaint can be made about these individuals. In addition, new section 38A enables undertakings given by conveyancing practitioners to be enforceable. Other technical amendments were made to correct inconsistencies and to remove redundant provisions.

Read about the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill.

1. Complaints must meet the requirements set out in regulation 8 Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Complaints Service and Standards Committees) Regulations 2008 | New Zealand Legislation to be eligible for initial assessment.