Complaints against lawyers and legal firms: consultation analysis

2. Methodology

2.1. The respondents

A total of 59 responses were received, and can be broken down into 6 categories.

All questions were answered by at least one respondent. Responses were read and logged into a database, and all were screened to ensure that they were appropriate/valid. None were removed for analysis purposes. Although some responses to individual questions did not directly address what was being asked, all feedback was analysed and is presented under the appropriate sections below.

Closed question responses were quantified and the number of respondents who agreed/disagreed with each proposal is reported below. To provide an element of weighting to this exercise responses are reported with reference to numbers that include and do not include those respondents who rejected all, or the majority, of the proposals. Those responses appear to be on the basis that the whole complaints system should be replaced. This is explored further below.

For all of the questions, respondents were asked to state if they agree or disagree, and the reasons for their views. The main reasons presented by respondents, both for and against the proposals set out across the consultation, were reviewed alongside specific examples or explanations, alternative suggestions, caveats to support and other related comments.

Respondents to the consultation document completed a Respondent Information Form (RIF) which allowed them to specify their publishing preferences. Respondents who choose to email their views and did not complete the RIF were contacted to ascertain their publishing preferences. Only extracts where the respondent indicated that they were content for their response to be published were referenced.