Lawyers

If you aren't happy with your lawyer's service — including how they behave — follow these steps. You may not need to do both:

• Try to sort it out yourself with your lawyer — they must tell you about their complaints process and deal with complaints about their services promptly and fairly
• Complain about your lawyer to the Law Society — they provide resources about working with a lawyer and operate the Lawyers Complaints Service to assist you with complaints about the conduct, service and/or fees of lawyers. There is no cost to make a complaint.

For the public(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

Sorting it out yourself

Many problems can be resolved by contacting your lawyer. Before you do, make sure you:

• know your rights
• know how to complain.

Your rights

Your lawyer or conveyancer must:

• do their job well, on time, and follow your instructions
• put your needs first
• talk to you about what you want to achieve
• tell you what they will do and how this will happen
• charge you a fair amount, and tell you how and when they will charge you
• give you clear information and advice
• protect your privacy
• treat you with respect and without discrimination
• keep you up to date on what work is being done and when it is finished
• tell you how to make a complaint about them and deal with any complaints quickly and fairly.

Your rights and lawyer's obligations(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

How to complain

Every lawyer must have a complaints process. If they haven't made this clear to you, ask them what it is.

Before you complain:

• Gather proof — emails and letters, dates and details of conversations, invoices.
• Write a timeline — take notes with dates and what happened to make your situation clear.
• Decide your ideal outcome — a refund or reduction in your bill, an apology, financial compensation for any losses.

When you complain:

• Put it in writing — either by email or letter, including the date. Keep a copy yourself in case you need evidence of your complaint.
• Use the word 'complaint' — this will make sure your issue is put through the right process, instead of being taken as feedback.
• Stick to the facts — explain the problem in detail and provide any evidence you have.
• Take time out, if needed — if the conversation gets heated, or you need time to consider their response, arrange a time to call, email or message back. Explain you need to time out to digest the conversation.

Contacting the business with a complaint

Handling a dispute(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

Complain to the Lawyers Complaints Service

If you can't agree on a solution, you can make a complaint to the Lawyers Complaints Service (LCS). The LCS is part of the New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa. They can also give you information if you are concerned about your rights. 

Lawyers complaints service(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

You may complain about:

• lawyer behaviour — treating you unfairly, or a conflict of interest
• bad service — delays, not doing what they said they would, not responding to calls or emails, giving you incomplete or wrong information
• fees — but only if your bill is for more than $2,000 for lawyers and billed under two years ago (unless there are special circumstances)
• failing to follow your instructions — going against what you told them you wanted.

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

Raise a concern(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

What you can expect

After you fill in a complaint form, the LCS will assess your complaint. They will make sure it can be accepted, that they understand what you are complaining about and that the outcome you want to achieve is something that the LCS can assist with. If so and they’re unable to assist you with resolving your complaint, a Standards Committee will consider it.

A Standards Committee can:

• decide to take no action
• direct you and the lawyer to consider a mediation/negotiation to resolve the matter. This avoids a hearing and can be a faster, simpler process. You can indicate that you are willing to consider this option on the complaint form
• inquire into the matter. If the committee doesn't think mediation or negotiation is an option, the Standards Committee may make a decision on your complaint after an inquiry. This could involve a hearing or the use of an investigator or costs assessor. 

How the complaints process works(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

Orders they can make

If the Standards Committee thinks the lawyer has done something wrong, it can:

• decide what the lawyer must do to put it right, for example apologise, pay compensation (up to $25,000), cancel, reduce or refund fees, pay your expenses for making the complaint, pay a fine (up to $15,000), fix any mistakes at their own cost, and/or undertake further training, education, or supervision
• send the case to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal if it is very serious. 

Possible complaint outcomes(external link) — New Zealand Law Society

More help

Get support at any point from:

• Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB): A free, independent service, run by volunteers. CAB can advise you on your consumer rights and obligations, in person, by phone, or online.
• Community Law Centre: Free one-on-one legal advice to people with limited finances. The organisation has 24 community law centres throughout the country. You can find legal information and other resources on its website.

Find a CAB(external link)  — Citizens Advice Bureau

Our law centres(external link) — Community Law Centres