In March 2006, Parliament passed the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act. This Act replaces the Law Practitioners Act 1982.
The purpose of the Act is threefold. It was set up to protect the clients of lawyers and conveyancers and ensure that consistent, effective, quality determinations are made in dealing with alleged breaches of service. Its purpose is also to promote and maintain public confidence in these professions, and to recognise their status, especially that of the *conveyancing profession.
*Conveyancing is the transfer of ownership of property or business from one person to another. This profession is now governed by the NZ Society of Conveyancers.
The Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO) was established as part of this new regulatory system.
The LCRO's role is to promote public confidence in lawyers and conveyancers. The LCRO does this by, upon application, providing independent oversight and review of the decisions made by the Standards Committees of the NZ Law Society and the NZ Society of Conveyancers.
The Standards Committees are a complaints service set up for clients of legal and conveyancing practitioners. The first step in the complaints process is for the client to lay a complaint via a Standards Committee.
The Standards Committees are made up of lawyers from the NZ Law Society or conveyancers from the NZ Society of Conveyancers. At least one member of each Standards Committee must be a lay person.
The Legal Complaints Review Officer conducts reviews with as little formality and technicality as possible, while giving proper consideration to the process of the review itself and the rules of natural justice.
With three main parts to its structure, the Act creates a comprehensive complaints and disciplinary process for lawyers, conveyancers, firms, employees, and their clients.
The three parts are:
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