About the Legal Complaints Review Officer
The Legal Complaints Review Officer investigates complaints against solicitors, barristers and conveyancers.
The Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO) reviews decisions by the standards committees of the New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers*.
What we do
If a party - a client, lawyer or conveyancer, a related party, or either Society - is not happy with a standards committee's decision they can apply to the LCRO to review the decision.
Another aspect of the LCRO’s role is to promote public confidence in lawyers and conveyancers, by commenting on perceived systemic problems during the course of reviews.
This provides feedback to the government and the professions' governing bodies, on their rules of conduct and client care, and the way complaints are dealt with.
Functions of the Legal Complaints Review Officer
The LCRO’s functions are to:
- exercise the powers of review given to it by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006
- promote the resolution of complaints or issues, by negotiation, conciliation, or mediation
- provide advice to the New Zealand Law Society, the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers and the Minister of Justice on any issue it identifies while carrying out a review.
* Conveyancing is the transfer of ownership of property or business from one person to another.
