Complaints and comments about the Scottish Legal Aid Board

10) Other organisations deal with complaints about the legal profession and courts

If your complaint is about your solicitor

• You should first speak to him or her.  If you are still not satisfied, you should speak to the person in the firm who deals with complaints, they will try to resolve the problem. If your complaint is to do with a case in which you were applying for, or granted, legal aid, we would like you to send us a copy. If you remain unhappy about the situation, you can contact the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (see later).

If your complaint is about your advocate

• You should first speak to him or her.  If you remain unhappy about the situation, you can contact the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (see later).  If your complaint is to do with a case in which you were applying for, or granted, legal aid, we would like you to send us a copy.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

• The Commission is independent of the legal profession and handles complaints about the service provided by legal practitioners. It does not cost you anything to make a complaint to the commission. The Commission can also look at the way professional bodies (such as the Law Society of Scotland or the Faculty of Advocates) handle any complaints about misconduct and professional discipline and can enforce its recommendations. Contact the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission,  The Stamp Office, 10 – 14 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG, telephone 0131 528 5111, email enquiries@scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk, website www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk

If your complaint is about the courts

• To complain about the court, or court staff, that dealt with your case, contact the Scottish Court Service, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, Tel. 0131 444 3300, Fax. 0131 443 2610. Or find out more about their complaints procedure on their website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk.

If your complaint is about a judge or sheriff

• To complain about the conduct of a judge or sheriff, write to the Scottish Government,  Constitutional Law and Courts Directorate, Legal System Division, Courts and Administrative Justice Team, 2W St. Andrews House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG.

If your complaint is about a prosecution

• If your complaint is about the way a criminal case has been prosecuted, you should contact the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, 25 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LA, telephone 0131 226 2626, email ps/COPFS@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or find out more about them on their website at www.procuratorfiscal.gov.uk.

11) Other comments

Although this leaflet tells you how to complain if you are not satisfied with our service, we welcome your suggestions and comments on anything to do with the service we provide and how the legal aid system works. We would also welcome comments on our complaints procedure, and how well we dealt with your complaint.

Please tell us what you think by contacting us at the address shown below or e-mailing us at general@slab.org.uk.

12) Information about legal aid

We produce a series of leaflets about legal aid, explaining how we decide whether to grant civil or criminal legal aid, and what may happen if you get legal aid. You can also find information on our website.

13) How we use information

By applying for legal aid, you permit us to discuss the information within the Board and, where necessary, with other people outwith the Board. For example, we may check your earnings with your employer, or the benefits you are claiming with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Solicitors representing the Law Society of Scotland may also see information in your application as part of the random quality assurance checks that the Society makes.

By law, we have to be very careful about how we use information that people give us. We will normally pass on information to do with an application for legal aid, only if the person who gave us it has given us their permission, or if the law says we must. However, if you ask someone like your MSP to contact us about your case, we will assume that, by doing so, you permit us to discuss it with them.

We also have duties to keep certain information confidential, and to supply other information, under the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts. For example, we can’t give you personal information about another person. But you have the right to ask us about information we hold on you, and some other information that we

record about legal aid and how we work.

We sometimes use the information to check your identity, if you phone us. We also collect certain details to make sure that our ways of working do not discriminate unlawfully, and do allow equal opportunities and access for all.

If you would like to know more about how we use information we are given, please read our leaflet Access to information leaflet online in pdf format, which explains how:

• you can find out what information we hold about you

• we will treat any information we hold about you

• you can get access to other records and official information we keep.

Our contact details

You can get this leaflet in other languages, including Gaelic on our website, or in Braille, large print or audio tape by contacting the Scottish Legal Aid Board at the address below.

To order any of our leaflets, call us on 0845 122 8686. Our general telephone number is 0131 226 7061. Calls by BT Text Direct are welcome.

You can fax us on 0131 220 5145.

The Board’s address is:
44 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh EH3 7SW

Our web site address is www.slab.org.uk. Our e-mail address is general@slab.org.uk.