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 firm’s Client Relations Partner, who will try to resolve the problem. If you remain unhappy about the situation, you can contact the Law Society of Scotland at 26 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 7YR, telephone 0845 113 0018, or find out more about their complaints procedure on their website at www.lawscot.org.uk. If the 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 your complaint is about your advocate

• Contact the Faculty of Advocates, Advocates Library, Parliament House, Edinburgh, EH1 1RF, telephone 0131 226 5071, or find out more about their complaints procedure on their website at www.advocates.org.uk. If the complaint is to do with a case for which you were granted legal aid, we would like you to send us a copy.

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, Hayweight House, 23 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh, ED3 9DQ, telephone 0131 229 9200. Or find out more about their complaints procedure on their website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk. However, if the court was a district court, write to the clerk of that district court.

If your complaint is about a judge or sheriff

• To complain about the conduct of a judge or sheriff, write to the Judicial Appointments and Finance Division, Scottish Executive Justice Department, Hayweight House, 23 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9DQ.

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

If you would like to know more about how we use information we are given, please read our leaflet “Access to information”, which explains

• how you can find out what information we hold about you
• how we will treat any information that we hold about you
• how you can get access to other records and official information we keep.

You can read our Access to information leaflet online in pdf format.

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 0131 240 1985.

Our general telephone number is 0131 226 7061. Calls by BT Text Direct are welcome.

You can fax us on 0131 220 4878.

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.

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