Make a complaint

Act quickly on complaints

The law imposes time limits on making a complaint.

For complaints about legal costs or bills, you have:

• 30 days to dispute your costs if you have received an itemised bill, and
• 60 days to dispute your costs if you have received a lump sum bill

Please note that your lawyer can sue you after 30 days for an unpaid bill. We cannot help you with your complaint if you’ve been sued.

For complaints about behaviour or quality of service, you have:

• 3 years to make a complaint.

We may be able to extend the above timeframes, but only if certain circumstances exist. Please contact our office to discuss.

What can you do?

Many complaints can be settled by raising your concerns directly with your lawyer. We can give you some tips on how to do this effectively.

You can also call or email us to discuss making a complaint.

Tel: 1300 796 344

Email: admin@lsbc.vic.gov.au

You can also discuss your complaint with us in person.

Making a complaint

If a formal complaint is needed, we can guide you through that process. You can make a complaint by letter, email, fax or on our complaint form.

We can help you if you need help writing the complaint.

The following pages explain how we deal with different types of complaints:

• Complaints about legal costs and bills
• Complaints about quality of service
• Complaints about conduct and behaviour

Compensation claims

The Fidelity Fund compensates clients who have lost money or property held in trust by a lawyer, a law clerk or barrister’s clerk. If you have lost money or property held in trust, you can make a claim against the Fidelity Fund.

For more information on making a claim, please see the Compensation claims page.

Our Customer Charter

What can you expect from us if you make a complaint?

• Wherever appropriate we will try to help you resolve your concerns.
• If we are unable to deal with your complaint we will explain why and give you some information about other options that may be available to you.
• We will explain our processes to you.
• We will treat all parties to a complaint with respect and courtesy.
• If we decide that it is necessary then we may formally investigate specific concerns.
• We will deal with all complaints in an impartial way and as quickly as we can.

What are your responsibilities if you make a complaint?

• We ask you to do your best to clearly identify your concerns.
• We need you to co-operate with any requests we make for further information or documents.
• If you need more time, please ask for it – do not wait until a deadline has passed.
• We also ask that you treat our staff with respect and courtesy.

Other information

Finding legal help

If you need help with a legal issue, you can find a lawyer or free legal assistance through our Where to get legal help page.