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What to do when a lawyer has done the wrong thing by you.
Should you complain to the OLSC?
No.
If a lawyer has done the wrong thing by you, the OLSC is supposed to investigate, order compensation, fine the lawyer and, for serious misconduct, take them to the tribunal. It’s paid from the interest on clients’ trust money, and it almost never does any of those things.
You are not alone
If you’ve already complained and got a letter closing the file, that’s the normal result, not a verdict on you or your evidence. By its own figures, in 2024-25 the OLSC finished 2,333 complaints it kept for itself and didn’t reprimand or fine a single lawyer. Thousands of people have had the same letter. The record is already clear. One more complaint won’t change it, and it costs you time and money you’ll need for the options below.
It’s a lottery
Every complaint about a NSW lawyer goes to the OLSC first. It then decides whether to keep it or send it on to the Law Society (for solicitors) or the Bar Council (for barristers). You don’t get a say, and the rule it uses isn’t published.
If the OLSC keeps your complaint, there’s no real chance anything will happen. Counting on it is like counting on a lotto win to pay your bills.
If it goes to the Law Society or the Bar Council, the odds are barely better. In 2024-25 the Councils finished 676 complaints and reprimanded or fined lawyers in 17 of them.
Complaining to the OLSC isn’t worth the risk
The time
If your complaint is about something the OLSC can’t deal with, it can close it straight away. That’s a good thing. You find out quickly and can take it somewhere else while your options are still open. If it’s serious, involving, say, dishonesty or misusing a client’s money, the OLSC classes it as a misconduct complaint and keeps it.
That should end the preliminary assessment and start the real work: the OLSC using its powers to investigate the lawyer properly and fairly.
It doesn’t. A real preliminary assessment takes minutes or hours: read the complaint, work out what it’s about, decide who deals with it. You may appreciate that putting a complaint to a lawyer takes a letter or an email. Yet by the OLSC’s own figures, complaints that end with nothing take months, sometimes years. While a complaint is “in preliminary assessment”, the OLSC can’t use its investigative powers (“there is no compulsive power”, Annual Report 2024-25), and it can close the complaint “without further consideration of its merits” (s 277).
So it asks you for the evidence instead. The onus is turned around. The lawyer carries on while you try to prove what’s in the lawyer’s file, or the lawyer’s head, and the clock runs on every other option you have. Justice delayed is justice denied, and the OLSC is very good at delay.
None of this would stand up to the slightest scrutiny, but there isn’t any. The OLSC is accountable to no one.
The closure letter
It will discredit and insult you, misrepresent your complaint and make the lawyer look cleared. It sets your complaint out as a disagreement and paints you as confused. It’s polite, condescending and wrong on the law. The lawyer gets a copy.
Don’t take it personally. The letter isn’t written to answer you. It’s written to look sound to anyone who checks the file later, and to shut down further investigation.
The wording gives it away. The lawyer’s reply is tidied up and presented as fact, and even an admission is spun into a reason to clear them. Your account is “assertions”. Your documents are “voluminous”. You have “a misunderstanding” of the law, or “unreasonable expectations”. Ask for a review and you’re trying to “re-agitate” issues already “addressed”. The OLSC uses the same words about complainants in its annual reports, year after year.
What to do instead
Look after yourself first. Fighting a lawyer is exhausting and can go on for years. If it’s wearing you down, talk to someone. Lifeline: 13 11 14, 24 hours. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.
Keep everything. Letters, emails, bills, court documents, receipts. Write down dates and what was said on every call. Keep copies somewhere other than your email.
Watch the deadlines. Most of the options below have strict time limits. A costs assessment is generally 12 months from the bill. A negligence claim is generally six years from when you suffered the loss (Limitation Act 1969 (NSW)). Don’t let a complaint to the OLSC run down the clock.
| What you need | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Free legal information and referral | LawAccess NSW, 1300 888 529. The NSW Government’s free legal helpline. It can refer you to Legal Aid or a community legal centre |
| Free legal advice | Legal Aid NSW and community legal centres. Community Legal Centres NSW (clcnsw.org.au) lists centres by area and type of problem |
| A bill you think is too high | Ask the law practice in writing for an itemised bill. Then look at a costs assessment through the Supreme Court of NSW |
| A lawyer’s mistake cost you money | Get independent advice about a negligence claim. NSW solicitors must carry professional indemnity insurance, so a valid claim can be paid |
| You think a crime has been committed | Report it to NSW Police. Don’t wait for the OLSC to do it |
| The problem is the system | Write to your local MP and the NSW Attorney General. Keep it short, attach the key documents and keep copies |
Don’t despair. Most lawyers are honest and do a good job, and the best way to fix a problem with one is advice from another lawyer who’s on your side and has seen your documents. If you can’t afford one, start with LawAccess or a community legal centre.