Commentary on Sections Part 1 – the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission Section 3: Existence of specified regulatory scheme
9.The complaints handling framework established by the Act covers services and conduct complaints generally, but certain Scottish lawyers will be subject to more specific regulatory schemes in respect of some areas of their practices. An example would be solicitors for whom investment business is a core activity, and who may be subject to the Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme in respect of that work.
10.Where any element of a complaint covers an area of work which is capable of being dealt with under a specific regulatory scheme, section 3 prevents the Commission from dealing with that element of the complaint. The specific regulatory schemes are to be specified by the Scottish Ministers by order. The Commission is required to notify all parties in such circumstances. The Commission will be able to deal with any other element of the complaint and section 3 does not preclude the findings or orders of another scheme being used as a basis of a conduct complaint.