Commentary on Sections Section 14: Excluded complaints
Section 14 provides that a complaint does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Bar Complaints Committee unless the complainant has first used the respondent’s in-house complaints procedure (as defined in subsection (2)).
Subsection (3) requires the Bar Complaints Committee to make rules outlining circumstances where a complainant may proceed directly to the Bar Complaints Committee without firstly using the in-house procedure. It will be a matter for the Complaints Committee to determine such circumstances, which could be, for example, where the relationship with the barrister has completely broken down that would render this type of process unworkable.