If you are dissatisfied with the final decision about your complaint made by the Commission, you may be able to request an internal review.
If you are dissatisfied with the final decision about your complaint, the Commission may be able to help by:
Providing clarification - If you have questions about the decision, you can ask for information from the Commission. If you are still dissatisfied, you can request an internal review of the decision.
Considering new information - If you get new information about a substantive issue (an issue that forms the basis of your complaint about the lawyer), after the Commission’s decision has been made, you can make a new enquiry or contact the Commission about making a new complaint.
Request an Internal Review – If you consider the Commission has made an error in reaching the decision, you may be able to seek an internal review.
You may also be able to request a review by an external body, such as the Queensland Ombudsman.
An internal review is a review of the decision about a complaint. It is based on the information available to the Commission at the time the decision was made. It is done by an officer of the Commission not involved in the original assessment or investigation of the complaint, who makes a recommendation to the Commissioner about the outcome of the review.
An internal review is only available on a closed matter.
The Commission is not required to carry out a review of a decision under the Legal Profession Act 2007. There are some decisions that we won’t review (see below).
You can ask for an internal review if you are the person who made the original complaint (also known as the complainant). Your legal representative, or a family member or friend authorised to speak on your behalf, can also make the request for you.
Requests for an internal review must be made no later than 28 days after the original decision.
However, in exceptional circumstances, we may consider a request submitted after this time. Exceptional circumstances are assessed on a case-by-case basis and generally include situations where you are unable to submit your request due to significant and serious reasons beyond your control (e.g. a serious medical condition resulting in hospitalisation). You may be asked to provide supporting evidence.
If we do not accept your request outside the 28 days, our decision is final and will not be reviewed by the Commission.
You must tell us why you think the Commissioner’s decision about your complaint was wrong.
Your internal review request should clearly identify grounds for review. This means providing us with a concise summary of why you believe the Commissioner’s decision was incorrect, unreasonable or wrong.
The focus of an internal review is the Commissioner’s decision.
Requests for an internal review should also include:
If you do not make a valid internal review request, by identifying grounds for review of the Commission’s decision, we may decline your request.
Examples of invalid review requests may include requests that are:
If we decline your review request, our decision is final and is not reviewable.
Internal review requests must be made in writing by:
Emailing
lsc@lsc.qld.gov.au
With 'Internal review request' in the subject line.
Sending a letter to
PO Box 10310 Adelaide Street Brisbane QLD 4001
If you are unable make your request in writing or require an interpreter, contact us by telephone on 1300 655 754 and we can discuss alternative arrangements. However, we may refuse to accept a verbal review request unless satisfied that you are unable to make a written request.
We conduct reviews in the order they are received. This means that your review case will be placed in a queue until it can be allocated to a team member to be reviewed.
We’ll acknowledge receipt of your review request and you will be notified once your request has been allocated to a team member.
If your request is accepted and a review commenced, we will send you progress updates once a month.
We endeavour to complete reviews as quickly as possible. However, this depends on the number of reviews in the queue before yours.
The information you originally provided with your complaint will be considered, along with your internal review request. The reviewer will also consider any other information obtained by the Commission on your original complaint file, including internal case records.
The reviewer will provide a recommendation to the Commissioner who will then inform you in writing of their decision.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, a decision about a complaint will be reviewed only once.
If you're unhappy with review decision you may be able to request a review from an external body such as the Queensland Ombudsman (see below).
If you include a service delivery complaint with your internal review request, we may be able to consider both matters together.
For more information about making a service delivery complaint, please see our service delivery complaints procedure.
If you’re dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint or internal review, you may be able to seek an external review by the Queensland Ombudsman.
Before seeking a review by the Ombudsman, you need to have exhausted all internal review options with the Commission.
You can find out more on the Queensland Ombudsman website.
