Complaints

If something has gone wrong

This page explains how to raise a problem with the practice and where to take it if our answer does not resolve it.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

Last updated: 23 September 2026

If you are unhappy with something we have done, you can say so. Most problems are fixed fastest by telling us directly, and raising something early is usually easier than unpicking it later.

If that does not work, there is an independent path that does not depend on our goodwill. The Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner deals with complaints about lawyers in New South Wales. It is separate from the practice, there is no charge to make a complaint to it and you do not need a lawyer to use it.

Start with the person doing your work

Legal services offered through this website are provided by Jameson Law.

Tell the person handling your matter first. Say what has gone wrong and what you would like done about it. A good many complaints are about something that can be corrected quickly: a call that was not returned, a document you were never sent, a settlement figure you were not shown, a step you did not know had been taken.

You can do this by telephone on (02) 8806 0866 or by email to [email protected]. Putting it in writing helps, because it fixes the date and records what you asked for.

If the complaint is about that person, or you would simply rather not raise it with them, skip this step and go straight to the next one. You are not required to confront anyone.

If your transaction is still on foot and a date is approaching, say so at the top of your complaint. A settlement date does not pause while a complaint is considered, and a problem that can be fixed before settlement is much easier to fix than one dealt with after it.

Then put it to the practice formally

If you do not get an answer, or the answer does not resolve it, put your complaint formally to Jameson Law, which provides the legal services offered through this website.

Email [email protected] and say plainly that it is a formal complaint.

If your complaint is about a particular person, say so and ask that someone else at the practice look at it. You do not have to complain to the practice at all before going to the Legal Services Commissioner, and nothing on this page requires you to wait for our answer first.

What to put in your complaint

You do not need legal language and you do not need to name a rule you think has been broken. Describe what happened and say what you want done. It helps if you include the following.

Your name, and the matter or property it concerns
What happened, with dates, in the order it happened
Who you dealt with
Copies of the documents that show what you are describing — the relevant ones, not the whole file
What you would like done to put it right

If a bill is the problem, say which bill it is and which parts of it you dispute. That is treated as a costs dispute and it runs to a much shorter time limit than a complaint about service. In a conveyance, say whether you are disputing the professional fee or a disbursement, because they are different things.

After you complain to us

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing and tell you who is looking at it. We will not leave it unanswered. Our response will set out what we found, what we propose to do about it and what you can do if you are not satisfied.

When you complain, ask for a date by which you will have a substantive answer, and ask in writing. If that date passes and nothing has come, you do not have to keep waiting. The Legal Services Commissioner is open to you at any point and you do not need our agreement to go there.

Complaining to us does not pause the time limits set out below. If a bill is part of the problem the limit is short, so it is safer to put the costs dispute to the Commissioner than to let the limit run out while you wait for us.

A complaint about the service you received is a separate thing from your transaction. It is not a step in the conveyance, it does not stop a settlement date and it does not by itself undo anything that has already been registered.

The Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner

The Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, usually called the OLSC, deals with complaints about lawyers and law practices in New South Wales under the Legal Profession Uniform Law and the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW).

The OLSC asks people to try to resolve the problem with the law practice first in most cases, but there are exceptions and you are not required to wait for our answer. Nothing on this page takes away your right to complain to the Commissioner.

A complaint must be made or recorded in writing, and it must identify the lawyer or law practice it is about. You cannot make a formal complaint anonymously: the Uniform Law requires the complainant to be identified. You can lodge it through the OLSC online portal, on its complaint form, or by letter or email. The current form, portal link and email address are on its website.

Consumer matters, disciplinary matters and costs disputes

The Commissioner sorts complaints into two kinds, and one complaint can raise both. A consumer matter is about the provision of legal services without alleging misconduct: delay, poor communication, a dispute about costs, or a dispute about documents or property. A disciplinary matter alleges conduct which, if proved, would amount to unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.

Unsatisfactory professional conduct is conduct connected with the practice of law that falls short of the standard of competence and diligence a member of the public is entitled to expect. Professional misconduct is the more serious category, covering substantial or consistent failures of that standard and conduct that would justify a finding that a lawyer is not a fit and proper person to practise.

A costs dispute is a kind of consumer matter: a dispute about the legal costs payable to your own lawyer. The Commissioner can try to resolve it and, in appropriate cases, make a determination about what is payable, which may include waiving or reducing fees or requiring a refund. There are monetary limits on the bills it can deal with this way and the OLSC publishes the current figures, so check them there rather than assuming.

The Commissioner does not assess a bill item by item to decide whether it is fair and reasonable. That is a separate process — costs assessment, administered through the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Time limits on a complaint

A complaint about conduct should generally be made within three years of the conduct complained about. The Commissioner has a discretion to accept a late complaint in limited circumstances, so do not assume a late complaint is automatically refused — but do not rely on the discretion either.

A costs dispute has a much shorter limit. It must generally be made within 60 days after the legal costs become payable, or within 30 days after a request for an itemised bill is complied with. The Commissioner may still agree to deal with a late costs dispute lodged within four months after that limit where you give a sufficient reason for the delay.

If the practice has already started court proceedings to recover the costs, that may stop the Commissioner dealing with the dispute any further. It is another reason not to wait.

Because those limits are short, a bill you are unhappy with is worth raising straight away rather than after settlement.

These limits are about complaining. They have nothing to do with the deadlines in your own transaction. A cooling-off period, a right to rescind where a prescribed document was not attached and the rights that follow a developer’s notice all run on their own short periods — see cooling off, and when there is none if that is your situation.

What happens next

The OLSC assesses a complaint when it arrives and may ask you or the lawyer for more information. It then either closes the complaint or tries to resolve it informally. Where it investigates, the lawyer is given a set period to respond — at least 21 days — and that response is ordinarily sent to you for comment.

At the end, the Commissioner may close the complaint, make a determination in a consumer matter, or begin disciplinary proceedings in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. You are told the outcome in writing, with reasons. It is not a quick process: the OLSC says on its own website that it is not uncommon for a complaint to take six months to a year to finalise, and sometimes longer.

What the Commissioner cannot do, and who else regulates conveyancing

The Commissioner cannot give you legal advice or represent you. It cannot order a lawyer to hand over a file, recover a debt for you, or change a decision of a court or tribunal, and it will not usually investigate while related court or tribunal proceedings are still on foot. It has no power to make a lawyer keep acting for you. It does not deal with complaints about judges or court staff.

It also matters who did the work. In New South Wales both an Australian legal practitioner and a licensed conveyancer may carry out conveyancing. Where the work was done by a solicitor, the Legal Services Commissioner is the right place for a complaint. Where it was done by a licensed conveyancer who is not a lawyer, the complaint goes to NSW Fair Trading instead, which licenses and regulates conveyancers.

A complaint about an estate agent is different again, and also goes to NSW Fair Trading. A dispute with the other party to your transaction is not a complaint about anybody’s conduct at all — it is a contractual dispute, and it takes a different path entirely.

Work done for you by the practice behind this website is work by a law practice, so a complaint about it belongs with the Legal Services Commissioner. You can also read how it works for what clients are told about costs and communication at the outset.

If you are not sure which of those applies to you, say what happened and who you dealt with. Working out the right body is usually straightforward once the facts are set out.

Where to send a complaint

These are the published contact details for the practice. Address a formal complaint to Jameson Law and say plainly that it is a complaint.

Telephone

(02) 8806 0866

[email protected]

Who you are complaining to

My Conveyancing Lawyer is an informational website about conveyancing in New South Wales. Legal services offered through it are provided by Jameson Law, and it is Jameson Law a complaint about that work is made to.

Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner

1800 242 958 within Australia, or GPO Box 4460, Sydney NSW 2001. The current complaint form and portal are at olsc.nsw.gov.au.

Professional standards

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation