Legal Services Commissioner

Meet the Commissioner

When the Attorney General offered me the opportunity to become Victoria’s first Legal Services Commissioner, I accepted it with enthusiasm.

Victorians should be served by a vibrant, consumer-focussed legal profession. I believe the manner in which complaints about lawyers are managed and the profession is regulated are vital to consumer confidence in the system and to its effective operation.

We are making strong progress towards the achievement of our objectives.

Effective communication is one of them. My experience as Deputy Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman taught me that if consumers can’t find your agency, or don’t fully understand what they need to do to make a complaint, you can’t help them and may even heighten their sense of grievance.

While complaints need to be made in writing, our 1300 number and this website will ensure consumers have easy access to the information they need to make a complaint.

We also work closely with the Law Institute of Victoria and Victorian Bar, to whom some complaints investigation and dispute resolution functions have been referred or delegated. I am grateful for their co-operation and support of the scheme.

I believe that high quality case management underpins the best complaint resolution schemes. We now have systems and people in place to make real progress in resolving the complaints we receive.

I am committed to developing and maintaining an independent, impartial and accessible system for managing complaints about legal practitioners and to working with the legal profession to ensure legal services in Victoria meet the highest standards of excellence.

Victoria Marles
Legal Services Commissioner