This book charts the evolution of the Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales. Established in 1990, it had a statutory remit that explicitly recognized its dual responsibility for consumer dispute resolution and democratic accountability. It was replaced in 2010 by a very different type of ombudsman institution. The book describes how the Ombudsman reconciled its different roles and how far it succeeded in changing the mentality of the legal profession. The authors relate the Ombudsman's successes and failures to current debates facing the ombudsman and regulatory community, and highlight the continuing potential of the ombudsman institution. The ombudsman institution emerges as a 'third way' between the courts and various forms of alternative dispute resolution, and as a creative and democratic means of responding to public grievance.

Nick O'Brien is Honorary Research Fellow at Liverpool University, UK. He was Legal Director of the Disability Rights Commission between 2000 and 2007, and Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee inquiry on the UK Parliamentary Ombudsman 2013-14.  Mary Seneviratne is Emeritus Professor of Law, Nottingham Trent University, UK. She was formerly a Member of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council, and Adviser to the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee. She is author of The Legal Profession: Regulation and the Consumer (1999), and Ombudsmen: Public Services and Administrative Justice (2002).