The Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) has today welcomed the appointment of three new non-executive directors.

Joining the OLC board will be Dr Jane Martin CBE, currently Chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel and a former ombudsman; qualified solicitor Elisabeth Bellamy, who has been a member of the Law Society Professional Standards and Ethics Committee for six years; and Annette Lovell, director of engagement at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Wanda Goldwag, Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), said: “I am delighted with the appointments of such an experienced group of non-executive directors.

“Jane Martin has detailed knowledge of consumer needs in the legal sector from her role at the Legal Services Consumer Panel, while Elisabeth Bellamy brings a wealth of experience including training solicitors on compliance. Annette Lovell knows only too well the world of the ombudsman from FOS and also the legal sector from working at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.”

Independent and impartial, The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints and offers a free service to easily guide the public through the process of making complaints when they feel they have experienced poor service from regulated legal or claims management service providers. (Note: On 1 April, 2019, our claims management company (CMC) service transferred to the Financial Ombudsman Service).

These appointments replace outgoing members Caroline Coates, Tony King and Jane McCall.

Dr Jane Martin CBE was previously the Local Government Ombudsman and Chair of the Commission for Local Administration in England. In that role, she was also a non-executive member of the Board of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and a vice-chair of the Ombudsman Association. Dr Martin is now a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. In a career dedicated to understanding and promoting public service accountability, she has conducted research at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick respectively and worked with local authorities across England. She was the first Director of the Centre for Public Scrutiny.  Dr Martin is currently Chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, a role from which she will have to stand down to take up the post of OLC board member.

Elisabeth Bellamy is a qualified and experienced solicitor with a varied legal background. Her early career included working for large firms both in the UK and Singapore. Since 2015, she has been a Director and Management Consultant with Purple Performance Ltd, her own business consultancy business. Immediately prior to that she held an in-house role on an interim basis for 13 months (maternity cover) with BASF plc. For 11 years she was Managing Partner at Drummonds Solicitors in Chester (2001 – 2012), a mid-sized practice which was subsequently merged with Linder Myers (2012 – 2014). Elisabeth is an independent Board Member of Archery GB, and has been a member of the Law Society Professional Standards and Ethics Committee for six years – Elisabeth will be standing down from this TLS committee to take up the OLC role.

Annette Lovell has worked for the Financial Ombudsman Service since 2013, where she is the director of engagement. This is her second period of employment with the Financial Ombudsman Service, having also worked there between 2010 and 2013, latterly as a lead ombudsman. Between 2013 and 2015, Annette worked for the Solicitors Regulation Authority as Director of Authorisation and then Director of Regulatory Policy. Annette is a former Deputy Chief Executive of the National Lottery Commission.