The Law Society says it is hugely concerned that a small number of solicitors attracted a quarter of all complaints made to it last year by members of the public.
The society was yesterday urged by its independent adjudicator to take action against those solicitors who have had multiple complaints upheld against them.
Mr Eamon Condon made the call following the publication of his annual report which showed that 71 solicitors accounted for 26 per cent of all complaints made to the Law Society in the year up to August 2002.
Two solicitors had 10 complaints each made against them, while 37 solicitors each had three complaints.
Members of the public can apply to Mr Condon if they are dissatisfied with how the Law Society dealt with any complaint made against a solicitor.
The volume of complaints to the Law Society has reduced by 7 per cent in the past two years, and the report described the society's complaints section as well organised and responsive.
Mr Condon said there "seemed to be less delay and obfuscation on the part of solicitors being investigated", although there was still no reason for complacency.
His report notes the "appalling bad manners" of solicitors in 40 cases who failed to turn up for hearings before the society's registrar's committee, thereby "frustrating the effective investigation of serious complaints".
Some of the 71 solicitors who attracted multiple complaints to the society may also have been people about whom complaints were made in previous years, Mr Condon said.
"I believe the Law Society should really look at the reasonableness of continuing to issue practising certificates to those people against whom complaints have been upheld," he added.
Practising certificates for solicitors are renewable on an annual basis.
The president of the Law Society, Ms Geraldine Clarke, said it was "a huge area of concern to us that a small number of solicitors give rise to a huge number of complaints and indeed totally distort the figures by doing that".
She said that a law introduced last January allows the society to take into account the previous complaints history of a solicitor.
"That is something which we are delighted with because obviously there are people out there having numerous complaints by clients against them and that does flag for us that there may be a difficulty and we do want to be able to take those previous complaints into account and to deal with those solicitors in an appropriate manner," said Ms Clarke, who attended yesterday's report launch.
Mr Condon also raised concern that the Law Society cannot properly investigate complaints by clients in family law proceedings due to the interpretation of in-camera rules which means it cannot access the solicitors' files.