Complaints made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by solicitors, barristers and other professionals were up from 1,852 in 2011 to 2,516 in 2015, according to figures from London-based law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC).

Increasingly aggressive tactics

RPC legal director Graham Reid commented that the rise implied litigation tactics were becoming more aggressive, with legal teams launching complaints against their opposition at the instruction of clients.

‘Over-enthusiastic’

Mr Reid told Legal Business: 'It's my experience that solicitors, especially litigators, can be over-enthusiastic in making misconduct complaints about the other side's lawyers. A misconduct complaint is a serious matter: it shouldn't be used just for the purposes of litigation tactics.'

Consider the risk of wasting time

He added that a solicitor thinking of making a misconduct complaint should consider the risk of wasting the regulator's time, as the SRA does not have inexhaustible resources and may not appreciate ‘being used for the purposes of point-scoring in litigation.’