A new website that aims to provide a rating system for solicitors practising in Ireland has been set up.
The site, which has been operating on a trial basis for around four months, has been created by a group calling itself Victims of the Legal Profession Society (VLPS).
The VLPS was created in 2001 and claims to have over 500 members. It campaigns on behalf of people who feel they have not received an adequate service from the legal profession and have been unable to obtain suitable remedy.
The VLPS already operates a site were users can detail their experiences of the legal system.
On the new site, users are invited to rate their solicitor under four classifications: three stars for "good"; two stars for average; one for poor and an "avoid" category. Users are also invited to post comments.
One of the VLPS's founders, John Gill, told ireland.comthat the inadequacy of the legal system can create a "living hell" for its victims but the means of redress are rarely effective, often expensive and can take many years to process.
"It is 110 per cent stacked against you with the total support of the judiciary. The vast majority of people will never get justice," Mr Gill said.
The Law Society is the regulatory and membership body for solicitors and has often been criticised for being ineffectual in calling errant members to account. An independent ombudsman for the profession has been mooted for many years, but as yet no formal proposals have been brought forward.
A Law Society spokesman criticised the website, saying it was barely worthy of comment. "It seems more designed for the purpose of abuse, vilification and defamation than any serious purpose of giving out information," the spokesman said.
Rating sites have become a source of considerable controversy in recent years. Ratemyteacher.ie has been strongly condemned by teachers and unions but remains a popular site with over 40,000 users.
Teachers who considered taking legal action discovered that because posts were generally anonymous they could not identify those making submissions to the site. Suing the operator or the host was also impractical as the site was hosted in the United States.
The ratings site for solicitors is also hosted in the United States, and Mr Gill said although posts would be moderated, the VLPS would not be taking responsibility for postings.
"I will not put any word of a lie on the Internet. I tell people they are responsible for what they write," Mr Gill said.