A lawyer's conduct may be investigated if the Commissioner has reasonable cause to suspect that a lawyer’s conduct amounts to Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct or Professional Misconduct.
At any stage of the process a complaint can be closed, without investigating it or without completing the investigation, for various reasons including if:
A complaint can be investigated by the Commissioner or a person authorised by the Commissioner (usually one of his staff).
The Commissioner has a wide range of powers to investigate the conduct of lawyers, and it is an offence for those under investigation not to comply with the Commissioner’s requests for information.