A total of 4091 complaints alleging professional misconduct or inadequate advice by lawyers were lodged with the Law Society of Scotland in 2006, it has been revealed.

In around a quarter of the cases, no further action was deemed necessary, the figures showed.

Asked why the society had failed to take action in about 25% of the cases, Philip Yelland, director of regulation, said: "The society's complaints committees, made up of 50/50 solicitors and non- solicitors, carefully consider all the facts and then base their decisions on the evidence available.

"For a complaint to be upheld the complaint needs to be proved on the balance of probabilities to comply with the legislation passed by parliament."

Independent watchdog the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman has in the past demanded the right to audit complaints which are not followed up, amid concern that some consumers do not get a fair hearing.

Last year's total number of complaints was down from a record high of 4849 in 2005.

The figure for 2006 represented the first drop in the number of complaints against lawyers in many years, as claims alleging endowment policy mis-selling by legal firms in the late 1980s and early 1990s continued to decline.

However, there are no figures on how many people complain to their lawyers before the society is asked to get involved.