Complaints
Summary
Please feel free to contact any of the lawyers involved in your matter at any time. If the person you require is unavailable, you may like to contact his or her secretary, who will be able to find an appropriate person to deal with your query.
If you have any queries or complaints about the way in which your work is being handled, please make these known to the lawyer responsible in the first instance, or if for any reason you want to take the matter further, you can contact the supervising lawyer or any of the firm’s partners.
Complaints Procedure
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service.
We acknowledge that we may not always get it right, so if something has gone wrong, including in relation to our charges, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards of service.
1. How do I make a complaint?
1.1. You can contact us in writing (by letter, fax or email) or by telephone.
1.2. In the first instance, please contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the Letter of Engagement we sent you at the beginning of your matter.
1.3. If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with either of these people, or you are unsatisfied with their response, please contact Teri Hunter, our Complaints Partner, who has overall responsibility for complaints.
1.4. To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:
1.4.1. Your full name and contact details;
1.4.2. What you think we have got wrong;
1.4.3. How you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
1.4.4. Your file reference number (if you have it).
1.5. If you require any help in making your complaint, we will try to help you.
2. How will you deal with my complaint?
2.1. We will write to you within three working days acknowledging your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy.
2.2. We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
2.2.1. Considering the nature of your complaint;
2.2.2. Reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
2.2.3. Consulting with the person who dealt with your matter.
2.3. We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.
2.4. We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.
2.5. Once we have fully considered your complaint, we will contact you to arrange a suitable time to discuss it.
2.6. We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within 21 days of the date of our letter of acknowledgement.
3. What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
3.1. The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we manage your matter.
3.2. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time, you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than ten employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1m, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman). The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we manage your matter.
3.3. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If we have been unable to resolve matters, then you are able to take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:
- One year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
- One year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.
3.4. The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to apply Rule 4.7, which allows an Ombudsman to exercise discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so.
3.5. For more information and to see the new time frames in full, please click the link https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/news/changes-to-the-legal-ombudsman-s-scheme-rules
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
4. What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
4.1. The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
4.2. Visit its website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Their address is The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN, and telephone number 0121 616 1999.
5. What will it cost?
5.1. We will not charge you for investigating your complaint.
5.2. Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding.
5.3. The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.