We hope that you will never have reason to complain about our service to you or an invoice
that we send to you. However, if something does go wrong or the invoice appears to be
incorrect, please bring it to our attention as soon as you can. We will try to resolve the matter
fairly and quickly. We will apologise if need be and do our best to offer a practical solution.
Complaints should be made to the Principal .
There is a body called the Legal Ombudsman, an independent body that handles complaints
about legal services. Its details are The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 15870, Birmingham, B30
9EB, telephone 0300 555 0333. Legal Ombudsman email and Legal Ombudsman website.
The Legal Ombudsman has produced three helpful booklets to guide you if you have a
complaint. We can let you have copies on request or you can find them on the Legal
Ombudsman’s website. They are called Here to Help, Making a complaint and Guide to Good
Complaints handling.
You can ask the Legal Ombudsman to become involved at the end our internal complaints
procedure, if you are unhappy with the outcome. The Legal Ombudsman has a helpline if you
need to speak to them about how to make a complaint. Calls are charged at a local rate and
will be recorded. There is no charge for the Ombudsman’s services.
A preliminary point
The relationship with your lawyer is built on trust and openness. You should be able to talk to
your lawyer frankly about all sorts of things so that some complaints (and these are likely to
be minor issues) might lend themselves to be resolved between by a simple phone call with
your lawyer. However, if you are not comfortable speaking to your lawyer about the problem
then speak to the Principal .
How do I complain?
We much prefer that substantial or complicated complaints are dealt with in writing – we do
not have any set forms that we use for this purpose. However, we realise that not all clients
may be able to formulate a detailed letter. In such cases, a telephone call will do, during
which we will make a note of the issues and then send that to you for comment. This
document will then form the basis of the complaint.
Who do I complain to?
Our system is that, wherever possible, complaints are resolved within the person
handling your case. You should look at the “Client Care” letter that you were sent at the
start of your case. It will name the person in the firm to whom you should address your
complaint.
Although you should know the name of the person dealing with your case, the reference
in the top left hand corner of our letters will tell you the name of the fee-earner who left
deals with your case (the first initials).
You will be informed in writing by the lawyer having conduct of your matter if there is a
change of person to whom any problem with service should be addressed.
The person dealing with your complaint will inform the Principal that a complaint has
been made for our complaints file and so that we can monitor progress of the complaint.
We hope that this simple procedure will deal with your concerns, however, if it does not
you should write to the Principal who is Martin Stewart
What will happen next?
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days
of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your
complaint to the Principal who will review your matter file and speak to the member of
staff who acted for you.
3. The Principal will then write to you with his findings within 21 days of sending you
the acknowledgement letter. However, if the complaint is complicated further time may
be needed. If so, the Principal will write and tell you and set another time limit.
4. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Principal will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter.
5. Within three days of any meeting, the Principal will write to you to confirm what took
place and any solutions she has agreed with you.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will
arrange for another unconnected with the matter at the firm to review her decision. In
some cases, an appropriate alternative at this stage might be mediation to review the
decision.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming
our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
COMPLAINTS
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
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 handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check
that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you
must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- Within six months of receiving our final response to your complaint
and
- No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained
about; or
- No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have
known that there was cause for complaint.
For more information contact the Legal Ombudsman.
Postal address:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Relay UK: 18001 0300 555 0333
Overseas: +441212453050
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
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.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Website
https://www.sra.org.uk
Address
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
Email
contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Phone number
+44 (0)3706 062 555
