COMPLAINTS INFORMATION
Our Complaints Policy
We take seriously all expressions of dissatisfaction from our clients. If you have received this leaflet, it is likely that you have already expressed your concerns verbally or in writing to the Fee Earner, their Supervisor, or a Director. This leaflet explains our procedures for handling complaints to ensure that each complaint is dealt with swiftly in an attempt to reach an amicable and satisfactory solution.
Reporting & Investigation Responsibilities
Informal verbal complaints should be addressed to your Fee Earner in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with their proposals, then the matter should be taken up with the Director responsible for their work. The name of that Director will have been given in your initial client care letter, but if you are unable to locate this, you can ask your Fee Earner or a member of our support staff. If the matter cannot be resolved informally with your Fee Earner, it would assist investigations if you were to fully detail your concerns in writing so there is less room for misunderstanding your concerns and requirements.
Response Times
Written complaints will ordinarily be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt whereby the name of the person responsible for handling the complaint will be confirmed. A full reply will be sent as soon as the matter has been investigated and our proposals for dealing with your concerns have been agreed upon. In any case, we will always endeavour to provide a full response within 21 days. If that is not possible, an interim response will be given explaining why it is not possible to meet this deadline, when we expect our investigations to be completed and a response finalised. Your complaint will be dealt with promptly, fairly and free of charge.
Unresolved Issues
If, in the unusual event that we are unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you are able to take the matter up with the Legal Ombudsman. The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are:
- Address: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
- Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
- Telephone No: 0300 555 0333
Before accepting your complaint, the Legal Ombudsman will seek to ensure you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within the following timeframe:-
– Within 6 months of receiving a formal response from us about your complaint; and
– Within 1 year from the date of the act, or from when you should have realised there was an issue.
However, the Legal Ombudsman has discretion as to whether to accept complaints in circumstances where they determine it to be fair and reasonable to do so.
Raising Concerns With Our Regulator
We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (www.sra.org.uk) and the rules and regulations governing how we should act and carry out our business are contained in the SRA Handbook and in particular the SRA Code of Conduct. These can be accessed and downloaded on www.sra.org.uk/handbook/. You can find further information including about raising any concerns you may have about us, with the SRA at www.sra.org.uk in the “For the Public” section.
Management
All complaints (written or verbal) are recorded and logged centrally to enable us to detect recurring problems and trends. As necessary, we will implement corrective action in response to individual complaints and improvement measures to prevent adverse trends and correct recurring problems. In this manner, we aim to constantly improve the service we provide.
