Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If something goes wrong, we would like you to tell us about it so that we can put things right and learn from any mistakes we have made. This will help us to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please email or write to us with the details and tell us whether you would prefer the matter dealt with in writing, by telephone, at a meeting or by a combination of any of these.
What will happen next?
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our client care partner, Andrea Tishler, who will review your matter file and speak to the lawyer who acted for you.
If you expressed no preference in your original complaint as to how you would like the matter dealt with or you said you would like to have a meeting or a telephone conversation, Andrea will invite you to a meeting or call you to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
Within three days of the meeting or telephone call, Andrea will write to you to confirm what took place and any to set out any solutions she has agreed with you.
If you do not want a meeting or a telephone conversation or a meeting or telephone conversation is not possible, Andrea will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for someone unconnected with the matter at the firm to review the decision.
We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review of the initial decision, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks of it being first raised with us, then you have the right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted:
- by email at enquries@legalombudsman.org.uk,
- by phone on 0300 555 0333 or
- by writing to: The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH.
The Legal Ombudsman 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 a final response to your complaint
and
- No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
- No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate: http://www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should we both wish to use such a scheme.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
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.