Complaints Procedure

Complaints by clients or former clients

Complaints about poor service or our costs

If you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided or your bill then you have the right to complain. The Legal Ombudsman service has been operational since October 6th, 2010 and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are dealt with appropriately.

However, before you contact the Legal Ombudsman you must first register an official complaint with us. This complaint should be made to the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. Our current COLP is director Andy Taylor whose contact details are on this website. Normally, the Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve the matter. If after 8 weeks you are still dissatisfied you can then involve the Legal Ombudsman. For more information on how the Legal Ombudsman works please visit the Legal Ombudsman website.

Timescales

In summary:

• You must register your complaint with us within one year of the matters giving rise to the complaint
• The Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint
• After this time, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied but you must do so within 6 months of the conclusion of our complaints procedure

Getting Started

To register a formal complaint, please write to us and include all the information suggested by the Legal Ombudsman - their website includes some useful resources.

In addition to the Legal Ombudsman, several other complaints bodies exist which are also able to deal with complaints about legal services - these are: Ombudsman Services, ProMediate, Small Claims Mediation and the European Online Dispute Resolution platform. Information about these alternatives can be found at:

• www.ombudsman-services.org
• www.promediate.co.uk
• www.gov.uk/guidance/small-claims-mediation-service

Complaints about unprofessional conduct

If you consider that our behaviour is in breach of the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors then in the first instance you should complain either to the director who is supervising your matter or to our COLP. Details of the supervising director can be found in the retainer letter that we sent you at the beginning of your matter.

The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about service quality and costs. It is our regulator, the SRA, that is ultimately responsible for dealing with complaints about unprofessional conduct. You may refer your complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority who can be contacted either via the SRA logo on our home page or at 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN

Complaints if you are not our client

If you wish to complain about the way in which we are acting on behalf of our client, in a matter which concerns you, you can ask us for the name and contact details of the supervising director to whom your complaint should be made. If your complaint is about one of our directors then you should complain to our COLP (see details above).

If you have retained legal advisers then any complaint should be made by those advisors on your behalf, as our professional rules restrict our ability to communicate directly with people who have retained lawyers.

In dealing with your complaint, we shall always prioritise the interests of our client in accordance with our professional obligations. In certain circumstances this may make it inappropriate to respond to the complaint at all, or limit how we respond to the complaint.

If you wish to make a complaint of professional misconduct, you should contact our COLP. You always have the right to make a complaint about unprofessional conduct to our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who can be contacted either via the SRA logo on our home page or at 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN