PRIVACY

Our Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us improve our standards. If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

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 Karen Furness or, in her absence, Kate Hamilton, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

3. Karen Furness or Kate Hamilton will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within fourteen days of sending you the acknowledgment letter.

4. Within three days of the meeting, Karen Furness or Kate Hamilton will write to you to confirm what took place, and any solutions agreed with you.

5. If you do not want a meeting, or it is not possible, Karen Furness or Kate Hamilton will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within twenty one days of sending you the acknowledgment letter.

6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for an appropriate alternative such as review by another local solicitor or mediation to review the decision.

7. We will write to you within fourteen days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

8. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us within that timeframe then you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Tel: 0300 555 0333

Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of your having received a final written response from us about your complaint.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring or within one year from when you should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman’s website contains further information regarding complaints.

If we have to change any of the timescales about we will let you know and explain why.

Complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

The SRA deal with complaints where firms or regulated individuals may have breached the SRA Principles.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint regarding poor service then you should take the matter up with the Legal Ombudsman. If the Legal Ombudsman thinks the complaint involves a breach of the SRA Principles they will refer the case to the SRA. The SRA have detailed information about the SRA complaints procedure and what the SRA regulate on their website.

The SRA do not have the power to award compensation for a poor service or to reduce or refund legal fees.

You can also report a firm or a regulated individual to the SRA for non-payment of professional fees (such as expert’s fees) if

• you have a County Court judgement in respect of the fee, and

• the judgement relates to the practice in connection with providing a legal service.