Complaints Procedure

Introduction

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 to improve

our standards.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, write to us with the details.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter/email acknowledging your complaint. We will also

let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.

You can expect to receive our letter within 5 clear days of us receiving your

complaint.

We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file

for your complaint. We will do this within 3 clear days of receiving your

complaint.

We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally (but not

always) involve the following steps

Within 5 clear days of receiving your complaint we will pass your

complaint to Lisa Cornish our Client Care partner or if the complaint

concerns her then the matter will be passed to Christopher Poxamatis.

We will ask the member of staff who acted for you to let the Client

Care Partner have his or her comments on the complaint you have

raised.

We will then examine their comments and the information in your

complaint file and also carry out a full review of the file which is the

subject of the complaint (where appropriate).

We shall then write to you within 21 days of receiving your complaint and all

relevant information from you, setting out in detail the results of our

investigation including if appropriate suggestions for resolving the matter in

the hope that the matter can be resolved without further procedure. If for any

reason the investigation process requires a longer period we shall let you

know and provide you with a revised timescale. Complex matters, particularly

litigious matters may require more time to investigate and prepare a report.

If the matter remains unresolved then we will invite you to meet us to discuss

and hopefully resolve your complaint.

Within 7 clear days of any meeting we will write to you to confirm what took

place and any solutions we have agreed with you.

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;
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.

Tel: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

You can also raise a complaint with the Solicitors Regulation Authority