Complaints Procedure

COMPLAINTS:

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

If you have a complaint, please write to us with the details. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint although we will always try and respond much quicker than this in accordance with the below timetable. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain as per below:

Procedure:

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within seven 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 our client care partner, Daniel Rivers, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. Mr Rivers will then either write to you within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter and invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint, or he will reply in writing in detail to your complaint within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within seven days of such meeting, Mr Rivers will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and Mr Rivers will respond or we will arrange for another partner to review the decision.
6. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
7. In the event you are not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint, or a period of eight weeks has expired since we acknowledged your complaint without our final response being received, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of having received a final response to your complaint, and no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint. Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:
   • • Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
     • www.legalombudsman.org.uk
   • • Tel: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00
   • • Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
8. In the highly unlikely event that you are unhappy with our behaviour, The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Contact details can be found by visiting their website: www.sra.org.uk