Our Complaints Policy

Our aim is to provide a high-quality service with which you will be satisfied. However, we do realise that on some occasions your expectations may not be met or that you may have a query or concern or simply be dissatisfied. You are entitled to complain about the services that we provide to you. We have a complaints procedure for handling complaints.

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients and when something goes wrong, we want you to tell us about it. Every complaint will improve our standards and our aim is to resolve every complaint with efficiency and with a view to improving the service we provide to you.

A complaint is any oral or written expression of displeasure with our people, business or other services we provide which has caused you to suffer financial loss, distress, inconvenience or other detriment.

For this reason, we operate a complaints handling procedure whereby should you have a complaint you are able to request a Client Complaint Form which can then be forwarded to our Complaints Manager, Marc Traube.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

The Complaints Manager will investigate the complaint and acknowledge this within five working days from the date of receipt of the Client Complaint Form and will invite you to a meeting to discuss the complaint and attempt to resolve it. In any case we will send a response to you within eight weeks from the date of your complaint.

If you are not able or do not want to attend a meeting, the Complaints Manager will explain in writing, and if possible, also by telephone, the outcome of their investigations and a suggestion for resolving the complaint.

If a meeting is held, the Complaints Manager will write to you within two working days of the meeting, confirming the discussions that took place and any solutions that have been agreed The firm will then arrange for a review of the Complaints Manager’s decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:

Another Partner or senior member of staff will review the complaint, and if necessary, re- investigate the details of the complaint. The local Law Society or another firm of solicitors will be asked to review the complaint. The Complaints Manager will ask the you to agree to independent mediation as detailed in our Client Care Letter.

The Complaints Manager will write to you within five working days of the conclusion of the review, detailing the outcome of the review, and what the firm’s final position is with regards to the complaint. This letter will contain details of the Legal Ombudsman, who should be contacted if you are still not satisfied.

If you are unhappy with our findings, you may have a right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or Solicitors Regulation Authority. Further details of the Legal Ombudsman and Solicitors Regulation Authority are set out below.

LEGAL OMBUDSMAN

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation with powers to resolve complaints about legal services when issues have not been resolved between an individual and their lawyer.

In order to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman you must:

· be a member of the public or a very small business, charity, club or trust; and
· make your complaint within six months of our final decision; or
· within six years of the act or omission which you are complaining about (or within three years of becoming aware of it).

 You can contact The Legal Ombudsman: 
· by telephone: 0300 555 0333;
· by post at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ;
· by email: [email protected]. 

 The Legal Ombudsman will not normally accept a complaint for investigation unless eight weeks have passed since you first raised your complaint with us. This is to allow us the opportunity to deal with your concerns.

You may make a complaint at any time within six months of our final decision about your complaint. If you do not refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within that six month period, then your complaint may not be accepted by the Ombudsman. 

You may also lose your right to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if more than six years have passed since the event(s) about which you want to complain, or if more than three years have passed since you should have realised that you had a possible complaint. 

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ACT PROMPTLY IF YOU THINK YOU ARE ENTITLED TO REFER A COMPLAINT TO THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN.

THE SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY

If your concern relates to our conduct you may wish to make a complaint to The Solicitors Regulation Authority.

You can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority: 
· By post at SRA Report, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN or DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47;
· By telephone: 0370 606 2555;
· By email: [email protected]. Alternative Dispute Resolution