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, please contact us with the details.
What will happen next?
[NB. The term days refers to working days].
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO)
Who can make a complaint to LeO?
Members of the public who have a problem with their legal service provider can complain to LeO. The Legal Ombudsman prefers that you approach them directly, but you can ask a friend, relative or anyone else to get in touch for you. If you use another service provider to complain to LeO, the service provider may charge you a fee. If you want another person to act on your behalf you will need to advise LeO that the person has your permission to speak to the Legal Ombudsman directly.
You can also complain if you are, or represent, any of the following:
(a) A business or enterprise that was a micro-enterprise when
you made a
complaint to the service provider;
(b) a charity with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when you
made
a complaint to the service provider;
(c) a club, association or organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its
members or a committee or committees of its members, that had an annual
income net of tax of less than £1 million when you made a complaint to the
service provider;
(d) a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1 million when you
made a
complaint to the service provider;
(e) a personal representative or a beneficiary of an estate of a person who,
before he/she died, had not made the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
For (e) above the condition is that the services to which the complaint relates were provided by the service provider to a person who has subsequently died; AND had
not, by his or her death, already referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
The Legal Ombudsman cannot help if you have a disagreement with another beneficiary or executor.
Timescale for complaining to LeO:
Ordinarily, you can ask LeO to look at your complaint if it meets ALL three of the steps below:
If your complaint does not meet all of these time limits LeO may not be able to investigate it.
Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman:
P O Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 (from 8.30am to 5.30pm)
By minicom on: 0300 555 1777
From overseas: +44 121 245 3050
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Alternative dispute resolution:
Alternative complaints bodies, such as ProMediate UK Ltd (www.promediate.co.uk) exist and are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm wish to use such a scheme. We do not usually agree to use such schemes as those operated by ProMediate UK Ltd as we believe the Legal Ombudsman is better equipped to resolve complaints against legal firms.
Note: If we entered into a contract for the provision of services with you online you may also be entitled to use the EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform at: http://ec.europa.eu/odr to assist in resolving matters. The Platform will direct you to various Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) specialists who are competent to deal with complaints about legal service [e.g. www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk] however we should point out that this firm does not ordinarily use such schemes and relies upon the services of the Legal Ombudsman to resolve such matters.
Complaints about our professional conduct or behaviour:
Our regulatory body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for concerns that you may have including dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
We are bound by various professional rules of conduct which can be viewed at www.sra.org.uk. You can also see more information about the help the SRA can give to you here:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/reportsolicitor.page
Contact Details for Solicitors Regulation Authority:
Address: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Email: report@sra.org.uk
Website: www.sra.org.uk