How to make a complaint

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

If you have a complaint, please raise the problem with the lawyer responsible for your matter, or if you prefer, our Director & Head of Operations and Risk, Natasha Boyland. We will do our best to resolve any issues at that stage.

If the matter cannot be resolved and you would like to make a formal complaint then please see our complaint’s process below:

1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within three working days of receiving it.


2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve   our complaints partner reviewing your file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you.


3. Within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter our complaints partner will invite you to a meeting to discuss and resolve your complaint. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, our complaints partner may instead offer you a chance to discuss the matter by telephone.


4. Within three days of the meeting, or any telephone conversation we have with you instead of a meeting, our complaints partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.


5. In any case she will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including [his/her] suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the written acknowledgement of your complaint referred to in paragraph 1 above.


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


7. 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.


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

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint


If we are unable to resolve your complaint then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within six years of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within three years of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. However, please note that from 1 April 2023 these time limits are changing. From the 1 April the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.


Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.


Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
 
 
If a complaint cannot be resolved you may also be able to ask for it to be referred to a process of alternative dispute resolution using a certified provider. We are not required to agree to such a request. In any case this is not available to businesses, only consumers. We will give you more information about that right if it becomes relevant.
 
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