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 improve our standards.
If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you, then please inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. You can obtain a copy of our complaints procedure upon request. 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 one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year 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.
From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman changed and will now be no later than:
- one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
- one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for
complaint.
There is also a time limit rule that requires complainants to take their complaint to the Ombudsman within six months of the date of the final complaint response.
If you have a complaint please contact us with the details. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman or SRA.
What will happen next?
- You will need to set out the exact nature of your complaint. Please address this to Lynn Bevan
the Client Care Director at these offices. - We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 3 days of
receiving it. - We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve Lynn Bevan reviewing your
matter file and she will speak to the person who has had acted for you. - Lynn Bevan will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your
complaint. She will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. - Within 3 days of the meeting Lynn Bevan will write to you to confirm what took place and
any solutions she has agreed with you. - If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible Lynn Bevan will send you a detailed written
reply to your complaint, including any suggestions for resolving the matter within 21 days of
sending you the acknowledgment letter. - At this stage if you are still not satisfied you should contact us again and we will arrange for a
review with either another local solicitor or mediation to review that decision. - 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. - If you are still not satisfied you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. The Ombudsman will normally be the first point of contact for a complaint if this has not been resolved through our complaints procedure but you can report the matter directly to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you think the firm or anyone regulated by the SRA at the firm has breached an SRA Principle.