Complaints policy

What will happen next?

What is a complaint?
A report by you (our client) that:
a) your expectations of what you consider to be a good service have not been met; and
b) you would like the complaint to be investigated.
Making a complaint
You can register a complaint with the person dealing with your matter or their supervisor, details of which are given in your initial client engagement letter. In the first instance, we would prefer you to write to us with full details of your complaint, so that we have a good understanding of the issues being highlighted.
Investigating the complaint
a. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within three days of receiving it.
b. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve our complaints partner, Imdaad Sulaiman, reviewing your file and speaking to the solicitor who acted for you (if Imdaad acted on your matter, the complaints partner will be Richard Spencer).
c. 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 for you to meet, our complaints partner may instead offer you a chance to discuss the matter by telephone.
d. 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.
e. In any case he will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the written acknowledgement of your complaint referred to in paragraph 1 above.
f. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another partner to review the decision.
g. 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.
h. If we have to change any of these timescales, we will let you know and explain why.

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, or the way the complaint has been handled, you may write to the complaints partner who will make such further investigations as may be necessary.The complaints partner will inform you of the conclusions and any alternative proposals to resolve the complaint. If still unresolved at this stage, you may take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or, in accordance with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Scheme Provider. We will issue a final letter advising you of this.
Legal Ombudsman
The Legal Ombudsman is the independent body established by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007 to deal with complaints against Solicitors.

The Legal Ombudsman may:
• Investigate the quality of professional service supplied by a solicitor to a client.
• Investigate allegations that a solicitor has breached rules of professional conduct. • Investigate allegations that a solicitor has unreasonably refused to supply a professional service to a prospective client.
• Investigate allegations that a solicitor has persistently or unreasonably offered a professional service that the client does not want.

Before it will consider a complaint the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the firm’s internal Complaints Procedure (outlined above) has been exhausted. If the Legal Ombudsman is satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further. You will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint and 6 years from the date of the act or omission, giving rise to the complaint. Alternatively, 3 years from the date you should reasonably have known there are grounds for complaint.

From 1st April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within:
a) one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
b) one year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause to complain.

You must refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The Legal Ombudsman’s address and contact details are: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH; telephone, 0300 555 0333; www.legalombudsman.org.uk; or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes
Alternative complaints bodies, such as Ombudsman Services, exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. However, we don’t currently agree to use this Alternative Dispute Resolution service in view of the availability of the independent Legal Ombudsman Service established under the Legal Services Act 2007. We are bound by our Regulatory Code to comply with the Legal Ombudsman.
Contracts entered into online
If we are unable to resolve your complaint which relates to a contract entered into online, you may contact the Online Dispute Resolution providers by accessing the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr
Vulnerable Clients
Our complaints handling procedure is sensitive to individual differences and needs of our clients.You must inform the complaints partner of any communication challenges, e.g. hearing difficulties or language barriers, of which you are aware relating to the complainant. We may remind vulnerable clients more often of our complaints handling procedure.
Complaints about the bill
We will treat a complaint about our bill in the same way as any other complaint.

Complaints policy

Making a complaint

What will happen next?