Complaints

Complaint Handling Procedure

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. If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you or you have concerns about your bill, then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you.

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

 We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our principal solicitor, James Kingston who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

James will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

If you do not accept our response or we do not respond in time you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints by consumers and small businesses. This means some clients may not have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, e.g., charities or clubs with an annual income of more than £1m, trustees of trusts with asset value of more than £1m and most businesses (unless they are defined as micro-enterprises). This does not prevent such clients from making a complaint directly to us.

Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.

Any complaint must also be brought within a year of the occurrence of the act or omission about which you are complaining (or if outside of this period, within one year of when you should reasonably have been aware of it).

The Legal Ombudsman can also dismiss a case in the following circumstances:

  • if they were satisfied that the complainant has not suffered “significant” loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment.
  • where the size or complexity of the complaint, or the behaviour of the complainant, results in the complaint requiring a “disproportionate” use of resources;
  • where there has been “undue delay” in bringing a complaint; or
  • where the service provider has made a reasonable offer to resolve the matter that has been accepted by the complainant before they refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:

Calls from both mobiles and landlines to 03 numbers cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02). Calls are recorded and may be used for training and monitoring purposes.

  • For minicom call 0300 555 1777
  • In writing: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Do not send original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

We will not charge you for handling your complaint.