Publication of complaints procedure

Who is this guidance for?

All Solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) are required under Rule 2.1 of the SRA Transparency Rules to provide information about:

• their complaints handling procedure
• details about how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman
• details about how and when a complaint can be made to the SRA

The rule requires us to publish information on our website or make it available on request.

We want to give you the best possible service.  However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service provided, then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

What to do to resolve a complaint directly with us

In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage.  If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here.  Making a complaint will not in itself prevent us from continuing to act for you as appropriate during the process.

Although all Solicitors must have professional indemnity insurance (in case of errors) we are not able to represent you in making a claim against ourselves.  Where a client is claiming compensation for negligent work, they are almost always invited to take independent legal advice.  We are not authorised by our insurer to make admissions of liability.  By no means will all complaints be negligence claims.  We remain at liberty to handle complaints about the quality of service we provide and we do try and resolve these wherever possible.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour.  For example, if you are concerned that our treatment of you has broken the law.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves.  They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. The Legal Ombudsman may help if you are unhappy about the work your solicitor did for you or your bill.  This service is available to individual clients, small businesses, clubs, associations, trustees (with some limits on value), and certain personal representatives and beneficiaries of estates.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.  If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:-

• within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

and

• no more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
• no more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint

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

LeO Contact details

Visit:  www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call:  0300 555 0333 (between 9am to 5pm)
Email:  enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Write:  Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour.  For example, if you are concerned that our treatment of you has broken the law. The SRA can help clients, or take action itself, when solicitors tell lies, steal, shut down without notice or break SRA rules.  The SRA web site contains guidance as to how to report a Solicitor. You can also report a firm or someone regulated by the SRA for non-payment of professional fees (such as agent or expert fees) if you have a County Court judgment in respect of the fee, and the judgment relates to the practice in connection with providing a legal service.  There are some issues the SRA do not investigate. However, the SRA will always consider allegations of dishonesty or discrimination.  For guidance on the complaints process, call the SRA contact centre.

SRA Contact details

Visit:  www.sra.org.uk
Call:  0370 606 2555 (between 9am to 5pm)
Email:  contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Write:  The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN