Complaints Procedure
Introduction
We are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all of our clients and welcome feedback from our clients as it gives us the opportunity to review and improve our internal procedures and level of service.
We take all complaints about the firm or anyone acting on its behalf seriously and are committed to resolving concerns promptly, fairly and effectively.
Complaints procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided or the way we have dealt with any matter, please, in the first instance, contact the lawyer dealing with it. You can do this in writing by email or by post.
If for any reason you feel unable to raise your complaint with the lawyer responsible for your case, you may contact the complaints partner, Richard Dykes, on 01446 791 811 or by email Ri*****@***********co.uk
Richard will review the complaint and, where possible, deal with it directly within 10 working days. Where more detailed consideration is needed, an acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint will be sent to the client, and we will respond accordingly within 30 working days.
If after sending you our final written reply, we do not hear from you within 10 days to express continued dissatisfaction, we will consider your complaint resolved. Our internal complaints procedure concludes at this stage.
If we have not responded to your complaint within the timescales above without explanation, or if you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact an alternative dispute provider, such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk), which can help mediate complaints about legal services. In principle, we agree to use ProMediate to assist in resolving complaints. However, we reserve the right not to agree to do so in certain cases.
If, for any reason, we are unable to resolve any problem to your satisfaction, or we do not deal with your complaint within eight weeks, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333, by post at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, or by email at en*******@****************rg.uk. For additional details go to www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent service set up by Parliament to help resolve disputes between consumers and legal service providers.
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, or, if we do not deal with your complaint within eight weeks, six months after the expiry of the eight-week period for dealing with your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman also ordinarily expects complaints to be referred 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.
If your complaint relates to our charges and/or any of our bills, subject to the terms of your engagement of us, you may also have the right to reject the relevant bill by applying to the court for an Assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
If your complaint relates to how we are using your personal information, you have the right to contact our Data Protection Officer (Andrew Campbell) in the first instance or to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Pursuant to the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (“DUAA”), we will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and provide a response without undue delay, and in all likelihood within 30 days
If you are concerned about our professional behaviour, for example if you believe we have been dishonest or deliberately overcharged you or you believe we have discriminated against you, you may be able to complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
This policy and complaints procedure is implemented in accordance with the requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s rules on complaints handling and is brought to clients’ attention in our Terms and Conditions of Business.
