Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about how your matter has been or is being dealt with, then please contact Ms Susan Webster in writing detailing the issues. The complaint will then follow the below process.

1. When she is in receipt of your complaint, she will then acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days by post or by email to confirm she is dealing with the matter.
   
   Our aim is to identify what caused the complaint, deal with any issues within our procedures that may have caused the complaint, and identify if any appropriate redress is due to you and how we can resolve your concerns.
   
   We will ensure that you know that we have taken your complaint seriously, that we review and deal with it in a timely manner and that you get a prompt response.
2. This acknowledgement will advise you how the complaint will be handed and the timescale in which you will receive an initial response and a substantive response.
3. Your file will be requested for Ms Webster to review in full and consider the contents and aspects of your complaint. The fee earner will also be asked to comment on the matters being considered within 5 working days of the request from Ms Webster.
4. Ms Webster will aim to provide a response to the complaint within 10 working days and if there is any delay to this to advise you and explain why.
5. If the complaint can be resolved through written communication, this will be done within a timely manner.
6. It may be appropriate for you to have a meeting with Ms Webster with regard to your complaint. This may be used to agree a way forward to resolve the complaint and Ms Webster can then take appropriate action. The fee earner would not usually be present at this meeting.
7. If a meeting still does not resolve the issue, then Ms Webster will reconsider the complaint and the information available and consider further suggestions with the aim of resolving the complaint fully.
8. If the complaint still cannot be resolved, the complaint will be passed to the other partner of the firm Mr Nicholas Jamison. You will be advised in writing of the expected timescale for this.
9. Mr Jamison will provide a final position on the complaint in writing for the client and fully explain the conclusion arrived at.
10. Our process above if followed all the way to the end should not take more than 8 weeks.

In the event that after the above you are still not happy, then you would need to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA.

For the Legal Ombudsman, you must contact them within 6 months of receiving our final response to your complaint, or within 1 year from the date of the act or omission that you are complaining about or 1 year from the date that you ought reasonably to have known that there was cause for complaint.

A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman should relate to the work we have done or our bill.

Please note as a general rule the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if a client has applied to the Court for assessment of the bill.

To contact the legal ombudsman you can use the link and details below:

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/how-to-complain/

Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm on 0300 555 0333. Calling from overseas +44 121 245 3050. Relay UK 18001 0300 555 0333

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Information relating to reporting concerns about an individual or a firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is available on the SRA Website. Please note that the SRA does not deal with complaints about poor service.

The SRA can be contacted at:

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/

The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47
0370 606 2555

contactcentre@sra.org.uk