Complaints Procedure

We are confident that we are able to provide a high quality service and we will try to keep you informed of the progress of the matters we are handling. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to the client partner who is in charge of the work. We have a complaints procedure, and if you are unhappy about any aspect of the services you have received, or about any bill, please contact us.

It is important to raise your questions or concerns with us as soon as possible.

If you remain dissatisfied with our level of service, or our handling of your complaint, or we have not resolved it to your satisfaction within eight weeks of your complaint to us, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. Generally you must do that within six months from the date of our final written response to your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman is the independent service set up to resolve complaints about legal services (but is not an approved body for the purposes of the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 (“ADR approved bodies”). Their office is PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ (Tel: 0300 555 0333 or Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.co.uk). Further details can be found online at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

You have to make a formal complaint to us first, and give us the opportunity to deal with it before using the Legal Ombudsman. Ordinarily you must refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

  • within six years from our act or omission about which you are complaining;
  • within three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint without taking advice from a third party.

Alternative complaints bodies (which are ADR approved bodies), such as ‘Ombudsman Services’, exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and we wish to use such a scheme. Further details can be found online at https://www.ombudsman-services.org/).

Please note that certain categories of clients do not have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, for example:

  • most businesses (unless they are defined as a micro enterprise); or
  • charities or clubs with an annual income of more than £1m; or
  • trustees of a trust with an asset value of more than £1m.

You may also have the right to object to a bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

 The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. Further details can be found online at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.