Yesterday we held our annual Vision Day! The whole firm got together to discuss our vision for the next 12 months. Our theme was ‘Strength’ with sessions around strengthening our team, collaborations, relationships and most importantly, our care...
We are committed to high-quality legal advice and client care. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to sort out any mistakes or misunderstandings, and to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please raise the problem with the lawyer responsible for your matter, or if you prefer, our Managing Director.
What will happen next?
1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within three working days of you raising your concerns.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve our Managing Director, Steve Kirwan, reviewing your file and speaking to the member(s) of staff who acted for you.
3. Within two weeks of sending you the acknowledgement letter, our Managing Director will invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, he may instead offer you a chance to discuss the matter by telephone.
4. Within three working days of the meeting, or any telephone conversation we have with you instead of a meeting, our Managing Director will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
5. In any case he will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within three weeks of sending you the written acknowledgement of your complaint referred to in paragraph 1 above.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can contact us again. We will then arrange for another Director of the Company to review the Managing Director's decision.
7. We will write to you again within two weeks of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH about your complaint. Under revised scheme rules applying from 01 April 2023, the Ombudsman will not normally consider complaints unless they meet ALL of the following criteria:
- the poor service occurred after 5 October 2010;
- the complaint is referred to LeO within either of the following:
- one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about, or
- one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint
- the complaint is referred to LeO within six months of the firm’s final response.
For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organisations unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman.
9. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
If you are a consumer and we have made a contract with you by electronic means you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. That is available at http://ec.europa.eu/odr
In addition to the above, the Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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 characteristics. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
