Complaints policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients and when something goes wrong we need to know how and why to help us improve our standards.

If you feel that we have not met your expectations in some way please raise your complaint with your fee earner or the partner supervising your matter who will try to resolve it promptly.

The complaints process

I've lodged a complaint.  What will happen next?

• We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within 5 working days.
• We will then start to investigate your complaint, which is likely to involve both the Partner who acted for you and their departmental head, and should normally be completed within 20 working days.
• If we consider that a meeting at this stage would be helpful, we will invite you to meet with us to discuss and, we hope, resolve your complaint.
• If we hold a meeting with you we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
• Where a meeting is not held, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint, including our suggestions for resolving the matter.
• If you consider that the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can contact us again and we will then arrange for Andrew Goodall to review our decision.
• We will then write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explain our reasons.
• If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

What will happen if I'm not satisfied with your response?

If, for any reason, you are still not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may want to refer the matter to the relevant regulatory organisation. For work carried out by English solicitors and registered foreign lawyers, you can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman Service at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH. Further details can be found on Legal Ombudsman Website or by calling their helpline on 0300 555 0333 or by contacting Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

What are the timelines for complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to it within one year of the date of the act or omission you are concerned about or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

What other options do I have?

Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services (click here and go to the tab about “professionals”), but we consider the service offered by the Legal Ombudsman to be the most appropriate means of resolving any dispute. However, if you would like to make representations as to why we should use ProMediate in your case then you may do so. We will not consider using ProMediate if the matter has already been dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman.

You may contact the Legal Ombudsman at any time and will not be prejudiced by trying to settle any difference between us.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority if you are concerned about this firm’s professional conduct.