Our Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint, in the first instance
please contact the partner in charge of the department involved in
your complaint. Their details will be on your original letter from
us.
What Will Happen Next?
1. We will send you a letter
acknowledging your complaint and we may ask you to confirm or
explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of
the person who will be dealing with your complaint. We will send
this letter within 2 days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our
central register and open a file for your complaint.
3. We will then start to investigate
your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following
steps.
· The team partner will ask the member
of staff who acted for you to comment on your complaint.
· He or she will examine their response
and the details of your complaint. S/he may then ask them for more
information.
· S/he will examine your case file and
draft a response to your complaint. This should be done
within 21 days of receiving your original complaint.
4. If we feel it appropriate, rather
than providing a formal written response, we may invite you to meet
the team partner to discuss your complaint and try to resolve it,
or we may telephone you to discuss it. We are likely to do this if
we feel that matters may be concluded swiftly and amicably by this
route. We will then write to you to confirm the content of the
meeting/discussion and any agreement arrived at.
5. At this stage, if you are still not
satisfied you can write to us again. We will then arrange to review
our decision. Mr Richardson, or, if appropriate, another partner
uninvolved in the investigation so far, will review your complaint
and will write to you within 14 days confirming our final position
on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
6. We hope to complete the different
stages outlined above well within the timescales given. However,
some complaints take longer than others to resolve. If we have to
change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and
explain why.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of
your complaint you may refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman for England
and Wales.
The Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870, Birmingham, B30 9EB.
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk