Complaints Handling Procedure

We wish to provide the best service possible to you. However, if you do feel unhappy or concerned with the standard of service, we have provided, and wish to make a complaint, you should inform us immediately, and we will adopt the following procedure, to enable us to deal with your complaint as quickly and efficiently as possible:

You should first raise any concerns with the person dealing with your matter. If the matter cannot be resolved, your concerns shall be reported to the firms Compliance Manager by the person dealing with your matter, or alternatively you can contact our Compliance Manager direct.

The Compliance Manager shall acknowledge you have raised concerns and shall contact you, to discuss your complaint and try to identify what we can do to resolve your concerns. The Compliance Manager will also provide you with a copy of this procedure, unless you have already been provided with a copy.

The Compliance Manager will thereafter liaise with the person dealing with your matter about the concerns raised and make an independent and fair investigation to see if we have failed to meet the standard of service.

It may at times be necessary for the Compliance Manager to contact you and arrange to meet with you to discuss matters.

The Compliance Manager will provide a formal response to your concerns within 10 working days (in writing) of you letting the firm know of your complaint.

If further time is required to provide a response, the Compliance Manager shall inform you as soon as practicable.

The written response will include:

• Details of your concerns
• Suggestion of what action, if necessary, is to be taken to remedy your concerns

If you are dissatisfied with the conclusion of the complaint and/or proposed resolution, your complaint will be referred to the firms Complaints Director, John Davies, who will review all matters and contact you to discuss the matter further, within 14 working days. Please note that the firms’ Complaints Handling Procedure is for the benefits of Clients of this firm only.

If at the conclusion of our investigations and considerations of your complaint, regardless of the outcome, you will still have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

Please be aware that there is no charge to make a complaint under this procedure, nor will making a complaint affect how we handle your case.

Please be aware that there is no charge to make a complaint under this procedure.

The Legal Ombudsman has given a maximum of 8 weeks for all legal firms to resolve a client’s complaint. This means that once the 8 week period has elapsed the Ombudsman will normally accept a client’s complaint for investigation even if the legal firm is yet to fully deal with the complaint. The Ombudsman will investigate in particular whether the client has been treated impartially and without discrimination or prejudice and whether the complaint was reviewed by someone not involved in the matter where reasonably possible. The Ombudsman will look at the outcome of the complaint and whether the legal firm has offered an apology and/or given an explanation about what (if anything) went wrong and will also look at any offer of redress to the client and whether that offer is proportionate taking into account the nature of the complaint and any upset and inconvenience resulting from the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation with official powers to resolve the complaint.

If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman after we have dealt with it then please let us know and we will tell you how you can obtain the complaint form which you will need to complete and then send to the Legal Ombudsman. The address of the Legal Ombudsman is PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ and the telephone number is 0300 555 0333 (telephone lines are open from 9am-5pm). The email enquiry address is: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk and the website address is www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman;

1. Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint
2. No more than six years from the date of act/omissions; or
3. No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

There are certified providers of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes for disputes of this type. A list of ADR approved bodies can be found at www.tradingstandards.uk. However, as complaints against solicitors can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman we will not engage with any other ADR scheme.

The details of our Compliance Manager are as follows:

Our firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about the behaviour of this firm.

Concerns can be raised with the Solicitors Regulation Authority via;

Whilst our Complaints Handling Procedure is for the benefit of the clients of this firm, any individual can raise concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.