We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you or you have concerns about your bill, then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you.

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

  1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Managing Director Joanne Major, who will review your matter file and speak to the member(s) of staff against whom the complaint is made.
  3. Joanne Major, where necessary and if appropriate, may invite you to attend a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  4. Within three days of any meeting should it be deemed necessary and appropriate, Joanne Major will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions she has agreed with you.
  5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, or indeed it is not considered appropriate, Joanne Major will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for someone unconnected with the matter at the firm to review her decision.
  7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
  8. If your complaint is in relation to Joanne Major, then it will be investigated by one of the firm’s Legal Directors or Senior Lawyers.
  9. If the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks after you have brought it to our attention, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. You must refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date you receive our written response.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern.

The Legal Ombudsman has a discretion to extend the time limits above if, on the evidence, it considers it fair and reasonable to do so.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by:

– Telephone: 0300 555 0333
– Email on enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
– Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Do not send original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.

  1. The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for concerns about dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can raise your concerns directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (www.sra.org.uk).
  2. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
  3. We will not charge you for handling your complaint.