Complaints Procedure

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

What will happen next?

1. Within three days of our receiving the complaint, we will send you a letter, acknowledging receipt of your complaint and enclosing a copy of this procedure.

2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our client care partner, Mr Mark Woodward, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. If your complaint is about Mark Woodward, your complaint will be handled by Miss Carole Johnson, partner.

3. Mr Woodward will invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

4. Within three days of the meeting, Mr Woodward will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.

5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Mr Woodward will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter. This will be done 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 another partner or someone unconnected with the matter at the firm to review the 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 you are still not satisfied, and your complaint relates to the work we did for you or your bill, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman Service at PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH (email address: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk) about your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman Service must usually be made within one year of the date of the act or omission being complained about; or within one year of the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. For further information, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman Service (0300 555 0333) or refer to: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/

If your complaint is about our behaviour, the SRA can help you, or take action –  if, for example, your complaint is that we have told lies, stolen from you, shut down without telling you or broken SRA rules. The SRA’s contact details are as follows: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/  Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN  Telephone: 0370 606 2555

If we have to change any of the timescales in this procedure, we will let you know and explain why.