We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided, then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance we suggest you contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, full details of our complaints procedure are set out below. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman may be able to help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

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:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

and

• No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
• No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact Details

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Our complaints procedure in detail

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we appreciate you telling us about it. This will enable us to address the matter and where appropriate offer a remedy, and it will help us to improve our standards.

How to communicate your complaint

If you have a complaint, please contact me, as I am the person designated to handle complaints.

Who will deal with your complaint?

Robert Newey will investigate your complaint, unless you ask for an outsider to investigate it in his place.

What will happen next?

Within 4 days of receiving your complaint, we will send you a letter acknowledging receipt and a copy of this Complaints Procedure. My letter will confirm the contact details of the Legal Ombudsman.

We will also record your complaint in a central register and open a file for your complaint.

The complaint will be investigated. This will normally involve the person investigating the complaint taking one or more of the following steps:

• Reviewing the file and any associated documents for the matter to which the complaint relates;
• Interviewing and discussing the position with those concerned within the Practice;
• Seeking any further clarification which we require from you;
• If it seems appropriate, we may at this stage suggest a meeting to obtain details or to discuss matters with you.

The person investigating the complaint will then write to you to report his or her findings. The aim will be to do this within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint. If for any reason the 21 days cannot be achieved (for example, because individuals are absent or because further information is required from you or from third parties), we will explain why and endeavour to agree a revised date. We will update you on the progress of your complaint at no greater than 14-day intervals.

When we report our findings to you, we may make suggestions for resolving the matter.

At this stage, when you receive our report of the findings, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to complete this review within 21 days. It will happen in one of the following ways:

• If you agree, we will ask our local law society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. We will let you know how long this process will take.
• We will invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.

If the review is going to take more than 21 days, for example because further investigation is required, we will let you know.

We will let you know the result of the review within 7 days of its completion. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and we shall explain our reasons.

We will in any event aim to complete the whole procedure within eight weeks of your complaint being made.

Equality and diversity

Our complaints procedure will be operated in compliance with the firm’s policy on Equality and Diversity, a copy of which is available on request.