Complaints Procedure
The firm aims to offer all our clients an efficient, effective and high quality service and we encourage feedback from clients about our service.
If you are not happy with the service that we have provided, including your bills or any aspect of the way in which your instructions are being handled, please speak to Cliona O’Tuama.
If Cliona cannot resolve any problem to your satisfaction, please write to her to confirm the details of your complaint, including the following:-
- your full name and contact details;
- what you think the firm has got wrong;
- what you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint.
Thereafter:-
1. We will record your complaint in our central register and will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within five working days.
2. Cliona O'Tuama will investigate your complaint. She will examine the complaint and will review your file(s) and correspondence, the time records and other relevant documentation. She may also suggest a meeting with you to discuss and, we hope, resolve your complaint.
3. Cliona O'Tuama will aim to finalise her investigation and respond to your complaint within fifteen working days of the date of our letter of acknowledgment of the complaint. This response may include suggestions for resolving the matter. If she needs longer to investigate your complaint, Cliona will contact you to confirm this and will aim to complete her investigation within a further ten working days.
4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, Cliona will forward your file and all relevant documentation to a senior solicitor at another firm in the City of London for that solicitor to review your complaint. Cliona will seek your consent in advance before forwarding the file and documentation to the other solicitor.
5. Cliona will let you know the result of the independent review by the other solicitor and will confirm our final position on your complaint.
6. In the unlikely event that you still remain unsatisfied, The Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales is available to members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within six years from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining or three years from when you should have known about the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman will usually only consider a complaint if the firm’s internal complaints procedure detailed above has been exhausted within the last six months. The contact details are:-
The Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 8606
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
If you think that a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, you also have the right to notify the firm’s regulator, The Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”). There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. Please note that the SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service and that complaints of that nature should instead be referred to the Legal Ombudsman. For further information about the SRA’s role please visit https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers.