COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE
OUR COMPLAINTS POLICY
We are committed to providing high-quality legal advice and client care to all of our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
OUR COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Step 1
If you wish to make a formal complaint, we would prefer that your complaint be confirmed in writing in order that any scope for misunderstanding can be avoided. However this is not obligatory and you are welcome to provide the details to our COLP (Compliance Office for Legal Practice) Paul O’Keeffe over the telephone or face to face. If you are making your complainant in writing, please contact Paul O’Keeffe either by email at or by letter to O’Keeffe Law, 106A The Parade, Leamington Spa, CV32 4AQ. If the complaint is about Paul O’Keeffe please contact Cath McMillan at or by letter at O’Keeffe Law, 106A The Parade, Leamington Spa, CV32 4AQ.
Step 2
We will write to you acknowledging your complaint within five working days. In this letter, we will confirm what happens next.
Step Three
We shall then investigate the matter by reviewing the matter file and speaking to the member of staff concerned within ten working days of acknowledging receipt of your complaint. If, for some reason, the matter cannot be investigated in this timeframe, then we will write to you notifying you of this together with the reason why and giving a revised timescale.
Once the investigation has been completed, we will invite you to discuss the issue(s) you have raised and hopefully resolve the complaint. This could be a meeting, video conference call or telephone call and we can discuss your preference and what may be suitable at that time. This process of engagement will take place within ten working days of our concluding the investigation of the matter.
We will write to you within five working days of any meeting or phone call to confirm our discussion and the solution agreed upon and/or any final redress that is offered.
Alternatively, if you do not want to or are unable to attend such a meeting or you would prefer to continue to correspond by letter or email (or if a meeting is not required), we will send you a detailed, written response, including our proposed solution, within fifteen working days of our concluding our investigation.
Step Four
If you are satisfied with our response following the above steps, that will be the end of the matter. However, if you are not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will review our decision or, depending on the circumstances, will arrange for a member of staff who is unconnected with the matter to review our decision. We will write to you within ten days of receiving your request with confirmation of the firm’s final position in relation to your complaint, outlining the reasons and any final redress that is offered.
Step Five (other avenues)
You must always try complaining to us first. In most cases you will not be able to take your complaint further without allowing us the opportunity to put things right.
Legal Ombudsman
We are permitted a minimum of eight weeks to consider the complaint. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us within that timeframe, then you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.
You are free to refer any complaint about our work, fees or level of service but there are some conditions and time limits. Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of you having received a final written response from us about your complaint. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within one year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring; or within one year from when you should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint.
For further information, please contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk. The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted at Legal Ombudsman, P O Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
If you think a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, you also have the right to notify our 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 (complaints of this nature should instead be referred to the Legal Ombudsman). For further information about the SRA’s role, please contact the SRA or visit:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page#report.