HORNE ENGALL & FREEMAN LLP – COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you wish to make a complaint about how your matter has been or is being dealt with, then please contact Mr Nicholas Jamison in writing detailing the issues. The complaint will then follow the below process.
- When he is in receipt of your complaint he will then acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days by post or by email to confirm he is dealing with the matter. Our aim is to identify what caused the complaint, deal with any issues within our procedures that may have caused the complaint, and identify if any appropriate redress is due to you and how we can resolve your concerns.We will ensure that you know that we have taken your complaint seriously, that we review and deal with it in a timely manner and that you get a prompt response.
- This acknowledgement will advise you how the complaint will be handed and the timescale in which you will receive an initial response and a substantive response.
- Your file will be requested for Mr Jamison to review in full and consider the contents and aspects of your complaint. The fee earner will also be asked to comment on the matters being considered within 5 working days of the request from Mr Jamison.
- Mr Jamison will aim to provide a response to the complaint within 10 working days and if there is any delay to this to advise you and explain why.
- If the complaint can be resolved through written communication, this will be done within a timely manner.
- It may be appropriate for you to have a meeting with Mr Jamison with regard to your complaint. This may be used to agree a way forward to resolve the complaint and Mr Jamison can then take appropriate action. The fee earner would not usually be present at this meeting.
- If a meeting still does not resolve the issue, then Mr Jamison will reconsider the complaint and the information available and consider further suggestions with the aim of resolving the complaint fully.
- If the complaint still cannot be resolved, the complaint will be passed to the other partner of the firm Susan Webster. You will be advised in writing of the expected timescale for this.
- Mrs Webster will provide a final position on the complaint in writing for the client and fully explaining the conclusion arrived at.
- Our process above if followed all the way to the end should not take more than 8 weeks.
In the event that after the above you are still not happy, then you would need to refer you complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA.
The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about legal services. They expect complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. For the Legal Ombudsman, you must contact them within 6 months of receiving our final response to your complaint, or within 1 year from the date of the act or omission that you are complaining about or 1 year from the date that you ought reasonably to have know that there was cause for complaint.
A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman should relate to the work we have done or our bill.
Please note as a general rule the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if a client has applied to the Court for assessment of the bill.
The Legal Ombudsman may consider complaints made after these deadlines if it is fair and reasonable for them to do so. They may decide not to pursue a complaint if:
(a) there was no significant loss, distress, inconvenience, or detriment;
(b) the size or complexity of the complaint, or your behaviour, results in the complaint requiring a disproportionate use of resources;
(c) there has been undue delay in bringing the complaint;
(d) you have already accepted a reasonable offer we made.
Complaints about a client’s rights under the General Data Protection Regulation must be submitted to the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk.
Any disputes or legal issues arising from our Client Care and Terms of Business will be determined by the laws of England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts.
To contact the legal ombudsman please contact them on the link below or using the details below.
https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/how-to-complain/
Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm on 0300 555 0333. Calling from overseas +44 121 245 3050. Relay UK 18001 0300 555 0333
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Information relating to reporting concerns about an individual or a firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is available on the SRA Website. Please note that the SRA does not deal with complaints about poor service.
The SRA can be contacted at:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47
0370 606 2555