Our aim is to provide the best possible service to our clients.

If you are dissatisfied by the service we have provided to you, you are encouraged to raise the issue with us at the earliest opportunity.  We find that this is the best way to ensure that any issues are resolved without them becoming serious.

Our procedure ensures that complaints are dealt with promptly, fairly, and free of charge.

We encourage clients who have any concerns regarding the quality of our service to contact us immediately.  Our experience is that most concerns can be quickly remedied and the earlier it is brought to our attention the less likely it is that a serious problem will develop.

You are encouraged at first instance to contact the solicitor or other file handler responsible for the matter for which you have instructed us.  Although you can do this by telephone the preference is that you write to us as this assists in our monitoring of matters.  If, for any reason, you are uncomfortable with the thought of contacting the person with responsibility for the matter you may contact one of the partners, Mrs Johnson or Mr Bartalotta.

If we are not immediately able to respond and resolve the matter we will give you a time frame for a response.  We will often respond by way of a telephone call but this will be followed with a confirmatory letter or e-mail.  If the issue is relatively complex we will send an initial written reply inviting your comments if you are dissatisfied with our reply.

If you cannot resolve the issue with the file handler responsible for the matter which is the subject of your instructions you should contact Mr Bartalotta who is the complaints partner.  If your complaint concerns Mr Bartalotta you should address your complaint to Mrs Johnson.

On receipt of your complaint Mrs Johnson or Mr Bartalotta will acknowledge it within seven days and give you an estimate of how long it will take to respond.  The time it will take to respond will depend upon the complexity of the matter and the availability of the file handler responsible for the matter to be interviewed.  We aim in all cases to give a full response in no more than 21 days of receipt of the complaint to Mrs Johnson or Mr Bartalotta.

When Mrs Johnson and Mr Bartalotta have had the opportunity to consider the complaint they will contact you.  If they contact you by telephone with a response it will be followed in writing.

We will allow you 14 days to respond to our reply to your complaint although we will be willing to extend this period by way of prior request.

Our complaints procedure will not take more than 8 weeks to reach a conclusion.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint:

If we are unable to resolve your complaint then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.

The Legal Ombudsman expects 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. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. 

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.