FINN GLEDHILL COMPLAINTS POLICY
Finn Gledhill are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards. Initially it would be helpful to raise your concerns with the fee earner dealing with your matter but if your complaint is not resolved please use our procedure set out below.
If you have a complaint against us you may, at any stage, refer that complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, whose contact details are given at the end of these notes. To the extent to which you are prepared for the matter to be dealt with by way of our own complaints procedure however the matter will be dealt with as set out in this leaflet.
OUR COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
The Client Care Partner, Carol Stevenson will pass your complaint to the Unit Head in charge of the department involved in your complaint.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and may ask you to confirm or explain the details. You will be given the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You may normally expect to receive an acknowledgement within seven days of receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for it.
3. We will then investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:
a. The fee earner who acted for you being asked to comment on your complaint. This is likely to take at least one week and perhaps longer depending on the complexity of the matter.
b. Our examining the fee earner’s reply and if necessary asking him or her for more information.
4. We will then send you a reply to your complaint. Every endeavour will be made to do this within an overall period of 20 working days but this will depend on the complexity of the matter. Our reply will include our suggestions for resolving the matter.
5. If, at this stage, you are still not satisfied, you may write to us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:
a. The Unit Head in charge of the department concerned reviewing his or her decision.
b. Our arranging for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it.
c. Carol Stevenson as Client Care Partner reviewing the complaint.
d. Our inviting you to agree to consider mediation. You will be told how long this process is likely to take.
6. We will inform you of the result of the review within seven days of the completion of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
7. At any stage we may also suggest a meeting to resolve the matter and if a meeting takes place within two days of the meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that have been agreed.
8. We would normally hope to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving it although this may not be possible in certain instances particularly if our professional indemnity insurers become involved.
9. You have an overriding right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ within 6 months of receiving our final response to your complaint although the Ombudsman encourages initial telephone contact on 0300 555 0333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Their web site includes some useful information.
From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be no later than:
• one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.
If we need to change any of the time scales mentioned above we will let you know and explain why.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority at www.sra.og.uk