We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us learn from our mistakes and misunderstandings, and improve our standards.
If you feel you have a complaint, please raise the problem with the person responsible for your file, or the partner who supervises that fee-earner. Problems can often be resolved at this stage. However, if you prefer or think the matter sufficiently serious, you can raise the matter directly with our complaints partner – Mr Adam Weston
If you have any special needs which we should take into account due to language or disability please let us know. We aim to deal with complaints according to the following timetable:
What will happen next?
1 We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within 2 working days of us receiving your complaint.
2 We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint.
3 We will then investigate your complaint. This could include the following steps.
Mr Weston, our client care partner and complaints partner will contact the member of staff who acted for you, and ask them to write to you if necessary.
He will then look at the information in your complaint file.
4 Within 14 days of starting the investigation, Mr Weston will then invite you to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He may offer you a chance to discuss the matter by telephone or in a meeting with him.
5 Within 3 working days of the conversation, Mr Weston will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
6 If a meeting or conversation is not possible, Mr Weston will send you a detailed reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter within 21 days of your initial letter.
7 At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can contact us again. We will
then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways.
A partner at Thomson Webb & Corfield who is unconnected with the matter will review Mr Weston’s decision.
We may ask another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. We will let you know how long this process will take.
We may invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
8 We will let you know the result of the review within 14 days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explain our reasons.
9 If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ about your complaint. Any complaint to the Ombudsman must usually be made within 6 months of the date of our final correspondence with you. For further information you can contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Please note this service cannot be used by businesses or organisations unless they are below a certain size. The Legal Ombudsman can investigate complaints for up to 6 years from the date a problem occurred or within 3 years from when you found the problem.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority right to complain link – SRA | Your right to complain | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Legal Ombudsman link – Bring your complaint to us | Legal Ombudsman