Complaints Procedure

One of the best ways to gauge the quality of the service we provide is by the feedback we receive from our clients. Any letters of thanks received from clients will be referred to the fee earners concerned.

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and are committed to high quality legal advice and client care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service.  

However, if our clients would like to discuss how the service to them could be improved, the level of their bill, or should there be any aspect of our service with which they are not satisfied.

If you are unhappy with any element of the invoices that we issue to you, you have a right to object to the invoices and may have the right to apply for an assessment of the invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

We are committed to high quality legal advice and client care and are keen to resolve any concerns as soon as possible and in order to do this, will follow our complaints procedure.

Step 1: Contact the Supervisor with overall responsibility of your Case

Under the terms of our Client Complaints Procedure, if you have any complaint, you are invited in the first instance to direct the same to the Supervisor with overall responsibility for your case, so that we may resolve your complaint on an informal basis if possible.

Step 2: Send a Formal Complaint

Should it not be possible to resolve your complaint informally and you wish to make a formal complaint, you should direct your complaint to our Client Handling Manager by e-mailing complaints@clklegal.co.uk. Alternatively, you may contact our Office at 02038860378.

Our Client Handling Manager will write to you acknowledging your complaint within ten working days.  In this letter, we shall confirm what happens next.

Step 3: We investigate your complaint

We will investigate your complaint and will advise you of the timescale.

If, for some reason, the matter cannot be investigated in this timescale, we will notify you accordingly and advise on the reason and a new timescale.

Once the investigation has been completed, our Client Handling Manager shall invite you to a meeting to discuss the issue(s) you have raised and hopefully resolve the complaint.  This meeting will take place within fourteen days of sending the acknowledgement letter to you. 

Following the meeting, our Client Handling Manager shall write to you within five working days of the meeting to confirm the discussion and the solution agreed upon.

If you do not want to or are unable to attend such a meeting (or the meeting is not necessary), we will be happy to send you a detailed, written response, including the proposed solution, within fourteen working days of sending the letter acknowledging receipt of the complaint.

Step 4: Final Response

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 will be invited to contact our Client Handling Manager again and they will arrange for another senior member of staff who is unconnected with the matter to review the decision.   They will write to you within fourteen days of receiving the request with confirmation of the firm’s final position in relation to the complaint, outlining the reasons and any final redress that is offered.

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint in circumstances where the complaint relates to the quality of the work we did for you or if you believe our charges are unjustified.

Step 5: If you are not satisfied with our Final Response

We hope that we have been able to resolve your complaint within a satisfactory manner. However, if you feel that we have been unable to do so, you may wish to pursue your complaint via other avenues. These avenues are registering your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

You must always try complaining to us first. In most cases, neither the Legal Ombudsman or the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will not be able to take your complaint further without allowing us the opportunity to put things right.

The 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 our clients are advised that they may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.

Clients are free to refer any complaint about our work, fees or level of service but there are some conditions and time limits. 

• Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the client having received a final written response from us about their complaint.  
• Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six years of the act or omission about which the client is complaining occurring; or
• Within three years from when the client should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint.  The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness was before 6 October 2010.

However, please note that from 1 April 2023 that these time limits are changing.

From the 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.

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 PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

Alternatively, the SRA may be approached in the event that your complaint relates to an issue of honesty or in the event that you believe a solicitor has acted in contravention of the regulations governing solicitor’s behaviour. ​

If someone thinks a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, they 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.

For Further Information

If you are unclear regarding our Complaints Procedure, we welcome you to contact us at complaints@clklegal.co.uk.