Complaints procedure

Our aim is to provide clients with outstanding levels of service. However, we do recognise that occasions may arise when you wish to raise a complaint. You should direct your complaint directly to the relevant lawyer in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact our compliance officer, James, directly, who will deal with your complaint in accordance with our internal procedure (which we set out below).

1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 7 days and explain to you in plain language how we will deal with your complaint.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This involves speaking with the individuals involved and reviewing your file and papers. It may also include one or more meetings with you.
3. It is our intention to report on the outcome of the investigation within 28 days of the date when we sent you the acknowledgment of complaint. If we need more time, we will get in touch with you and let you know.

If you are not a client of this firm but you wish to complain about the conduct of the firm or its staff, you should send details of your complaint to the compliance officer (james@lawforddavies.com).

What happens when we cannot resolve your complaint?

If we are unable to resolve your complaint you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman will consider your complaint independently, and contacting the Legal Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your case. Before accepting to investigate a complaint, the Legal Ombudsman will make sure that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. There are time limits that apply to asking the Legal Ombudsman to consider complaints: you need to contact the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us; and no more than six years from the date of the incident that you complain of (or more than three years from the date when you should have reasonably been aware that there was a reason to complain).

You can find further details on how to contact the Legal Ombudsman here.

You should also note that the Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for it to be assessed.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about an aspect of our work for you. 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 directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.