Complaints

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then we want to hear about it, so that we can put it right.

To raise a concern or make a complaint about our services or a bill, please in the first instance raise it with the person who is handling your case on a day to day basis. 

If you do not consider this appropriate, or they are not able to resolve the problem to your satisfaction, please contact the person who has been identified as having ultimate responsibility for your matter or thereafter, the Compliance Officer for the Legal Practice, James Hollingsworth, email: james.hollingsworth@lauruslaw.co.uk. 

Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case and you will not be charged for time spent handling your complaint.

We want the opportunity to put the matter right; we hope and expect to be able to reach a satisfactory solution with you. We have 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint under this procedure.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman may be able to help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. 

They will look at complaints independently and accessing the Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your case. Most ‘consumer’ clients (as opposed to large businesses) will be able to make use of the Ombudsman scheme however there are restrictions for some larger clients. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will normally check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. You must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us. From 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman also expects complaints to be made to them within 1 year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned (prior to 1 April 2023: 6 years) or within 1 year of you realising there was a concern (prior to 1 April 2023: 3 years). The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them:

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Post: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Please note that the Ombudsman are there to deal with concerns about the level of service received.  Where there are more serious concerns that a solicitor or solicitor’s firm have been involved in professional misconduct then reports can also be made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the regulator of solicitors and solicitor firms. This could be for quite unusual and serious acts of misconduct such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. 

Obviously we do not anticipate any such problems arising and would ask that you notify the matter supervisor straight away if you have any such concerns. You can find out more about the Solicitors Regulation Authority including their contact details on their website: www.sra.org.uk.

An offline copy of this Complaints Handling Procedure is also available to download here.