Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to
all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us
about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact our Quality and
Compliance Partner Alisa Willows awillows@wolferstans.com
01752 292269. If we have to change any of the
responsibilities or the timescales set out below we will let you
know and explain why.
What will happen next?
1. Within three working days we
will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you
to confirm or explain any details. We will also let you know
the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
This will usually be the Head of the Department which dealt
with the matter.
2. We will record your complaint
in our central register and open a file for your complaint.
When appropriate we will investigate your complaint by examining
the relevant file.
3. If appropriate we will then
invite you to meet Alisa Willows to discuss and hopefully resolve
your complaint. We would hope to be in a position to meet with you
in this way no longer than 21 working days after first receiving
your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot
arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write fully to
you setting out our views on the situation and any redress that we
feel would be appropriate.
4. Within three working days of
any meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any
suggestions that we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we
could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in
relation to any payment received.
5. At this stage, if you are still
not satisfied or we are unable to resolve your complaint, you can
request that your complaint is reviewed by a member of our
Management Board. We would generally aim to do this within 10
working days of referal to them.
This will usually happen by the Management Board member
reviewing the decision of Alisa Willows, however in appropriate
cases we may deal with the review in one of the following
ways:-
We may arrange for someone else in the firm who has not been
involved in your complaint to review it, for instance if it is
necessary for the reviewer to have specialist knowledge in a
certain area of law. If this is appropriate we will let you
know the name of the person who will be reviewing the decision.
We may invite you to agree to independent mediation. We
will let you know more details about this and how long this process
will take, if this is an appropriate option.
6. We will let you know the result
of the review within five working days of the end of the review. At
this time we will write to you confirming our final position on
your complaint and explaining our reasons.
7. If you object to a
bill, you have the right to apply to the court for an assessment of
the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. The Legal
Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have
already applied to the court for assessment of the bill.
8. If, after following our
internal complaints procedure, you are still not satisfied, you can
contact the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) about your complaint.
The LeO has time limits for dealing with complaints.
You should contact them:-
- after eight weeks of referring your complaint
to us, if it has not been resolved to your satisfaction
- within six months of the date of our written
response to your complaint
- within one year from the act or omission that
you complain of or one year from when you should reasonably have
known there was cause for complaint.
Their contact details are:
Telephone: 0300 555
0333 from 9am to 5pm
Email:
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Address:
PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB
Website
: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
We hope that this will not be necessary and aim to work with you
to resolve the matter before that stage.