PETER BROWN & CO SOLICITORS LLP

COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE

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. If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you or you have concerns about your bill, then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you.

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next? 

  1. We will send you an email or letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Robin Church or Alan Magnus who are the partners responsible for handling complaints. They will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
  3. They will then send you a detailed reply to your complaint by email or letter, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement.
  4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and they will arrange for another partner to review their decision.
  5. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint?

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks after you have brought it to our attention, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about poor service from lawyers.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.  If you have then you must take your complaint to the Ombudsman

  • within six months of receiving our final response to your complaint

and

  • no more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

For more information about the Legal Ombudsman contact:

Do not send original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.

What to do if you are unhappy with out behaviour:

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for concerns about 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 SRA | Reporting a solicitor or firm to us | Solicitors Regulation Authority

  1. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
  2. We will not charge you for handling your complaint.

Revised November 2023

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