Do you have a complaint?
Every Barrister and Clerk in Chambers wants to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy with the service provided to you then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. You may complain directly to Chambers without going through solicitors, albeit you are free to complain to Chambers through solicitors if you wish.
We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints, this is set out below. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. Ordinarily you must have tried resolving your complaint with us first but if we are unable to help you then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman (subject to their Scheme Rules).
Our complaints procedure
You may make a complaint verbally or in writing. If you wish to make a verbal complaint then please telephone Alan Conner, the Senior Clerk, on 01202 250025. He will seek to resolve your concerns. However, if the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction you are invited to make a written complaint in accordance with the procedure set out below.
If you wish to complain in writing please address your complaint to: The Senior Clerk (or Head of Chambers if the complaint concerns the Senior Clerk), King’s Bench Chambers, 10 Basepoint Business Centre, Aviation Business Park, Bournemouth, BH23 6NX. Please include your name, address, the member of Chambers you are complaining about, details of the complaint and what you would like done to resolve your concerns.
On receipt your complaint will be referred to the Head of Chambers or a member of the Management Committee. We will, where possible, acknowledge your written complaint within 7 days of receipt.
Where appropriate an experienced Barrister, independent of the person complained of, will be given responsibility to investigate your complaint and they will seek to resolve your concerns. You will be informed of the identity of any person responsible for resolving your complaint.
The person responsible for resolving your complaint will aim to investigate and resolve your complaint within 21 days of the matter being referred to them. You will receive any final written response within eight weeks of us receiving your complaint (as allowed by the Ombudsman); albeit we will endeavour to provide a final written response more quickly.
All conversations and documents will be kept confidential as far as practicable. We retain records of complaints. In addition to using the information you provide us with to investigate and resolve your complaint we use the information to monitor Chambers response to complaints generally.
Chambers will not consider complaints made more than six years from the date of the act or omission complained of, or more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint (if the act or omission took place more than six years ago).
The Legal Ombudsman
If you are unhappy with our final response your may contact the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates problems about poor service from lawyers. Full details of the type of complaints they can deal with and who can complain to them are set out in the Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules, which can be found on their website or by contacting them.
The Legal Ombudsman has time limits for investigating complaints, they are:
1. Within six months of receiving a final response from us to your complaint; and
2. Six years from the date of the act/omission; or
3. Three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint (if the act took place more than six years ago).
The act or omission, or when you should have reasonably known there was cause for complaint, must have been after 5 October 2010.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman their contact details are set out below.
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 8.30am to 5.30pm.
(Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01or 02) from both mobiles and landlines, and will be included as part of any inclusive call minutes or discount schemes in the same way as geographic calls. Calls are recorded and may be used for training and monitoring purposes.)
For minicom call: 0300 555 1777
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Do not send original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send us to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.
Decision Data
Decision data from the Legal Ombudsman website.
