When a party fails to disclose assets in divorce proceedings, the courts are entitled to draw appropriate inferences from the non-disclosure. This was demonstrated in a recent case in which the Family Court described the husband's conduct of the...
As a firm we are committed to providing quality legal services to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it, this will help us to maintain and improve the quality of our service.
How do you make a complaint?
You can contact us in writing, either by letter or email or by telephone.
Step 1
a) Please raise your concerns initially with the Fee Earner who is dealing with the matter for you. Although you may raise your concerns by telephone or in person, to avoid any misunderstanding it is always helpful to have this in writing or by email.
b) If your complaint is about a Fee Earner who is a Head of Department or a Partner you should still in the first instance raise your complaint with them.
c) The Fee Earner will then acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days of its receipt, and he/she will seek any necessary clarification from you, should that be necessary, as soon as possible after that.
d) Your complaint will then be investigated by the Fee Earner concerned who will reply to you in writing or by email within a further twenty one working days. We will write to you with a detailed response to your complaint, and with any suggestions for resolving it to our mutual satisfaction.
Step 2
a) If you remain dissatisfied with the response from the Fee Earner and our proposed method of resolution, you should then contact the Head of Department to provide him or her with details of your complaint.
b) If your complaint is about a fee earner who is a Head of Department or a Partner then your complaint will be reviewed by our Complaints Director, currently Simon Potts, who is based at our Bexleyheath Office.
c) Our engagement letter to you will have confirmed details of the Head of Department, but if you do not have this to hand, the relevant information can be obtained from any of our offices or the “Our People” section of our website at https://www.tgbaynes.com.
d) The Head of Department will review your complaint and the Fee Earner’s response and having done so will then write to you confirming our final position on your complaint. We will endeavour to explain our reasoning in reaching a conclusion.
You must give us eight weeks to try to resolve your complaint.
This will conclude our internal complaints procedure.
Please note
a) Any changes to the above timescales will be confirmed to you with an explanation.
b) You will not be charged for the cost of handling your complaint.
c) Our Complaints Director is Simon Potts who is at our Bexleyheath Office. Although there are only limited occasions where he will be involved directly in your complaint, as set out above, should you feel it necessary to contact him, he is based at our Bexleyheath office and can be contacted at simonp@tgbaynes.com
What happens if we cannot resolve your complaint?
The Legal Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided then you have the right to complain. The Legal Ombudsman service has been operational since October 6th, 2010 and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are dealt with appropriately.
However, before you contact the Legal Ombudsman you must first register an official complaint with us. Normally, the Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve the matter. If after 8 weeks you are still dissatisfied you can then involve the Legal Ombudsman. For more information on how the Legal Ombudsman works please visit the Legal Ombudsman website.
If we have been unable to resolve your complaint to our mutual satisfaction, you may then contact the Legal Ombudsman.
You must have tried to resolve your complaint with us before the Legal Ombudsman will investigate your complaint further.
You should take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of concluding our internal complaints procedure.
For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167,
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone : 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Timescales
In normal circumstances you are required to register a complaint within one year. You must then give us eight weeks to try to resolve your complaint before contacting the Legal Ombudsman. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made within six months of the date of the conclusion of the Firm's complaints procedure. In summary:
- You must register your complaint with us within one year
- The Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us eight weeks to try to resolve your complaint
- After this time, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman:
- You must do so within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us;
- No more than one year from the date of act/omission or;
- No more than one year from when you should have reasonably known there was cause for complaint
What should you do if you are upset about our behaviour?
If you are concerned about our behaviour in respect of matters such as dishonesty, losing your money, a disability or other characteristics or treating you unfairly because of your age then you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
You can visit their website for more information - www.sra.org.uk
If your complaint concerns an invoice
If your complaint includes a complaint about the firm’s invoice, there may be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If all or part of an invoice remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
There are bodies that offer ADR to resolve complaints about legal services should both you and this firm agreeing to do so such as ProMediate http://www.promediate.co.uk. However, we have chosen not to formally adopt an ADR process. Any further complaint after the conclusion of our internal complaints procedure needs to be referred to the Legal ombudsman.
Getting Started
To register a formal complaint, please use the form below - your comments will automatically be assigned a tracking number and you will receive an email from us to confirm receipt. Obviously you can also start your complaint by writing to us but in that case please title your letter "Formal Complaint".