However, before you contact the Legal Ombudsman you must first register an official complaint with us. Normally, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve the matter. If after 8 weeks you are still dissatisfied with our response (or you have not received a reply), you can involve the Legal Ombudsman. For more information on how the Legal Ombudsman works please visit https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
In normal circumstances you are required to register a complaint within one year of the act or omission that given cause for complaint or from the date you should have realised there was cause for complaint. You must then give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint before contacting the Legal Ombudsman. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made within 6 months of the date of the conclusion of the Firm's complaints procedure.
The Legal Ombudsman is allowed to exercise discretion to extend the one year time limit for specific clients if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so.
To register a formal complaint, please write to us and include all the information suggested by the Legal Ombudsman - their website includes some useful resources.
In addition to the Legal Ombudsman, several other complaints bodies exist which are also able to deal with complaints about legal services including:
You may also choose to make a report to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could be if you are concerned about our professional behaviour or conduct, such as for things like dishonesty, deliberately overcharging you, or treating you unfairly because of a characteristic such as your age, sex or disability.
You can find out how to make a report at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor or contact the SRA at the below
Solicitors Regulation Authority,
The Cube,
199 Wharfside Street,
Birmingham,
B1 1RN
Tel: 0370 606 2555