Complaints Procedure

March 2025

Client feedback and complaints

We are committed to providing an excellent standard of service to our clients and we believe in building long-term relationships with you. We therefore greatly value your feedback so we can continually improve our service. However, if you feel that we are not delivering our usual high standards, or feel that we can improve something, we would like you to tell us.

How to give feedback or make a complaint

Wherever possible we ask you to discuss any feedback or concerns with the lawyer dealing with your matter informally first, as they might be able to resolve your concerns without the need to make a formal complaint.

However, if your concern cannot be resolved, or the issue is serious or sensitive, please make a formal complaint under this policy by contacting our complaints partner.

How to make a formal complaint under this policy

To help us investigate and provide a thorough response to your concerns, we need to understand the issues involved, so please contact us by email, briefly outlining why you feel unhappy with our service, how you would like to be contacted and if there is anything in particular that we can do to resolve your complaint.

Please address your concerns to:

Complaints Director, Chancery House, 41a Hanger Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, England, KT13 9XZ

If you would prefer, you can speak to our complaints partner to discuss the best way forward (for example, by phone, a face-to-face meeting or video call).

 

What happens after you have made a complaint under this policy?

We will:

  • Acknowledge your complaint in writing within five working days of receiving it.
  • Investigate your concerns diligently, impartially and fairly, which might include reviewing your file and related records and liaising with the team working on your matter. We might arrange a discussion with you to try to resolve the issues within 4 weeks of receiving your complaint.
  • Let you know promptly if we need any further information and provide you with updates on the progress of your complaint every two weeks.
  • Write to you providing a formal Final Response to Complaint setting out the conclusion of our investigation and any proposals to resolve the matter.
  • At the end of our complaints process we will remind you about what you can do if you are unhappy with the outcome, including how you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (this information is set out in this complaints procedure).
  • Ask you to let us know whether we have resolved your concerns and, if you accept any proposals made, we will fulfil the proposals promptly.

There is no fee for making a complaint and no charge for investigating and responding to your concerns.

If your legal matter is ongoing it will progress as normal and will not be affected by the complaints process, assuming there are no new conflicts of interest, and you continue to comply with the terms of our engagement as per our engagement letter and terms of business.

 

Do you still have to pay your bill if you are complaining?

You still need to pay our invoices regardless of the investigation of your complaint (as per our terms of business).

However, please be assured that we will reimburse you promptly if any adjustment or reduction in costs need to be made at the conclusion of the investigation.

 

How long will it take?

We will aim to conclude our investigation and provide our Final Response as quickly as possible. However, please allow up to eight weeks from receipt of your complaint.

In exceptional circumstances we may need to extend this timescale, in which case we will write to you first.

If your complaint is not resolved within eight weeks, you may be entitled to contact the Legal Ombudsman at that time.

 

What might the outcome of your complaint be?

If we conclude that our service has fallen below our usual high standards, we will not hesitate to apologise and to make any appropriate proposals to resolve or improve your situation. These may include, for example, an offer of compensation, reduced fees, further assistance or other proposals depending on the circumstances.

We will also take internal steps to ensure that any issues you experienced will not occur in the future.

 

What if you are still not satisfied?

If you are still dissatisfied with our Final Response, or you have not received a Final Response within eight weeks of receiving your complaint (however unlikely), you may be entitled to complain to the Legal Ombudsman about our service. They usually expect you to have exhausted the complaints procedure before referring to them.

The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints independently and it will not affect how we handle your case (if ongoing).

Most private individuals and smaller organisational or business clients will be able to use the Legal Ombudsman scheme. However, there are restrictions for larger organisational and business clients, which can be found in the Scheme Rules (see the Legal Ombudsman website below).

There are time limits to the service, so if you do wish to contact the Legal Ombudsman, you should do so immediately after our complaints process has concluded. The Legal Ombudsman can, at its discretion, consider a complaint to be out of time.

In general you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving our Final Response and either within one year of the date of the act or omission, or within one year of you realising that you had concerns.

 

Contacting the Legal Ombudsman

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman, or find further information at:

www.legalombudsman.org.uk

T 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

E enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Post Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

 

Complaints about your bill

If you are complaining about our bill, in addition to referring your complaint, you may be entitled to ask the court to assess your costs under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. However, if you have done so, the Legal Ombudsman may not be able to consider a complaint about the same issues.

 

Concerns about professional misconduct

The Legal Ombudsman service considers complaints about the quality of legal services that clients receive. In the unlikely event that you have more serious concerns regarding professional misconduct then you  may be able to refer this to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We do not anticipate any such problems arising and we ask you to notify the matter supervisor straight away if you have any such concerns. You can find out more about the Solicitors Regulation Authority (including their contact details) and the Standards and Regulations governing the conduct of solicitors and law firms at: www.sra.org.uk. You will find information on reporting a concern at www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.

 

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

There are other ADR services providers that are competent in dealing with legal complaints including ProMediate. However, Bond Clarke believes that the Legal Ombudsman offers our clients the most appropriate forum to resolve their concerns. Therefore, we do not have an alternative ADR procedure and do not agree to use another ADR organisation.