Claire Nash Solicitors – Complaints Procedure

COMPLAINTS HANDLING POLICY – CLAIRE NASH SOLICITORS

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to our clients. This includes a commitment to putting things right when they go wrong. This policy explains how we will deal with any complaint and is exclusively for the use of clients. If you are not a client of the firm and are unhappy with our conduct please see the separate Non-Client complaints procedure below.

Our complaints procedure for clients
If you have experienced a problem, thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We will do our best to address any dissatisfaction that you have experienced in using the services of this firm in a prompt and fair manner. Our primary objective is to put things right.

We will always try to deal with any complaint by speaking with you about it right away, however if you prefer us not to or it is evident that a detailed review of your matter is going to be required, the rest of this policy will apply.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is dealing with your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues either by email, post or over the phone. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case and we will not charge you for dealing with your complaint.

If you do not wish to contact the person dealing with your matter please contact Claire Nash. You can contact her by post at:

Claire Nash
Claire Nash Solicitors
Suite 1 Clock House Court
Beacon Road
Crowborough
TN6 1AF

or by e-mail at claire@clairenashsolicitors.co.uk

So that we can work on resolving any issues you have encountered, it is helpful if you put your concerns in writing, giving your full name and contact details, your preferred method of communication i.e. email, post or phone call, what you think we have got wrong, what you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint and how you would like us to put things right. If you would prefer not to provide this information in writing, or if you would find it difficult to do so, Claire Nash can be contacted by phone on 01892 731 082. If you have special needs which we should take into account due to language or disability, please let us know. To explain to you how long our process might take we have included our target times for each stage of the process. Where, for any reason, it is not possible to observe any of these limits we will let you know and explain why
Action: Acknowledge the complaint in
writing and send a copy of this complaints procedure to you.
Timescale: Preferably on the date of receipt of the complaint, and certainly within two working days.

Action: Invite you to a meeting or to discuss the issues by telephone.
Timescale: Within two working days of providing the complaints procedure.

Action: Confirm the outcome of the meeting or telephone conversation in writing – identifying the agreed reasons for the complaint.
Timescale: Within three working days of the meeting/telephone conversation.

Action: Investigate the issues.
Timescale: Within 15 working days of identifying the reasons for the complaint.

Action: If a meeting/telephone discussion is not possible or required:
Investigate the issues and write to you with the outcome
Timescale: Within 20 working days of inviting you to a meeting or to discuss by telephone.

Action: Review and close the complaint
Timescale: Within 8 weeks of receiving the complaint.

The person dealing with your complaint will investigate your complaint thoroughly and fairly. Having completed their investigation, they will write to you to set out this firm’s response.

The result of the investigation
If you do not accept the result of the investigation you are entitled to refer a complaint about the service you have received to the Legal Ombudsman.

You must usually refer your complaint to LeO within six months of our final written response to your complaint and within one year of the act or omission about which you are complaining (or no later than one year of you becoming aware of it).

Further details can be found on their website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Please note the LeO operates within certain rules that are available on their website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk. For example, the LeO will only consider complaints from individuals, small businesses, charities, clubs, societies, associations and trusts. In addition, LeO will only process certain types of complaint. You should also be aware the LeO may not deal with a complaint about a bill if you apply to the court for assessment of the bill.

The contact details for LeO are:
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough
SL1 0EH

T: 0300 555 0333

E: enquires@legalombudsman.org.uk

NGT Lite:18001 0300 555 0333 Minicom text phone: 18002 0300 555 0333

LeO’s service is free to use.

If your complaint cannot be dealt with by LeO, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) may be able to assist you. The SRA website provides information on non-judicial resolution services available to you when you wish to complain about a solicitor. You can access this information by following this link: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems.page.

The contact details for the SRA are:
Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN

Our complaints procedure for non-clients

If you believe that we have behaved dishonestly, illegally, in breach of the SRA’s principles, or for some other reason you are dissatisfied with our conduct and you are not a client of this firm, you should raise the subject of your complaint with the person with whom you are dealing, or against whom the complaint is made, and if your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction at that level you should email claire@clairenashsolicitors.co.uk or write to our Claire Nash at

Claire Nash
Claire Nash Solicitors
Suite 1 Clock House Court
Beacon Road
Crowborough
TN6 1AF

We will deal with complaints from third parties in a similar manner to our client process. A third party is any person including solicitors who are not a client of this firm. Escalation to the Legal Ombudsman may not be applicable to all third party complaints. Please note that our duty of confidentiality to our clients will remain of the upmost importance.