Complaints Policy
Everybody makes mistakes. We are human. It is essential though that everyone at Good Law Practice acknowledges when something might have gone wrong and discusses it with the management team.
The SRA Code of Conduct requires us to:
- deal with clients’ complaints promptly, fairly, openly and effectively
- inform clients if we discover any act or omission which could give rise to a claim by them against us
- identify, monitor and manage risks, and take steps to address issues identified
- report certain information to the SRA, including (amongst other things) “serious misconduct by any person or firm authorised by the SRA”
This is more than just a professional responsibility. Acknowledging mistakes helps us to learn from them, to improve our procedures and retain our reputation as an ethical and fair firm. Good Law Practice is committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to sort out any mistakes or misunderstandings and to improve our standards.
Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint please raise the problem with the member of staff responsible for your matter, who will seek to resolve your complaint with you.
If your complaint is still not resolved, or you do not feel able to raise it with the relevant member of staff, please contact our Managing Director, Lochlinn Parker. You can write or email or telephone Mr Parker at lparker@goodlawpractice.com . In most instances he will involve the members of staff who acted for you before formally responding to your complaint.
If your complaint concerns Mr Parker your complaint with be dealt with by our COFA, Mr Bernard Stotesbury bstotesbury@goodlawpractice.com .
If we have to change any of the timescales set out below we will let you know and explain why.
What Will Happen Next?
- Mr Parker will either telephone you or send you a letter acknowledging your complaint. He may ask you to confirm our understanding of your complaint or to give further details of any points arising. If it seems appropriate, he may suggest a meeting at this stage. At the outset he will let you know whether he or someone else will be dealing with it.
- You can expect Mr Parker to acknowledge receipt of your complaint either by letter, email or telephone call and you may also expect Mr Parker to acknowledge receipt of any letter or email you send to him regarding your complaint. The acknowledgement will explain what will happen next.
- We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will also investigate your complaint by examining the relevant file.
- Once we have completed our investigation, we will write to you (ordinarily within twenty-one days of your initial complaint) or we may invite you to meet with Mr Parker to discuss and, it is hoped, resolve your complaint. Alternatively, we may write or email to you or telephone you about your complaint.
- Within five days of any meeting with you we will write to confirm what took place and any suggestions we have agreed with you. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let Mr Parker know. He will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within 14 days. This will happen in one of the following ways: –
- Mr Parker will review his own decision;
- Mr Parker will arrange for another appropriately senior member of staff in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it.
- We may ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. We will let you know how long this process will take;
- We may invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
- We will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
- If you are still not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response on your complaint but for further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organisations unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman.
