Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. We hope that you will never have reason
to complain about our service to you or about a bill that we send you. However, if something does go wrong, please
bring it to our attention as soon as possible. We will try to resolve the matter fairly and quickly.
How do I complain?
If you have a complaint, please refer to the letter of
engagement that you were sent at the start of your
matter. That will give the name of the person with overall
responsibility for supervision of your matter. In the first
instance, you should address your complaint to that
person. They will be a partner and normally the head of
department. In many cases they will be able to find a swift
resolution to your complaint without the need for a
formal process.
We prefer that substantial or complicated complaints are
set out in writing. However, we realise that not all clients
may be able to formulate a detailed letter. In such cases,
a telephone call will suffice, during which we will make a
note of the issues and send that to you for comment. This
document will then form the basis of the complaint.
The person dealing with your complaint will inform
Andrew Holt, who is the firm’s Complaints Partner, that a
complaint has been made. He will record that fact on our
complaints register and monitor progress of the
complaint.
We hope that this simple procedure will deal with your
concerns. However, if it does not do so you should write
to Andrew Holt. He is based in our main office, Lanes End
House in Brighton; his email address is
andrew.holt@coolebevisllp.com If the complaint relates
to Andrew Holt, it will be dealt with by Jonathan Everett in
the Worthing office.
What will happen next?
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of
your complaint within 5 days of receiving it.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will
normally involve a review of your matter and a
discussion with the member of staff who acted for
you and with anyone else involved.
3. We may need further information or documents
from you. If so, we will ask you to provide the
information within a specific period of time.
4. We may also invite you to a meeting to discuss your
complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not
wish to or if you are unable to do so. We will be
happy to discuss the matter with you over the
telephone.
5. At the end of our investigation, we will send you a
detailed written reply to your complaint, including
any suggestions for resolving the matter. Where
possible, we aim to do this within 21 days of the date
of our letter of acknowledgement. If the complaint
is complicated, and further time is needed, we will
write to tell you and set another time limit.
6. At this stage if you are still not satisfied you should
contact us again and we will arrange for another
partner to review the decision. This will normally be
Andrew Holt, the firm’s Complaints Partner, unless
there is a good reason why it is inappropriate for him
to be involved.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your
request for a review, confirming our final position on
your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If you are still not satisfied you can ask the Legal
Ombudsman to look into your complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are below:
PO Box 6806,
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333, or
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The Ombudsman will allow us a period of 8 weeks to
resolve your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal
Ombudsman should usually be made within 6 months of
the date of our final written response on your complaint,
and within six years of the act or omission about which
you are complaining occurring (or within three years of
you becoming aware of it).
Further details are available on
the website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
What will it cost?
We will not charge you for handling your complaint.
However please note that if we have issued a bill for work
done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid,
we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount
outstanding.
The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.
In certain circumstances, the Solicitors Regulation
Authority (www.sra.org.uk) may also be able to help if you
are concerned about our behaviour.
Complaints regarding a data subject request under the
GDPR are dealt with in accordance with this policy but
should be referred to our Data Protection Officer,
Jonathan Everett. He is a Partner based in our Worthing
office; his email is jonathan.everett@coolebevisllp.com.
