Complaints Procedure
1. Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. However,
if you have a complaint you are invited to let us know as soon as
possible. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to
make your complaint but you are free to do so should you wish.
2. Please note the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints
body for service complaints about lawyers, has a twelve-month time
limit from the date the act or omission about which you are
complaining within which to make your complaint. Chambers must
therefore have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether they
are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not deal with
complaints that fall outside of the twelve month time limit.
Complaints made by Telephone
3. You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so,
please follow the procedure in paragraphs 4 an 5 below. However, if
you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint then
please telephone James Holdsworth, the barrister responsible for
dealing with complaints or, if your complaint is about a member of
staff, please ask for Dean Norton the Senior Clerk. If your
complaint is about the Senior Clerk please ask for Nigel Wilkinson
QC, the Head of Chambers. The person you contact will make a note
of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about
it. He will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them.
If the matter is resolved, he will record the outcome and record
that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record of the
telephone discussion in writing.
4. If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will
be invited to write to us about it within the next 14 days so it
can be investigated formally.
Complaints made in Writing
5. Please give the following details:
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Your name and address;
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Which member(s) of Chambers you are complaining about;
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What you would like done about it.
Please address your letter to James Holdsworth. We will, where
possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and
provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt
with.
6. Our Chambers has a panel headed by James Holdsworth and made
up of experience members of Chambers and a senior member of staff,
which considers any written complaint. Within 14 days of your
letter being received the head of the panel or his deputy in his
absence will appoint a member of the panel to investigate it. If
your complaint is against the head of the panel, the next most
senior member will investigate it. In any case, the person
appointed will be someone other than the person you are complaining
about.
7. The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon
as possible to let you know he has been appointed and that he will
reply to your complaint within 14 days. If he finds later that he
is not going to be able to reply within 14 days he will set a new
date for his reply and inform you. His reply will set
out:
-
The nature and scope of his investigation;
-
His conclusion on each complaint and the basis for his conclusion;
and
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If he finds that you are justified in your complaint, his proposal
for resolving the complaint.
Confidentiality
8. All conversations and documents relating to the complaint
will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the
extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the head of
Chambers, members of the management committee and to anyone
involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will
include the barrister member or staff you have complained about,
the head or relevant senior member of the panel and the person who
investigates the complaint. The Bar Standards Boards is entitled to
inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when
discharging its audit and monitoring functions.
Our Policy
9. As part of our commitment to client care we make a written
record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence
generated by the complaint for 6 years. Our management committee
inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving
services.
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
10. If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation you
may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the
independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers, at the
conclusion of our consideration of your complaint. The Ombudsman is
not able to consider your complaint until it has first been
investigated by Chambers. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has
a twelve month time limit from the date of the act or omission
about which you are complaining within which to make your
complaint. You can write to them at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870
Birmingham
B30 9EB
Tel: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk