Complaints
Complaints procedure for clients
We aim to provide a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If you are dissatisfied with any part of the service we have provided, you have a right to complain to us, and ultimately our regulator or the Legal Ombudsman.
Our intention is that through our complaints procedure your complaint will be investigated fairly, fully and promptly and, wherever possible, will be resolved to your satisfaction.
We aim to comply with the timescales and procedures set out in our complaints procedure. However, should that not be possible, or should an alternative approach be more suitable, we will let you know and explain why.
Complaint procedure
First, if at any time you are discontent with the service we provide, you should raise this with the person who has the conduct of your matter, their name is set out in the retainer letter or any subsequent update. If there is any doubt about who your complaint should be sent to, please contact the head of the department you are instructing, again the responsible partner’s name is set out in your retainer letter and our website.
Second, if you remain unsatisfied with the response of the lawyer with conduct of your matter, or you would prefer not to deal with them directly, please contact the head of the department you are instructing, again the responsible partner’s name is set out in your retainer letter.
Finally, if your complaint has not been resolved then please contact Mark Studdart who is the Director in charge of complaints handling. If Mark is not available, then in default please contact Samanatha Chubb who is our Compliance Officer.
Timescales
Upon receipt of your complaint we will write to acknowledge it within 7 days and inform you of the name and contact details of the person who will be investigating your complaint. We will contact the partner in charge of the department involved in your complaint and our Complaints Officer.
If we think it is necessary we may ask you for additional information before being able to start to investigate your complaint. Investigating your complaint may involve discussing the matter with the lawyer with conduct and their head of department, along with a review of the file.
We usually aim to reply in full to your complaint within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint (i.e. 28 days in total), but we may take longer especially if matters are complex or archived or relate to a member of staff who has left. We hope to conclude our investigations within no more than 8 weeks from receiving your full complaint. In appropriate case we may discuss with you the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution. At present we have not chosen to adopt an ADR process.
If you remain unsatisfied?
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, consumers and small organisations may be entitled to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider their complaint. The Ombudsman would generally expect clients to follow a firm’s internal complaints procedure first. Normally you will need to refer matters to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to your complaint, or if outside this period within no more than 1 year from either the date when the problem arose or the date you should have reasonably known about the matters you wish to complain about. Please check the Legal Ombudsman website as to whether your complaint is eligible to be dealt by them. You will find their website here: Home | Legal Ombudsman
Contact the Legal Ombudsman:
Telephone – 0300 555 0333
Email – enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Post – PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
If your complaint relates to the professional conduct of Gordons Partnership or any of its Directors, Partners or employees, you can discuss this directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. You will find their website here: SRA | Problems with law firms and individuals | Solicitors Regulation Authority
Contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority:
Telephone – 0370 606 2555
Email – reports@sra.org.uk
Post – SRA Report, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1
Complaints policy for third parties
If you are a previous, current or prospective client, or a beneficiary of a trust or estate that we represent, you may submit a service complaint using our Complaints Procedure.
If you are not a client, former client or prospective client then any person may raise an allegation of misconduct under our complaints procedure. Our complaints officer is presently Mark Studdart.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, then please note that the Legal Ombudsman generally only deals with complaints about the service we have provided to clients. Therefore, if your complaint as a third party is about a solicitor or other employee at Gordons Partnership (for instance questioning their integrity or honesty) then you may also complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority who can be contacted via the following:
Telephone – 0370 606 2555
Email – reports@sra.org.uk
Post – SRA Report, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1
