Complaints Procedure
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, we provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure detailed below Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
· Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint
and
· No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
· No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
Contact details Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00. Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Complaints procedure for clients
Hogan Brown 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 so we can do our best to resolve any issues you have. This will help us to improve our standards of service. Our aim is to resolve any issues you might have as quickly and amicably as possible.
Our complaints handling procedure
If you have a complaint or have any concerns about our services or a bill, please follow the following steps.
1. Most issues can be resolve quickly by contacting the person acting on your behalf and letting them know what concerns you have. Please contact your representative by phone or e-mail and they will try to solve the issue to your satisfaction.
2. If you feel uncomfortable doing this or your representative does not deal with your concerns to your satisfaction then the next step is contact our Director responsible for Client Care, John Brown. He can be contacted on 0151 243 7500 or e-mail john.brown@hoganbrown.co.uk
If the complaint is about John, then please contact Michael Hogan on 0151 243
7500 or e-mail michael.hogan@hoganbrown.co.uk.
Please explain the reasons for your concerns and if possible this should be done
in writing.
What happens next?
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of you raising your concerns, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This normally involves our Client Care
Director Mr John Brown, reviewing your matter file and speaking to the member
of staff who acted for you.
3. If it is felt to be appropriate Mr Brown may invite you to a meeting to discuss and, it
is hoped, resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the
acknowledgement letter.
4. If a meeting is held then within three days of the meeting, Mr Brown will write to
you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you. If you do
not want a meeting or it is not possible or not necessary to hold one, Mr Brown will
send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for
resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the original acknowledgement
letter.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain
why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments.
Depending on the matter we may arrange for another partner to review the
decision.
6. 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.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why. Under our professional regulations we are allowed a period of 8 weeks to resolve your complaint.
Please be aware there are no charges to you for dealing with a complaint.
Complaints about a bill
If your work is privately funded (not paid for by Legal Aid), you also have the right to complain about or challenge the Bill by applying for an assessment of the Bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 but please note that the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about the Bill if you have applied to the Court for assessment of the Bill.