We are 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 improve our standards.
In the first instance you should raise your complaint with the person dealing with your file. In the event that you remain dissatisfied please address your complaint in writing to the Supervisor of your matter as set out in the client care letter sent to you at the beginning of your matter.
In either event, you should receive a response to your complaint within twenty-eight days of receipt.
Should the Supervisor not be able to resolve the matter to your satisfaction then your complaint should be put in writing to Paul Carvis, the Partner responsible for dealing with client care. You should send to him the following:-
Correspondence between you and the file handler with regard to the complaint
A copy of your complaint to the Supervisor and their response
You should also set out in writing why you are unhappy with their decision and in what way you believe it to be wrong.
Paul Carvis’s contact details are as follows:-
Address : 8-16 Dock Street, Leeds, LS10 1LX
Telephone: 0113 225 8811
Fax: 0113 225 8833
Email: paulcarvis@chadlaw.co.uk
What Will Happen Next
We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint. We may ask you to confirm or explain the detail set out. If Mr Carvis in unable to deal with the complaint for any reason, we will advise you as to the name of an alternative Partner who will review the matter. You can expect to receive our letter within five working days of our receiving your complaint.
We will record your complaint in our Central Register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this within five days of receiving your complaint.
We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will involve reviewing the file, considering the correspondence that has been raised in relation to the complaint and input from the Supervisor.
We shall respond to your complaint in writing, setting out the decision and the reasons for that decision and this we shall endeavour to do within four weeks of the matter being referred to Paul Carvis.
Should you still be unhappy with the decision then you can either ask another Partner in the firm to re-consider the decision or, alternatively, you are entitled to bring this matter to the attention of the Legal Ombudsman, whose contact details are as follows:-
Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:-
One year from the date of the act or omission being complained about: or
One year from the date when the complainant (yourself) should have realized that there was cause for complaint.
In addition, your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within six months of the date of our final response to you.
The Legal Ombudsman may in some circumstances exercise discretion to extend the one year period if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so.
Please note that alternative bodies such as Pro-Mediate (www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should you and we agree to use such a scheme. Please note that we do not agree necessarily to use Pro-Mediate.
Also, should you have received our client care information, including our statement of terms and terms of business at the outset of your matter from us electronically, under the EU Regulation on Consumer Online Dispute Resolution, you may use the online dispute resolution platform (http://ec.europa.eu/odr). Our email address for this is paulcarvis@chadlaw.co.uk.
If you should have a complaint about conduct, you may contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Details of the SRA can be found at www.sra.org.uk or by writing to them at The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN.
1 April 2023
