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SRA Transparency Rules

Read the full rules here SRA Transparency Rules

Introduction These rules set out the information authorised firms, and individuals providing services to the public from outside authorised firms, should make available to clients and potential clients.

The rules aim to ensure people have accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing legal services and will help members of the public and small businesses make informed choices, improving competition in the legal market.

Price and Service Information 1.1

An authorised body [or an individual practising in the circumstances set out in regulation 10.2(b)(i) to (vii) of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations,] who publishes as part of its usual business the availability of any of the services set out at rule 1.3 to individuals or at rule 1.4 to businesses, must, in relation to those services, publish on its website

Complaints information 2.1

2.1 An authorised body [or an individual practising in the circumstances set out in regulation 10.2(b)(i) to (vii) of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations], must publish on its website details of its complaints handling procedure including, details about how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA.

Our complaints handling procedure

• details about how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman
• details about how and when a complaint can be made to the SRA.
• The rule requires us to publish information on our website.

Complaints Handling Procedures

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have 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 at this stage.

If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure [see below].  Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

Complaints Procedures

How do I make a complaint?

In the first instances, you should raise your complaint in writing or by speaking to the person you have been dealing with.

If you do not feel that is possible or you have tried that and are not satisfied with the outcome, you should then raise your concern with one of the senior partners, David Janes or Robert Berg.

To help us make sure we have properly understood your complaint, please tell us:

• your full name, contact details and any reference number you may have for your case (if you are making the complaint to someone other than the person dealing with your case;
• what you think we have done wrong;
• what you think we should do to put things right.
• If you need any help making your complaint, we will do our best to help you.

How will we deal with your complaint?

Stage 1

In most cases, the best person to respond quickly to your complaint is the person you have been dealing with or their manager, who will be one of the senior Partners, David Janes or Robert Berg.

We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it and the department you’ve been dealing with will respond to you within 10 working days of acknowledging your complaint.

We may be able to deal with the matter in a phone call, or we may need to carry out a detailed review of your case. In all cases we will write to you to tell you the outcome of your complaint and to give you the opportunity to have your complaint reviewed by a senior partner if you are not satisfied with the outcome.

Stage 2

The senior partner will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it. It may take them up to 20 working days to respond to your complaint from the date they acknowledge it.

In some cases, the department you have been dealing with may pass your complaint directly to the senior partner. (If they do this, we will tell you why.)

 What if my complaint is justified?

If your complaint is justified, we will apologise to you and explain what went wrong and how we plan to put things right. We will learn from our mistakes to improve how we work. In serious cases, we may consider offering a special payment for failures in our service.

What if I am not satisfied with the response from the senior partner?

If you are still unhappy with our response, you can ask the independent reviewer to review your complaint. The independent reviewer is independent of us, and you can either tell us that you would like to refer your complaint and we can do this for you, or you can do it yourself. You must do this within 20 working days from our senior partner sending you its response.

The independent reviewer will only be able to investigate your complaint after we have completed all the stages of our complaints procedure. They have specific conditions for accepting a complaint, and will decide whether to carry out a full review by considering, among other things, whether:

• we have already dealt with your complaint fully and responded appropriately
• it would be unreasonable to carry out a full review, for example if the complaint is a minor one
• there is an opportunity for you and us to sort out the complaint.

What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint?

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour.

Most of the time, complaints about poor service should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman.

If the Legal Ombudsman thinks your case involves a breach of the SRA Principles, the Legal Ombudsman will refer your case to the SRA.

The SRA may investigate matters such as complaints of dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic or if you think our firm has breached an SRA Principle.

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

Phone: 0370 606 2555 inside the UK (Call costs guide from Ofcom)

International callers: +44 (0)121 329 6800

Postal address: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN (map of location) or DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47

 The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint for free and 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 six years from the date of act/omission; or
• No more than three years 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

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Alternative Dispute Resolution (‘ADR’)

Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should you (and our firm) wish to use such a scheme.

Please note that there are different timescales for dealing with complaints when using ADR and you should contact the company below to discuss these.

Contact details

Brow Farm Top Road, Frodsham, WA6 6SP, United Kingdom

Email address: enquiries@promediate.co.uk

Website: http://www.promediate.co.uk

Phone: 02036213908