Complaints Procedure

BRM Law Limited t/a BRM Solicitors

Our Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients and to dealing with our clients fairly. When something goes wrong or we fall short of your expectations, we would like you to tell us so that we can put things right for you. This will also help us to improve our service standards in the future.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, contact us with the details. Ideally, we would like this to be in writing. Please note that we will not charge you for handling your complaint.

How to make a complaint and who should you contact?

You should firstly contact the person who has been dealing with your matter. He/she will try hard to address your concerns and agree with you a solution and the best way forward. If your concerns have not been addressed to your satisfaction (or if you would rather not contact the person dealing with your matter about your concerns or complaint) you should contact the person’s Head of Department who will investigate and deal with your concern or complaint. The Head of Department will notify you of his/her findings. If you remain unhappy you should then contact Adrian Sheehan, the Director nominated to deal with all matters concerned with service quality and client complaints (the Client Care Director). If your complaint is about Adrian Sheehan, you should contact another Director. You can contact Adrian Sheehan using the following methods:

Letter

BRM Solicitors
Gray Court
99 Saltergate
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S40 1LD

Email

adrian.sheehan@brmlaw.co.uk

Telephone

01246 555111

To help us understand your complaint and in order that we do not miss anything the Client Care Director may request you to confirm your full name and contact details, what you think we have got wrong, what you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint and your file reference number (if you have it) together with any other information you consider relevant.

What will happen next?

Within 7 working days of the receipt of your complaint to the Client Care Director, we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint, possibly asking you to confirm or explain any details. It is likely that you will receive a copy of our complaints handling procedure at the time we acknowledge your complaint.
The acknowledgement letter we send to you will provide information about how your complaint will be resolved including:

The name of the person dealing with your complaint (if it is a person other than the Client Care Director)
The process the person named above will go through to investigate your complaint including as appropriate, one or more of the following options:
- A request for you to provide written confirmation of the circumstances of your complaint (particularly if your complaint was not received in writing initially)
- A request for you to provide written confirmation of the circumstances of your complaint (particularly if your complaint was not received in writing initially)
- Invitation to a meeting to discuss your complaint – you may refuse this invitation, but it may be helpful in establishing facts and finding an acceptable resolution for you.
- Meeting with the lawyer concerned to discuss your complaints
- Inspection of the file of papers relating to your matter
- Timetable of events leading to resolution of your complaint
We will carry out these investigations with a view to responding, with our findings and suggestions for a resolution of the issues arising, within 21 working days.
There may be circumstances where it is not possible to respond fully to you within 21 working days. We will provide you with the reasons for this together with a revised time frame for our response.
All matters connected with your complaint will be recorded centrally for future review to ensure that it was been handled effectively and efficiently.
If at any point during this process you are not happy with how your complaint is being handled or the time frame we have set out for you, please contact us immediately.
When we have agreed the resolution to your complaint, we will confirm this in writing and then carry out the agreed actions within the agreed timeframe.

What if you are still not satisfied?

We will try very hard to deal with any complaints or dissatisfaction about our service. If you remain unhappy after we have tried to resolve your complaint you can ask us to review our decision. We would generally aim to carry out a review within 14 days and let you know the result within 7 days of the end of the review. At this time, we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

Referrals to the Legal Ombudsman

Although we very much hope that it will not be necessary if you make a complaint and we are unable to resolve it to your satisfaction or if we have not been able to resolve your concerns within an 8 week period, you can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman. This is an independent body that reports directly to the Legal Services Board about all complaints about legal services. You will need to provide: –

The reasons why you are dissatisfied with our handling of your complaint and/or the decision reached.
Our reference number which is 72384.
The name of the lawyer against whom you are complaining and/or the name of our firm.
A copy of our final decision letter.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted in the following ways: –

In writing at The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

By telephone on 0300 555 0333

By email at: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Via its website at: www.legalombudsman.org.uk/helping-the-public

Time Limits

You may complain to the Legal Ombudsman, details of time limits are listed below:

8 weeks	After which a complainant can refer their claim to Legal Ombudsman (LeO) if you have failed to resolve it
6 months	From the date of the firm’s written response (but only if the firm gave the complainant all the required information)
1 year	From the date of the act/omission
1 year	From the date you became aware of the act/omission
At LeO discretion	The LeO may extend time limits to the extent it considers fair in exceptional circumstances

If your complaint is about your bill you may have the right to apply to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of The Solicitors Act 1974. There are strict time limits applicable and usually the right to an assessment will be lost once a year has elapsed since the date of the invoice unless there are special circumstances. The right to a detailed assessment is unconditional if the application is made within a month of the date of our invoice. The Court may impose restrictions if the application is made after a month.

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have already applied to the Court for an assessment of that bill.

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.

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

The SRA’s postal address is:

Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN

Telephone: 0370 606 2555