Onside Law LLP prides itself on the excellence of its service. If at any time you have any concerns about the quality of the services of our solicitors or members of staff please let us know as soon as possible.

In the first instance, we would always encourage you to discuss any day-to-day concerns about the service from any solicitor directly with the person dealing with your matter as set out in your engagement letter. Any concerns about our members of staff should be raised with our practice manager, Felicity Williams.

We would very much hope that the matter can be resolved at this point, and that you will be satisfied with the outcome. However, if you feel that the concern or matter you have raised has not been dealt with to your satisfaction, then you may wish to make a formal complaint using the steps set out below.

Formal complaints procedure

  1. Please address your formal letter of complaint to Oliver Hunt at Onside Law, 642A Kings Road, London SW6 2DU. Please give the following details: your name and address, which solicitor or member(s) of staff you are complaining about; the detail of the complaint; and your proposed resolution.
  2. If your complaint is against Oliver Hunt it will be investigated by one of our other senior partners. In any case, the persons investigating the complaint will be someone other than the person your complaint concerns.
  3. The person handling the investigation will write to you as soon as possible to let you know they have been appointed and that they will reply to your complaint within 21 days. If they later find that it is not going to be possible to reply within 21 days they will set a new date for their reply and inform you. Their reply will set out:
    1. The nature and scope of the investigation;
    2. Their conclusion on each complaint and the basis for their conclusion; and
    3. Their proposal for resolving the complaint.
  4. At the conclusion of the complaints process, the person handling the investigation will forward a further copy of this complaints procedure to the complainant with their response to the complaint and advising of any further steps they may be able to take.

Confidentiality

All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the partners and practice manager and will include anyone else we consider necessary to involve in the complaint and its investigation. Such people may include the solicitor or staff member which the complaint concerns. If such a complaint is made, we will assume that you are authorising those investigating the complaint to view all the papers or other correspondence relevant to the matter.

Legal Ombudsman & Solicitors Regulation Authority

As part of our commitment to client care we will make a written record of any formal complaint, complaints to the Legal Ombudsman or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We hope that you will use our procedure and that this will resolve any outstanding issues. However, if you are unhappy with the outcome, you do have the choice of taking up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. He has responsibility for dealing with all service complaints against legal professionals and normally can only consider complaints once the firm’s complaints procedure has been exhausted.

You should be aware that the Legal Ombudsman has a 12 month limit from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining within which to take your complaint. We will have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether we are able to investigate any complaint in the first instance and we reserve the right not to deal with complaints falling outside the 12 months’ time limit.

You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
0300 555 0333

The Solicitors Regulation Authority investigates complaints of professional misconduct or professional disciplinary issues.

You can write to the Solicitors Regulation Authority at:

SRA Report, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
report@sra.org.uk
0370 606 2555