Complaints Procedure

Our complaints policy

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.

If we are unable to resolve your concerns in this way or it is not appropriate to do so, the process set out below applies.  

Contact our complaints officer

If any concern or cause for complaint is not satisfactorily dealt with by the person dealing with your matter, please contact Ewan Lockhart, our complaints officer. Ewan may be contacted at:

57 Queen Anne Street
London
W1G 9JR

Telephone number: 0207 486 2908
Fax number: 0207 486 6212
e-mail address: ewan.lockhart@daviesandpartners.com

Preliminary steps

Within two working days after receipt of your complaint, we will send you a letter which will acknowledge your complaint and confirm how we propose to investigate your complaint and the period within which you can expect to hear from us. 

We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint.

Investigation of your complaint

Ewan Lockhart will arrange for the legal director in charge of the department involved to investigate your complaint. However, if your complaint concerns the handling of your matter by that departmental head, the investigation will be carried out by Ewan Lockhart or another appropriate legal director.

The person carrying out the investigation will write to you within the period mentioned in our letter, acknowledging your complaint and this letter will contain our detailed reply to your complaint and our suggestions on how to resolve the matter.

If you are satisfied with our proposals, we will put the proposals into effect.

Conduct of our investigation or review

Your complaint will be handled by finding out from you, the nature and full details of your complaint, obtaining and considering all papers relevant to your complaint and considering your complaint with you and the person instructed to deal with your matter.

If either of us feels it would be helpful, we will invite you to meet the departmental head or Ewan Lockhart to discuss matters.

If we need to take any other steps to investigate or review your complaint or have to change any of the timescales mentioned above, we will let you know and explain why.

Review of our investigations and/or proposed solutions

If you are not satisfied with our reply to your complaint or our proposals, you may contact Ewan Lockhart and he will arrange for the matter to be reviewed and let you know the timetable for the review.

Ewan Lockhart (or another legal director in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint) will carry out the review.

We will let you know the result of the review within 2 working days after its completion. At this time, we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

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 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:

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 matters such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

To see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Visit their website.