Complaints Procedure
Our complaints policy
Osbornes is committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. We appreciate that there will be occasions when we are unable to meet our clients’ expectations. If at any time you do have concerns about the way in which your case is being handled, you should raise them openly with the person who is dealing with your case or with their Head of Department or supervising partner. When something goes wrong, we want you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please contact us in writing with the details.
What will happen next?
1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days of receiving it, and give you a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to the relevant Head of Department or supervising partner who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acts for you.
3. We will then either write to you or invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will endeavour to do this within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for Mr Andrew Watson, the firm’s Complaints Partner, to review the decision. Mr Watson can be contacted at Livery House, 9 Pratt Street, London, NW1 0AE or by email to andrew.watson@osborneslaw.com. The firm’s Complaints Partner has overall responsibility for endeavouring to ensure that all complaints are resolved.
5. We will write to you within no more than 8 weeks from receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
6. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
7. If you feel that your complaint has still not been dealt with to your satisfaction you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman by ringing 0300 555 0333 or by email to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or by post to Legal Ombudsman, P.O.Box 6806, WV1 9WJ. Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. Please note the Ombudsman will often not agree to look into a complaint which has not yet been taken through a firm’s complaints procedure.
8. Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.
9. The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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.
10. You can raise your concerns with http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page