Complaints Procedure
We are committed to providing all of our clients with a high-quality legal service.
However, we acknowledge that we may not always get it right. If something has gone wrong, including in relation to our charges, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards of service as well as give us the opportunity to put things right.
How do I make a complaint?
You can contact us in writing (by letter or email) or by telephone.
In the first instance, we recommend that you contact the person who is working on your case or their named supervisor to discuss your concerns, and they will do their best to resolve these.
If this does not resolve matters, or if you would prefer not to discuss your concerns with them, you may request that the complaints team reviews your concerns.
The complaints team will in any event be notified of the complaint in order that it be recorded in the firm’s central register. The complaints team works with John Verrill, the firm’s Chairman and complaints handling manager. John is responsible for overseeing the handling of complaints.
Complaints
Rothley Law Limited
22 Vantage Park
High View Close
Leicester
LE4 9LJ
Making a complaint will not affect how your legal matter is dealt with.
To help us to understand your complaint, and to ensure that we investigate all of your concerns, please tell us:
- your full name and contact details;
- what your concerns are in the way we have been dealing with your matter;
- how you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
- your file reference number (if you have it).
If you require any help in making your complaint, we will try to help you.
What will happen next?
- The complaints team will contact you either in writing, email or telephone to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days of receipt.
- The complaints team may speak with the person involved if it is necessary to address your concerns and a review of your file will be undertaken.
- The complaints team will then write to you, setting out their view of your complaint and making any proposal for resolution. The team will aim to provide a response properly addressing your concerns within as short a time as possible, although the length of time taken will depend on the complexity of your matter and complaint. In any event we aim to provide our final response to your complaint within eight weeks of you making it.
- Any further queries should be raised within seven days of receiving our formal response. If no further queries are received within this period, your complaint will be marked as closed on our systems.
What will it cost?
There will be no charge to you for handling your complaint.
Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding. This is explained in our Terms of Business.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman, which is an independent and impartial scheme that deals with complaints about our work or our service.
This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1m, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman). The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your matter.
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
- within one year from the date of act/omission; or
- within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman has limited power to investigate complaints by non-clients.
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Tel: 0300 5550333
BT NGT Lite: 18001 0300 5550333
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
We have chosen not to adopt an alternative dispute resolution process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.
The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.
While complaints must generally be submitted within the specified deadlines, the Legal Ombudsman has discretion to consider complaints outside of these timeframes in exceptional circumstances.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about the behaviour of our legal advisors. 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(s).
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report–solicitor/
Data Protection Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality service, in accordance with data protection law. At all times, we seek to comply with data protection principles by ensuring we:
- process personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
- collect personal data for specific and legitimate purposes and do not process personal data in a way that is incompatible with those purposes;
- collect and use adequate, relevant and minimal personal data;
- take reasonable steps to make sure personal data is accurate and kept up to date;
- do not keep personal data longer than necessary; and
- implement appropriate security measures.
We acknowledge that we may not always get things right, so if something has gone wrong, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards of service and data protection controls.
How to make a Data Protection Complaint
The table below shows the different ways you can contact us to make a data protection complaint.
| How to complain | More information |
| By telephoning us | You can telephone us on 0330 016 9200 and ask to be put through to the Practice Manager. |
| By emailing us | You can email us with details of your complaint at dp@rothleylaw.com |
| By writing to us | You can write to us with details of your complaint at
Data Protection Department |
Acknowledging and verifying your complaint
We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
We will take reasonable steps to verify the identity of the person making the complaint. This may involve requesting further information or documentation from you. If the complaint is made on behalf of someone else, we will also need to check that the person making the complaint is properly authorised to do so.
If, having requested additional information, we are not in a position to identify the person making the complaint or we are not satisfied that they have proper authority to make the complaint, we may be unable to deal with it.
Investigating your complaint
We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
- reviewing your complaint;
- locating and reviewing the records we hold about you;
- establishing the relevant facts; and
- Liaising with individuals who you may have dealt with.
We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.
We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.
Notifying you of the outcome of our investigation
We will inform you of the outcome of the complaint without undue delay.
We will explain clearly what we’ve done to resolve your complaint and, where appropriate, any action we have taken as a result.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or you can seek to take action in the courts.
The ICO’s contact details are:
| Address | Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF |
| Helpline number | 0303 123 1113 |
More details on how to complain to the ICO are available on the Make a complaint page of the ICO’s website. You should usually submit your complaint to the ICO within three months of receiving our final response. Waiting longer can affect how the ICO deals with your complaint.