Clients Complaints Policy

A R Brown & Co. Solicitors is committed to high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you receive, or about the bill, then please let us know.  We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints as follows:

If you feel that you have cause for complaint you should contact the person conducting your case in the first instance. If after that you are still concerned then please contact the firm’s Managing Director, Deborah Francis, at  37 Goring Road, Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex BN12 4AR.

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. 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.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ, or by phone on 0300 555 0333. They can also be contacted by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.  You also have the right to object to the bill and apply for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. The Legal Ombudsman may not deal with a complaint about the bill if you have applied to the court for an assessment of the bill.

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 you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure which are set out in our terms and conditions of business.  Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

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 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.