Complaints
Leathes Prior is committed to providing an excellent service to all of our clients, but if something does go wrong we need you to tell us.
Our commitment to you
- We will be receptive to any complaint and will consider it in detail with the seriousness it merits.
- We will respond to any complaint promptly.
- Any complaint will be treated confidentially and will not affect our future service to you.
- We regularly review complaints to help improve our service
Who to contact
Initially, you should raise your concerns with the person handling your work. If that person is unable to resolve matters or if you feel unable to raise your concerns with them please raise them with the supervising Partner in the first instance (i.e. the head of that particular team) as follows:
Commercial Property: Rob Sibley on 01603 281104 or by email at rsibley@leathesprior.co.uk
Corporate & Commercial: Paul Warman on 01603 281103 or by email at pwarman@leathesprior.co.uk
Employment: Dan Chapman: on 01603 281109 or by email at dchapman@leathesprior.co.uk
Family: Alisdair Douglas on 01603 281132 or by email at adouglas@leathesprior.co.uk
Litigation & Dispute Resolution: Mike Barlow on 01603 281152 or by email at mbarlow@leathesprior.co.uk
Residential Property: David Clarke on 01603 281101 or by email at dclarke@leathesprior.co.uk
Wills, Estates & Powers of Attorney: Tessa Bonser on 01603 281167 or by email at tbonser@leathesprior.co.uk
If you are still unhappy, or if your concern relates to a Partner or is about an aspect of our administration please write to Adrian Baker. He will investigate personally or appoint a Partner to do so and report the outcome promptly. Adrian’s contact details are as follows:
By letter: 74 The Close, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 4DR
By email: abaker@leathesprior.co.uk
By telephone: 01603 284274
What we will do
Upon receiving any complaint in writing, Adrian Baker will acknowledge receipt of it as soon as possible. The complaint will be investigated fully and in detail. We may need to contact you for further information. We will aim to provide you with our final views on your complaint within eight weeks unless a short extension of that time period is required, in which case we will discuss that with you.
If you are not satisfied with our response
If we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. However the Legal Ombudsman is only obliged to deal with your complaint 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. Contact details are as follows:
By letter: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
By email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
By telephone: 0300 555 0333
Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response on your complaint but for further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.
Whilst Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services we have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.
If you are a consumer and we have made a contract with you by electronic means you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. That is at: www.europa.eu.
Referring a complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”)
If you are concerned about matters such as conduct or ethics, you should report these concerns to the SRA.
Details of how to do this can be found here.
The SRA can be contacted via their website or by the following means:
By letter: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharf Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
By telephone: 0370 606 2555 (or +44(0)121 329 6800 for international callers)
By fax: +44 (0)121 616 1999