Complaints procedure

What to do if you have a complaint

Hamlins LLP is committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided or if something goes wrong, please inform us immediately so we can do our best to resolve the issue. We are committed to resolving customer complaints fairly, transparently and as efficiently as possible.

In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the member(s) of the firm acting for you or the relevant Head of Department. They will do their best to resolve any issues.

If you wish to make a formal complaint, then you may do so in accordance with our Complaints Procedure. Making a complaint will not affect our instructions and the services we provide to you, though it may cause a conflict. This is explained in our Complaints Procedure.

This firm and all the solicitors in it are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. If your concern relates to compliance with our professional rules, then you can still ask us to address this directly or through our Complaints Procedure. In the alternative, you are entitled to raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority directly.

What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint

We will deal with your complaint in accordance with our Complaints Procedure. Usually this will involve our investigating your complaint and our issuing you with our findings in the form of a Complaint Determination Letter. This will contain the results of our investigation and explain what further steps you can take. If we do not do this, or if we do but not to your satisfaction, then subject to the scheme rules, you may approach the Legal Ombudsman. Under the scheme rules, you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• within six (6) months of receiving our Complaint Determination Letter;
• if we fail to respond to you, within eight (8) weeks of our receipt of your complaint;
• within one (1) year of the date of the act/omission if you haven’t previously complained; or
• one (1) year from the date that you should reasonably have known you had a complaint to pursue and hadn’t complained previously.

The Legal Ombudsman 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:

• you are eligible to make use of its services;
• you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first; and
• it is able to make a determination on the matter about which you are complaining.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them at www.legalombudsman.org.uk,0300 555 0333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our professional behaviour.  This could be for things such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit the SRA website at https://www.sra.org.uk/ to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.