Complaints

Complaints Procedure

At our firm, we strive to deliver exceptional legal services to our clients. Should any aspect of our service fall short of your expectations, we encourage you to notify us promptly. Your feedback is invaluable as it enables us to continuously enhance our standards. If you are dissatisfied with our service or have any concerns regarding billing, please inform us without delay. We are committed to addressing your issues promptly and finding a resolution that meets your satisfaction

What is a complaint?

There may be circumstances were a client wishes to report that their expectations for what constitutes satisfactory service have not been fulfilled.

Making a complaint

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. Please write to us with full details of your concerns. You can write to us at 32 Lumina Way, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 1FS. Alternatively you can email us at info@brunwicksolicitors.co.uk

What will happen next?

Upon receipt of your complaint, your information and complaint will remain confidential and the following will take place:

We will promptly acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five days and provide you with a copy of our complaint handling procedure.
Your complaint will be investigated, typically by our senior partner, Mr. Ali Eren Yuruk. He will review your file and speak with the relevant staff member.
Within 14 days of acknowledging your complaint, Mr. Yuruk will invite you to a meeting to discuss and aim to resolve the issue.
Following the meeting, Mr. Yuruk will send you a written confirmation of the discussion and any agreed solutions within three days.
If a meeting isn’t feasible or you prefer not to have one, Mr. Yuruk will send you a detailed written response, including proposed resolutions, within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint.
If you remain unsatisfied, you can request another director or senior partner, who was not involved in your matter, to review the decision.
Within 14 days of your request for review, we will write to you with our final position on your complaint, explaining our rationale.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks of its initial submission, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
You must contact the Legal Ombudsman within six months from the date of our final written response to raise your complaint.

This process ensures transparency and aims to resolve any concerns you may have about our service efficiently and effectively

When a complaint is submitted to the Legal Ombudsman, the Legal Ombudsman typically performs the following actions:

Assessment: The Legal Ombudsman assesses whether the complaint falls within their jurisdiction. They consider factors such as whether the complaint is about the service provided by the law firm and whether the client has tried to resolve the issue directly with the firm.
Investigation: If the complaint is within their jurisdiction, the Legal Ombudsman investigates the matter impartially. This may involve gathering information from both the client and the law firm.
Resolution: The Legal Ombudsman aims to resolve complaints through various means, including negotiation, mediation, or issuing recommendations. They seek to achieve fair outcomes that address the client’s concerns.
Decision: After investigating, the Legal Ombudsman makes a decision based on the evidence and information gathered. They may require the law firm to provide redress if they find that the client has been treated unfairly or that there has been poor service.
Remedies: Depending on the findings, the Legal Ombudsman may recommend remedies such as compensation for financial loss, reimbursement of costs incurred due to poor service, or other appropriate actions to resolve the complaint.
Reporting: The Legal Ombudsman may publish anonymized summaries of complaints and their outcomes as part of their commitment to transparency and improving standards in the legal profession.

Overall, the Legal Ombudsman provides an independent avenue for resolving disputes between clients and law firms, ensuring accountability and fairness in legal services.

Prior to considering a complaint, the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the firm’s internal Complaints Procedure (outlined above) has been exhausted. We will provide any necessary information to them. Thereafter if the Legal Ombudsman is satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further. You will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to exercise discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so.

The Legal Ombudsman’s address and contact details are:

PO Box 6167,
Slough,
SL1 0EH;
telephone, 0300 555 0333;
website, www.legalombudsman.org.uk; or
email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes

Alternative complaints bodies e.g. ProMediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. However, we don’t currently agree to use this Alternative Dispute Resolution service in view of the availability of the independent Legal Ombudsman Service established under the Legal Services Act 2007.

We are bound by our Regulatory Code to comply with the Legal Ombudsman.

Please note if we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

We will not charge you for handling your complaint.