Client Complaints Procedure
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will enable us to investigate the matter and do our best to resolve things satisfactorily. It will also help us to improve our standards.
Our Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact Amer Bilbeisi, our Complaints Manager. You can write to him at Settla Legal, 60 St. Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4JS. Alternatively he can be emailed on info@settlalegal.com. If we have to change any of the people responsible or any of the timescales set out below, we will let you know and explain why.
What Will Happen Next
- Upon receipt of your complaint, we will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. Within three days of receiving your complaint, we will send you a letter or email acknowledging your complaint and confirming the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. We may also ask you to clarify any unclear details and where necessary, provide further information. If it seems appropriate, we may suggest a meeting at this early stage.
- We will then proceed to investigate your complaint further by examining any associated client matter you have with us and where appropriate, speaking with anyone who might be able to assist with our investigation.
- If appropriate (and you have not already done so), we will then invite you to meet our complaints manager (or the person dealing with your complaint) to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We would hope to be in a position to meet with you in this way no longer than 14 days after first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this meeting within a reasonable timescale, we will write to you setting out our views on the situation and any redress that we feel to be appropriate.
- If a meeting does take place, then within three days of the meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions or actions that we have agreed with you. Our letter will also set out our views on the complaint and any redress that we feel to be appropriate.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We will aim to do this within ten further days, and this review will usually happen in one of the following ways.
- The Complaints Manager (or person in charge of your complaint) will review their own decision.
- We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it.
- Once our review has been completed, we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
Legal Ombudsman
- Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and
- No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
- No more than one year 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:
- Visit: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
- Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm
- Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
- Legal Ombudsman , PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
The Solicitors Regulation Authority
Our regulatory body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help if you are concerned about our conduct or behaviour. This could be for perceived dishonesty, losing your money or treating you unfairly. We are bound by various professional rules of conduct which can be viewed online on the SRA’s website. You can also see more information about the assistance, guidance and help the SRA can give to you here:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page
The contact details of the Solicitors Regulation Authority are as follows:
Website: www.sra.org.uk
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Address: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN
email: report@sra.org.uk
Objecting to Your Bill(s)
If your complaint relates to fees you may be entitled to have them reviewed by the court by applying for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you take advantage of this procedure within a month from the date of our invoice, your right to a detailed assessment is unconditional. If you delay beyond a month the court may impose conditions. Once a year has elapsed since the date of the bill you will lose the right to a detailed assessment unless there are special circumstances.
