Complaints policy

 

Complaints and access to Legal Ombudsman

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I am committed to providing a high quality legal service to all my clients. However, I also accept that mistakes, misunderstandings, delays and other errors can occur.

 

When something goes wrong, I need you to tell me about it. This will help me to improve my standards and to attempt to correct things.

 

I will not charge you for handling your complaint.

 

How to make a complaint? 

 

1.Please write to me at my registered office, Glen Hodgetts (Barrister-at-Law), 27-29 Great George Street, Bristol, BS1 5QT, setting out your name, any reference number you have been given, including any court or Home Office reference, and explain what it is that you are unhappy with and what you would like done about it. 

 

Alternatively, you may email me at glen@ggsc.co.uk or phone me on 07966495468

 

What will happen next?

 

2. I will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint and enclosing a copy of this procedure, within three working days of me receiving your complaint.

 

3. I will then investigate your complaint personally by reviewing your papers and the work that I have undertaken for you.

 

4. You will then be invited to a meeting with me to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be done within seven working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

 

5. Within three working days of the meeting, I will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions or remedies agreed with you. Such solutions or remedies may include but are not limited to,

 

•An oral or written apology

 

•A review of my policies and procedures;

 

•An appropriate and proportionate reduction in my fees;

 

•An appropriate and proportionate refund of my fees

 

6.If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible to hold one, I will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within twenty-one working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

 

7. If the matter cannot be resolved and you remain unhappy, and if you would like to discuss your complaint with another independent barrister outside of my chambers to gain an independent perspective, I will arrange this for you at no cost to you. The barrister will then be able to mediate between us and suggest an agreeable solution.  

 

 

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO)

 

8.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of my investigation and/or mediation, you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers, at the conclusion of my consideration of your complaint. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by myself.

 

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them. The time limits are:

 

a) Six years from the date of the act/omission;

 

b) Three years from the date that the complainant should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint (if the act/omission took place before the 6 October 2010 or was more than six years ago);

 

c) Within six months of the complaint receiving a final response from their lawyer, if that response complies with the requirements in rule 4.4 of the Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available if the complainant remained dissatisfied and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to them within six months.

 

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman here:-

 

Click to access Legal Ombudsman webpage

 

You can write to the LeO at:-

 

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

Telephone number: 0300 555 0333 

 

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

 

 

All decisions made by the Legal Ombudsman can be found on the LeO decisions website page with links to the decisions of the Ombudsman. The decisions pages can be found here:-

 

Decision page of Legal Ombudsman

 

 

 

 

All documents relating to the complaint will be kept securely and confidentially for a period of 6 years.