Complaints Procedure

We hope that you will never have reason to complain about our service to you or the fees incurred in relation to your matter. However, if there is an issue, please bring it to our attention as soon as you can. We will try to resolve the matter fairly and quickly. We will apologise if need be and do our best to offer a practical solution.

Complaints are dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ or visit the website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

A preliminary point

The relationship with your solicitor is built on trust and openness. You should be able to talk to your solicitor frankly about all sorts of things so that some complaints (and these are likely to be minor issues) might lend themselves to be resolved by a simple phone call with the solicitor.

You are encouraged to try to resolve a complaint with us before you contact the Legal Ombudsman.

How do I complain?

We much prefer that substantial or complicated complaints are dealt with in writing – we do not have any set forms that we use for this purpose. However, we realise that not all clients may be able to formulate a detailed letter. In such cases, a telephone call will do, during which we will make a note of the issues and then send that to you for comment. This document will then form the basis of the complaint.

Who do I complain to?

You should look at the Tranter Mills Solicitors Terms of Business letter (which we will have sent to you either via the post or via email) that you were sent at the beginning of your matter. If at any time you have any queries or concerns on any aspect of a matter, then please do not hesitate to contact Zoe Tranter, the Managing Director and Principal of Tranter Mills Solicitors. If this does not resolve the matter to your satisfaction, then Zoe Tranter will ask an independent solicitor to investigate your complaint. The independent solicitor will then report back to Zoe Tranter. Zoe Tranter will then invite you to attend a meeting in order to discuss the outcome of that investigation. If for any reason we are unable to resolve matters between us, complaints and redress mechanisms are provided through the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman. The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints handling body of the Law Society.

Legal Ombudsman Time limits

You can find out more information about the Legal Ombudsman and time limits by visiting their website http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

You should be aware that if you want to complain to the Legal Ombudsman about poor service you must contact them within one year of the act or omission being complained about, or within one year of when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman will have discretion to accept out-of-time complaints in circumstances where it deems it “fair and reasonable to do so”.