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Myerson Solicitors - Complaints Procedure
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If you think that something has gone wrong, then we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our service.
What to do?
1. First, raise your issue with the Lead Solicitor on your matter, the Supervising Partner and/or the Head of the Department. Most issues can be settled amicably early on before they become a significant complaint.
2. If the department is unable to resolve your complaint, please set out clearly in writing:
a) the grounds of the complaint;
b) the circumstances giving rise to the complaint; and
c) how you wish the complaint to be resolved.
You can send your written complaint complaints@myerson.co.uk or using the Firm’s postal address and addressed to the Complaints Manager.
What will happen next?
1. Within two days of receipt of your complaint, your complaint will be recorded in our central register.
2. Within five days of receipt of your complaint, we will acknowledge your complaint in writing. Our complaints are handled by an external organisation, Outsourced Legal Complaints Limited, to ensure complete independence and objectivity. We will let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
3. Our complaints handler will then start to investigate your complaint. In most cases, we expect to be able to complete the investigation within four weeks of receiving your complaint, however, in some circumstances, it may take longer. The investigations will involve discussing the matter with the member(s) of staff who have acted for you and considering the file. You may be asked for more information about the matter.
4. Within one month of receiving your complaint, our complaints handler will write to you. If the investigation has been completed, the letter will tell you about our decision. If we need more information from you, we will ask you for further details.
5. Where possible we will send our final decision within six weeks of us receiving your complaint in writing.
The Legal Ombudsman
1. If you remain dissatisfied after our final response, or 8 weeks has expired since we acknowledged your complaint without our final response being received, you have the right to send your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman for an independent review.
2. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check:
a) you have tried to resolve the complaint with us in the first instance; and
b) you have suffered significant financial loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment, which deems it proportionate for them to investigate.
We will always be happy to discuss your issues further, prior to you going down this route, if you wish to do so.
3. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman this must be done within six months of our final response to your complaint. You should also be aware that the Legal Ombudsman will investigate a complaint if you refer it to them within either of the following time limits:
a) up to 1 year from the date of a problem occurring; or
b) up to 1 year from the date you found out about the problem.
The Legal Ombudsman has discretion to extend the one year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so.
4. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organisations, unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman’s website (see below).
5. It is worth considering, whilst it is open to you to submit a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, they apply strict criteria to determine whether they will ultimately accept a complaint for a full investigation. They have the discretion to dismiss or discontinue all or part of a complaint if they believe:
a) it does not have any reasonable prospects of success.
b) you have not suffered (and are unlikely to suffer) significant financial loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment.
c) it is frivolous, vexatious, lacks merit or where there is a compelling reason not to accept it.
d) the likely impact, size, complexity, scope, volume of evidence or your conduct render it disproportionate / unreasonable/ impossible for the complaint to be investigated.
e) you have previously complained about the same issue to them, unless you provide material evidence that is likely to affect the outcome which only became available to you after you submitted the original complaint.
f) there has been undue delay in the complaint being raised.
6. Also note:
a) If, during the course of an ongoing investigation by the Ombudsman, a revised/increased offer is made by us which is deemed to be fair and reasonable redress and you decide to reject that offer, the Ombudsman has the discretion to dismiss or discontinue all or part of your complaint.
b) If you have already accepted an offer to settle your complaint made by us during our internal complaint handling process, which is deemed to be fair and reasonable redress, unless there has been some significant intervening act, you will not be able to have that agreement overturned in the hope of securing a preferential outcome by pursuing your complaint via the Ombudsman.
From 22 January 2024 all written correspondence should be sent to:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
For more information on the Legal Ombudsman’s rules and requirements, please see their Scheme Rules dated April 2023.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
1. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
2. Visit the ‘Reporting an individual or firm’ page of their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the SRA.