Complaints

Our complaints handling policy

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 help us to improve our standards.

If you have a complaint, we have a two stage process.

Stage 1

  1. We are confident that the majority of complaints can be dealt with quickly by an open and constructive discussion. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received, please raise your complaint with the Complaints Manager (as identified within the Letter of Engagement and the Scope of Work provided at the outset of your case).
  2. The Complaints Manager will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receiving details of your dissatisfaction and you will be provided with a copy of this policy. The Complaints Manager will inform our Complaints Officer that a complaint has been made.
  3. The Complaints Manager will then seek to resolve the issue in discussions and/or communication with you.
  4. The outcome will be confirmed to you in writing within 15 working days of the date on which the formal complaint has been received.

Stage 2

  1. If you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again within 5 working days to request a review of your complaint by sending an email to info@bmalaw.co.uk marked to the attention of our Complaints Officers, Gareth Williams, Director of BMA Law, and Nigel Watson, Director of BMA Law, who will arrange for your complaint to be fully investigated.
  2. The Complaints Officers will acknowledge your email within 3 working days, then review the matter and write to you within 25 working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman may be able to help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at complaints independently and accessing the Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your case.

Please submit your complaints directly to the Report a Solicitor page.

Most ‘consumer’ clients (as oppose to large businesses) will be able to make use of the Ombudsman scheme however there are restrictions for some larger clients. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will normally check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. You must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us.

You must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us. From 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman also expects complaints to be made to them within 1 year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year of you realising there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.

The Legal Ombudsman may be able to help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at complaints independently and accessing the Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your case. Most ‘consumer’ clients (as oppose to large businesses) will be able to make use of the Ombudsman scheme however there are restrictions for some larger clients. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

Visit: 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

Please note that the Ombudsman are there to deal with concerns about the level of service received.  Where there are more serious concerns that a solicitor or solicitor’s firm have been involved in professional misconduct then reports can also be made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the regulator of solicitors and solicitor firms. This could be for quite unusual and serious acts of misconduct such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. Obviously we do not anticipate any such problems arising and would ask that you notify the matter supervisor straight away if you have any such concerns.  You can find out more about the Solicitors Regulation Authority including their contact details and professional conduct rules on their website: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/