Complaints Policy - James Murray Solicitors

James Murray Solicitors Complaints Handling Policy

We want you to be happy with the service that we provide at James Murray Solicitors but sometimes things do go wrong. Our Complaints Policy is designed to help you bring your dissatisfaction to our attention so we can look at what has happened and provide you with an explanation. We welcome feedback and we hope that you will let us know if you believe you have reason to complain about any aspect of our service or a bill. If you tell us as soon as you feel there is a problem, we can take steps immediately to fix any issues you may have. You will not be charged for the work involved in investigating a complaint made by you.

Our Complaints Procedure

When we receive your complaint, it will be recorded in our Central Register and we will write to you to acknowledge we have received it, within 2 working days of receipt. We will give you the opportunity to attend a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.

If you do wish to complain, you should address your concerns to: Paul Fletcher, Managing Partner, James Murray Solicitors, 41 Merton Road, Bootle, Liverpool L20 7AP – Telephone Number: 0151 933 3333. email address: pfletcher@jamesmurraylaw.com.

Mr Fletcher has overall responsibility for Complaints Handling, however your complaint may be dealt with by a member of our Management Team who will act as Complaint Handler and we will inform you of that person’s name when acknowledging receipt of your complaint.

If however your complaint relates to the conduct of Paul Fletcher, please contact our Office Manager, Jayne Thomas on jthomas@jamesmurraylaw.com who will arrange for your concerns to be raised with another member of our Management Team.

Whilst it is not essential for you to put your complaint in writing, it would be helpful if you could ensure that you clearly explain the nature of your complaint, describe the facts and events relating to it and what (if any) loss may have incurred as a result.

What happens next?

As mentioned above, we will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 2 working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure and letting you know who will be dealing with your complaint.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve a review of your matter file and we will speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
If you attend a meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and set out any solutions that have been agreed with you.
If you do not wish to meet to discuss your complaint, we will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within eight weeks of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
At this stage, if you remain dissatisfied with what we have said and how we propose to resolve your complaint, we can arrange for our decision to be reviewed. This may happen in one of the following ways:

James Murray Solicitors, Offices at:-
41 Merton Road Bootle, Liverpool L20 7AP Tel : 0151 933 3333 and 5th Floor, 3a Bridgewater Street, Liverpool L1 OAR Tel: 0151 207 9910
info@jamesmurraylaw.com www.jamesmurraylaw.com
Authorised & Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under numbers 74277 and 657637

our own review of our handling of your complaint – within 5 working days;
by arranging for someone else from our Management Team, who is entirely unconnected with the complaint, to review how it was handled and the decision taken – within 10 working days.
by asking our local law society or another local firm of solicitors to review our handling of, and the decision on, your complaint (if they are willing to do this). This might take the form of mediation or some other type of alternative dispute resolution by an alternate complaints body such as ProMediate www.promediate.co.uk or Small Claims Mediation www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk who are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. – within 10 working days.
We will write to you within 14 working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

The Legal Ombudsman

We hope that we are able to resolve your complaint satisfactorily. However, if you remain unhappy with our response or we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks then you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body established under the Legal Services Act, who can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received from us. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted using the following details:

Address: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 OEH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Minicom: 0300 555 1777
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB)

Individual Costs Lawyers who work for us are regulated by the CLSB and the CLSB can investigate complaints about those Costs Lawyers’ professional conduct. If you wish to complain about a Costs Lawyer’s conduct, you should contact the CLSB promptly.

The CLSB will consider complaints made within 12 months of the date on which the matters giving rise to the complaint occurred or the date on which the complainant first became aware that they had grounds for the complaint. This period can be extended in exceptional circumstances. The CLSB will usually expect you to give us a chance to resolve your complaint first.

The CLSB can be contacted using the following details:

Address: PO Box 4336, Manchester, M61 0BW
Telephone: 0161 956 8969
Email: enquiries@clsb.info
Website: www.clsb.info