Client complaints
1. Shoosmiths LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales (registered number OC374987). Our registered office is at 100 Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 1FH. Shoosmiths LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 569065). Shoosmiths and Swiitch are trading names of Shoosmiths LLP.
2. If you have any concerns about either our service or our bills please raise them with the person handling your case, their supervisor or the client partner identified in our Terms of Engagement Letter.
3. We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days of receipt and confirm who will be investigating your concerns.
4. We will find out what happened, usually by reviewing the file and by talking to the person who acted for you. Sometimes as a result, we will need further information which may mean we need to telephone you or meet with you. We will tell you how long this will take which will take account of your personal circumstances.
5. We will conduct a thorough investigation, tell you what we have found out within the agreed timescale and, where appropriate, suggest a solution or remedy.
6. We hope that you will be satisfied with our conclusions, but if we have not been able to resolve your complaint please contact us by email at [email protected] or by post at Client Experience, Shoosmiths, The Lakes, Northampton, NN4 7SH. We will arrange a further independent review by a senior manager or partner. We will confirm who will investigate your complaint and how long the investigation will take. After fully investigating your complaint we will give you our final response and explain the reasons behind the decision.
7. This complaints procedure also applies if you are a client of Swiitch, a trading name of Shoosmiths LLP.
England and Wales
8. If we are unable to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving full details, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. 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.
Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:
Legal Ombudsman,
PO Box 6167,
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Minicom: 0300 555 1777
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
9. The Legal Ombudsman deals with service issues. If you are concerned about our conduct or behaviour rather than our service, your complaint should be addressed to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Scotland
10. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, you have the right to make a complaint to the SLCC by writing to
12-13 St Andrew Square,
Edinburgh
EH2 2AF
Email: [email protected].
Telephone number: 0131 201 2130.
You can find out more details and access a complaint form and information about the time limits for making a complaint from the SLCC website: www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk
11. Alternative approved complaints bodies such as ProMediate exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, if we both agree, but as you are able to use the services of either the Legal Ombudsman or the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, we do not intend to use their scheme.
Belgium (a branch office of Shoosmiths Europe LLP)
A copy of our complaints procedure is available upon request. However, if we are unable to resolve your concerns through internal channels, our clients may refer a matter to the relevant disciplinary board of the local bar details of which can be found at www.advocat.be.
Shoosmiths (Northern Ireland) LLP
12. Please write to Gillian Crotty setting out your concerns. Your complaint will be investigated and a response provided within 28 days. If we are unable to resolve your complaint or the 28 days has elapsed without due cause, you have a right to complain to the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
You should raise your complaint with them within six months from completion of your business or within six months of you discovering a cause for concern, whichever is later.
Contact details for The Law Society of Northern Ireland are:
96 Victoria Street,
Belfast,
BT1 3GN
Telephone: 02890 231614
Website: www.lawsoc-ni.org
Customers of our lender clients subject to FCA complaints process
13. Although Shoosmiths is no longer regulated by the FCA, if you were a customer of one of our lender clients and you are unhappy with the way in which Shoosmiths has acted, please contact us on the telephone number at the top of our letter quoting our reference number. Alternatively, you can write to us at Shoosmiths, The Lakes, Northampton NN4 7SH, quoting the reference number from our letter or alternatively e-mail [email protected] and quote the reference number from our letter.
14. Where possible, we aim to resolve all complaints by the close of business on the third business day following receipt of a complaint, however where further investigation is needed, we will acknowledge your complaint, by letter, within five business days and will provide you with a copy of our complaints procedure.
15. Where we have not been able to resolve your complaint within 28 days of receipt, we will write to you advising you of the progress of the investigation into your complaint; in any event we will provide you with our final response within eight weeks.
16. If after we have issued our final response you are not happy with the outcome of our investigation in certain circumstances you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Full details will be provided in our final response.
17. You should be aware that any referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service must be made within six months of the final response that we issue to you. Visit the Financial Ombudsman Service website on this link: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/.