Handling Complaints

Chambers Complaints Procedure

Making a Complaint

1. Chambers’ aim is to give you the best possible service at all times. However if you have a complaint you are invited to let us know as soon as possible. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint but you are free to do so should you wish.

2. The Legal Ombudsman, the independent body for service complaints about lawyers (see paragraph 13 below) will only consider complaints received:

3. within six years from the date of the act or omission complained of;

4. three years from the date on which the complainant should reasonably have known that there were grounds for complaint (if the act or omission took place before 6 October 2010 or was more than six years ago);

5. within six months of the complainant receiving a final response from his or her lawyer, if that response complies with the requirements of rule 4.4 of the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available if the complainant remained dissatisfied, the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to the Ombudsman within six months).

3. The Legal Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances. Chambers will have regard to the applicable time limit in deciding whether it is able to investigate any complaint. It will not normally deal with a complaint that falls outside the time limit applicable to a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

4. The Legal Ombudsman can only deal with complaints from consumers. (The Legal Ombudsman can also deal only with complaints from individuals and certain other entities). This means that only complaints from a client of Chambers are within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Other complainants should contact the Bar Standards Board (the body that regulates the professional conduct of barristers) rather than the Legal Ombudsman. Chambers is not always able to investigate satisfactorily complaints made by other complainants and may refer such complainants to the Bar Standards Board.

Informal Complaints made by Telephone

5. If you wish to make a formal complaint, you should follow the procedure set out below. However, we would encourage you, in the first instance, to raise any concern that you may have by telephone. We will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. We will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved we will record the outcome, check that you are satisfied with the outcome and record that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record the outcome of the telephone discussion in writing.

6. If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will be invited to write to Chambers about it within the next 14 days so that it can be investigated formally.

Complaints made in Writing

7. If you make a complaint in writing, please provide the following details when doing so: (a) your name and address; (b) the detail of the complaint; and (c) what you would like done about it.

8. Please address your letter to Energy Law @ Lansdown Chambers, 22 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX. Where possible, receipt of your complaint will be acknowledged within two days and details provided of how your complaint will be dealt with.

9. Within 14 days of your letter being received we will notify you whether certain aspects of the complaint fall outside our complaints handling procedure. If they do, you will be provided with information on how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and/or the Bar Standards Board.

10. We will write to you as soon as possible if we will be unable to reply substantively to your complaint within14 days. If so, we will set a new date for the reply and will inform you. The reply will set out: (a) the nature and scope of the investigation; (b) the conclusion on each complaint and the basis for each conclusion; (c) if we find that you are justified in your complaint, proposals for resolving the complaint; and (d) how you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman/Bar Standards Board.

Confidentiality

11. All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.

Documents and Records

12. As part of our commitment to client care Chambers makes a written record of any complaint and retains all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman or the Bar Standards Board

13. If you are unhappy with the outcome of our procedure, you have the choice of taking up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. Generally, the Legal Ombudsman will only consider your complaint if you have first used the Chambers complaints procedure, but the Ombudsman will consider a complaint where there has been no resolution under our complaints procedure within 8 weeks of your complaint. If you are not eligible to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, you may contact the Bar Standards Board.

14. You can write to them at:

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

Tel: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Bar Standards Board

Professional Conduct Department

289—293 High Holborn

London WC1V 7HZ

Tel: 0207 6111 445

Website: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk