RKM Law Complaints Policy

• Please communicate your complaint to us as soon as possible after the cause of concern has arisen. This will allow us to investigate what may have gone wrong and put matters right as quickly as possible.
• Please raise your complaint with the lawyer you regularly deal with in relation to the matter or instruction to which the complaint relates. Alternatively, please contact the Principal of the firm directly.
• Please write to the firm directly either by email or by letter in the post. The details could be obtained from our website.

• When we receive an oral complaint we will respond to you initially setting out what we understand to be your complaint so that we can confirm that we have understood your concerns.
• In every case we aim to acknowledge your complaint within 48 hours over the phone and email and/or 10 days by post.
• Normally many complaints result from a simple misunderstanding and in those cases we expect to be able to resolve the issue to your satisfaction without delay. In almost every case we would hope to be able to provide you with a further oral and/or written response within five working days of your original complaint. In simple cases this will be our suggested resolution but it other cases, where more detailed investigation is needed, we will let you know what we are doing and when you can expect to receive a substantive reply from the firm.
• We aim to deal with all matters within 20 working days but wherever possible we hope to have dealt with your complaint, to your satisfaction, much sooner.
• As part of our substantive response we will outline the investigation we carried out and explain our conclusions and how we reached them. If we find we have not met expectations we may also explain what went wrong and we will propose one or more remedies to you.
• If you would like to meet with us to discuss your complaint or our response to your complaint, a meeting will be arranged, usually at our offices, at a time of your convenience.
• Any information and/or documents received from you during the complaints management process will be treated with absolute confidentiality. We will only make personally identifiable information about you available where needed, for the purposes of addressing the complaint within the practice.

• We endeavour that we will be able to deal with your complaint to your satisfaction but if you are dissatisfied with our response you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
• You can contact the Legal Ombudsman at:

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

or by calling on 0300 555 0333 (or if you are calling from overseas on +44 121 245 3050 or emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

• You should submit your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining or three years from when you should have known about the complaint.
• The Legal Ombudsman is the designated scheme for dealing with legal services complaints. However, alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate, http://www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm wish to use as a scheme.

In certain situations you may be able to raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority who can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. Further information on when you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority is available on their website (www.sra.org.uk)

• If your complaint relates to our bill, you may raise your complaint in exactly the same way as for any other complaint.
• You may also be entitled to object to our bill by making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and/or by applying to the court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
• If all or part of the bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.