Initial steps to resolve
1. If you have any concerns about the service you receive, please contact one of the following who will endeavour to resolve your concerns promptly and fairly:
(a) the partner who has overall responsibility for your business or for the particular matter concerned; or
(b) if they cannot resolve matters to your satisfaction or the complaint concerns that partner, the head of the group/department with which you are dealing; or
(c) the person indicated in your Engagement Letter.
2. If you are in any doubt, please ask us, and we will supply the name of a partner for you to contact for this purpose. For complaints in non-UK offices, this will be the Managing Partner of that office.
Next steps to resolve
3. If the matter cannot be resolved as set out above, or if you would prefer, please contact Andrew Dodd (tel +44 330 460 6525) who is the Complaints Partner ("Complaints Partner") for all of Fieldfisher LLP. If Andrew Dodd is away for any material time, the Managing Partner of Fieldfisher LLP, Robert Shooter, will ensure that your complaint is dealt with by an appropriate person. That person will then be the Complaints Partner for the purposes of this Complaints Procedure.
What will happen next
4. The Complaints Partner will endeavour to acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days. They will send you an acknowledgment and a copy of this Complaints Procedure.
5. We will record your complaint in a central register and open a file for your complaint.
6. The Complaints Partner will investigate your complaint. This will normally involve them in one or more of the following steps:
- reviewing the file and any other documents relevant to the matter to which the complaint relates;
- interviewing and discussing the position with those concerned within the firm;
- seeking further clarification from you.
If it seems appropriate, we may at this stage suggest a meeting to obtain further details or to discuss matters with you.
7. The Complaints Partner will then write to you to:
(a) report their findings; and
(b) make proposals for resolving your complaint.
We aim to do this within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint. If for any reason the 21 days cannot be achieved (for example, because of staff absences or because further information is required from third parties or from you), we will explain why and endeavour to agree a revised date with you.
Review of the Complaints Partner's decision
8. If you do not accept the Complaints Partner's findings or proposals for resolving the matter, you may request a review of their decision. This review will be carried out by a partner appointed by the Fieldfisher LLP Managing Partner, who will have had no prior involvement with the substance of the complaint. To start the review, please write to the Complaints Partner with your reasons for rejecting the findings. In certain circumstances, for example if you do not adequately explain the basis on which you reject the finding, we may decline your request for a further review.
9. Our aim will be to complete this review within 21 days of receipt of your request, but if more time is needed, we will notify you. Within 5 working days of completing our review, we will write to you with our final response to your complaint, and explain our reasons.
9. Our aim will be to complete this review within 21 days of receipt of your request, but if more time is needed, we will notify you. Within 5 working days of completing our review, we will write to you with our final response to your complaint, and explain our reasons.
Escalation Procedure for Complaints about UK Matters
10. If you are unhappy with our final response, and your complaint relates to a UK matter, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman can consider complaints brought by certain categories of consumers, estate beneficiaries, charities, trusts and micro enterprises.
11. You will need to bring any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving our final response, and no later than 1 year from the date of the act or omission you are complaining about, or 1 year from the date you realised there was cause for complaint.
12. If you miss the time limit, the Legal Ombudsman may not be able to investigate your complaint.
13. You can check details of the redress system operated by the Legal Ombudsman using the following contact details:
Tel: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH
Escalation Procedure for Complaints about Non UK Matters
14. Please ask the Managing Partner of the Fieldfisher office who provided the services for details of how to escalate a complaint in that jurisdiction.
Professional Misconduct Complaints
15. Fieldfisher LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority ('SRA'), which handles complaints relating to professional misconduct. If you have any concerns about our behaviour, you can raise these with the SRA.
16. The contact details for the SRA are as follows:
Address: The Cube, Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Tel: 0370 606 2555
Complaints About our Bills
17. You are entitled to challenge or complain about your bill and, if appropriate, the circumstances in which you may be required to pay interest on an unpaid bill.
Procedure for Having our Bills for UK Work Assessed by the UK Courts
18. If a complaint relates to a bill for our fees, and you retained us in the UK, you might also be able to apply to the court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you would like a bill to be reviewed by the court, you must apply to the court within 1 month of the date the bill was delivered to you. If the bill has been paid, more than 12 months has elapsed or a judgment has been obtained in respect of the costs covered by the bill, the court will not order the bill to be assessed unless special circumstances apply. If the court makes an order in such circumstances, it might attach conditions to the order in respect of the costs of the assessment. We may still be entitled to charge interest in respect of an unpaid bill even if you make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or an application to the court."