Complaints Handling Procedure

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We are committed to high-quality legal advice and client care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service. 

However, if our clients would like to discuss how the service to them could be improved, the level of their bill, or should there be any aspect of our service with which they are not satisfied, we ask them to please contact the person in our firm responsible for complaints handling: Nick Titchener, a Director, on 0333 577 0522 or nicktitchener@lawtonslaw.co.uk or by post to Calverton House, 2 Harpenden Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 5AB.

I, Nick Titchener, am the Director at this firm responsible for complaints handling and will oversee the process and be your primary contact.

Our complaints procedure is as follows:

Step One:

If you have not already done so, please let me know the full nature of the problem.  I would request that your complaint be confirmed in writing in order that any scope for misunderstanding can be avoided.  If you are not able to do this for any reason then please let me know.  When setting out your concerns in writing you can do this by emailing me at nicktitchener@lawtonslaw.co.uk or writing to me at Calverton House, 2 Harpenden Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 5AB.

Step Two:

I will write to you acknowledging your complaint within five working days.  In this written correspondence I shall confirm what happens next and whether I anticipate any delays in responding.

Step Three:

I shall then investigate the matter by reviewing the matter file and speaking to the member of staff concerned within ten working days of acknowledging receipt of your complaint.  If, for some reason, the matter cannot be investigated in this timeframe, then I will write to you notifying you of this together with the reason why and giving a revised timescale.

Once the investigation has been completed, I shall invite you to respond to the issue(s) you have raised and hopefully resolve the complaint.  Ideally, this would be in writing to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstanding and where possible will take place within fourteen working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

Step Four:

If you are satisfied with my response following the above steps, that will be the end of the matter.  However, if you are not satisfied you should contact me again and I will review my decision or, depending on the circumstances, will arrange for another Director to review my decision.  I will write to you within fourteen days of receiving your request with confirmation of the firm’s final position in relation to your complaint, outline the reasons and any final redress that is offered.

Step Five: Other avenues

You must always try complaining to us first.  In most cases you will not be able to take your complaint further without allowing us the opportunity to put things right.

Legal Ombudsman

We are permitted a minimum of eight weeks to consider the complaint.  If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us within that timeframe, then you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.

You are free to refer any complaint about our work, fees or level of service but there are some conditions and time limits.  Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of you having received a final written response from us about your complaint.  Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within one year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring; or within one year from when you should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint.  The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness was before 6 October 2010.

For further information, please contact The Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk.  The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

Solicitors Regulation Authority

If you think a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, you also have the right to notify our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).  There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider.  Please note that the SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service (complaints of this nature should instead be referred to the Legal Ombudsman).  For further information about the SRA’s role please contact the SRA or visit https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page#report

Further Information

For further information about our complaints handling procedures, please do not hesitate to contact Nick Titchener on 0333 577 0522 or nicktitchener@lawtonslaw.co.uk or by post to Calverton House, 2 Harpenden Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 5AB.