Introduction

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

If at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

Our process and timescales

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case (as identified in our Engagement Letter) to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues.

If you want to escalate your complaint, if you have been unable to resolve with a member of staff acting for you, please contact the Complaints Partner (Peter Jackson). Please do this as soon as possible.

You can write to us at; No. 1 St. Paul’s Square,
Liverpool,
L3 9SJ
Telephone: 0151 600 8000
Email: Complaints@hilldickinson.com

Once a complaint has been received

We will send correspondence acknowledging the complaint within five working days and record the complaint. If necessary, we will seek clarification of the concerns you raise.

We will keep you informed of the timescales within which we would hope to provide you with a substantive response. Normally, this will be within a period of no more than twenty- eight days from the date on which your complaint was acknowledged.

If the complaint is particularly complex, we may need more time; in this event, we will let you know within the initial twenty-eight-day period.

We will not exceed a period of eight weeks unless we notify you within that period and provide you with an explanation as to why further time is needed.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

Complaint investigation

The investigation of your complaint may involve one or more of the following steps:

We may ask the member of staff who acted for you to comment on your complaint.

We may examine their comments and the information in your complaint file. We may then ask them for more information.

In appropriate circumstances we may meet with you, to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.

Shortly after such a meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.

If you do not want a meeting or a meeting is either inappropriate or impossible, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter.

If you are still not satisfied, you can write to us again. If we consider it appropriate, we will then arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it and provide you with a response. 

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

If you are not satisfied with our response or if we are unable resolve your complaint the Legal Ombudsman can help you. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
 
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.
 
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

To contact the Legal Ombudsman, visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk,
Call: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Post: Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167,
Slough,
SL1 0EH

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

If you require further assistance, please contact the Professional Ethics helpline.

Approvals
Peter Jackson
Complaints Partner
Hill Dickinson LLP
March 2024