Complaints Procedure for Clarendon Chambers
1. Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. We have received only a few complaints over the years and treat all complaints seriously. However, if you have a complaint about a barrister or a member of staff, 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. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has a twelve-month time limit from the date of the act or failure to act about which you are complaining within which to make your complaint. Chambers must therefore have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether we are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not deal with complaints that fall outside of the twelve month time limit.
Complaints made by Telephone
3. You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure in paragraph 4 and 5 below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint, then please contact the Senior Clerk to Chambers, Mr Russell Burton. Also have ready the information set out in Paragraph 5 below. If your complaint concerns the Senior Clerk, then you should contact the Complaints Officer, Miss Catherine Le Quesne. Whoever you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. He will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved he 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.
4. If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will be invited to write to us about it within the next 14 days so it can be investigated formally.
Complaints made in Writing
5. Please give the following details:
• Your name and address;
• Which barrister(s) and/or member(s) of staff you are complaining about;
• The dates and detail of the complaint; and
• What you would like done about it.
Your letter of complaint should be addressed to Mr Russell Burton, Senior Clerk, Clarendon Chambers, 1 Plowden Buildings, London, EC4Y 9BU. If your complaint concerns the Senior Clerk, then your letter of complaint should be addressed to Miss Catherine Le Quesne, the Complaints Officer. We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with.
6. A senior person in Chambers will then be appointed to investigate your complaint. This person will write to you as soon as possible to let you know he has been appointed and that he will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If he finds later that he is not going to be able to reply within 14 days he will set a new date for his reply and inform you. His reply will set out:
• The nature and scope of his investigation;
• His conclusion on each complaint and the basis for his conclusion; and
• If he finds that you are justified in your complaint, his proposals for
resolving the complaint.
Confidentiality
7. All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to Members of our Management Committee and to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister member or staff member who you have complained about and the person who investigates the complaint. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.
Our Policy
8. As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our Management Committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving services.
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
9. If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers, at the conclusion of our consideration of your complaint. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by Chambers. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has a twelve-month time limit from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining within which to make your complaint. You can write to them at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870
Birmingham
B30 9EB
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
www.legalombudsman.org.uk