Have a Complaint?

our complaints procedure.

Howell Jones is committed to providing a high quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. We acknowledge that we may not always get it right so if something has gone wrong, including in relation to your bill, we would like you to tell us. This will help us improve our standards.

Our aim is that through our complaints procedure your complaint will be investigated fully, fairly and promptly and, wherever possible, will be resolved to your satisfaction.

how do I make a complaint?

In the first instance please contact the lawyer who is working on your case to discuss your concerns – they will do their best to resolve your concerns. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the engagement letter we sent you at the beginning of your case.

If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with either of these people, or you are unsatisfied with their response, please contact:

• Helen Hotten, our Client Care Partner, telephone: 020 8944 3830 or email: helen.hotten@howell-jones.com, or the Client Care Managers:
• Chloe Baxter, telephone: 020 8439 7462 or email: chloe.baxter@howell-jones.com
• Clare Marion, telephone: 020 3167 1958 or email: clare.marion@howell-jones.com
• Amira Hughes, telephone: 01932 234 562 or email amira.hughes@howell-jones.com

In some circumstances it may be appropriate for another Partner or Manager in the firm to investigate and respond to your complaint.

To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:

• your full name and contact details
• your case reference number (if you have it)
• what you think we have got wrong
• what you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint.

If you require any assistance in making your complaint we will try to help you.

how we deal with complaints

We will write to you within three working days of receiving your complaint to tell you who will be investigating your complaint.

We will investigate your complaint. This may involve:

• reviewing our file(s) and other relevant documents, with or without the involvement of the lawyer who acted for you, and
• discussing your complaint with the lawyer who dealt with your case.

We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone.

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

Our aim is to complete our investigation as soon as possible and within 15 working days of the date of our letter of acknowledgement. If we expect that the investigation may take longer than 15 working days to complete, we will let you know and explain why.

We will write to you at the end of our investigation to summarise the results of our investigation and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation please tell us why. We may ask another member of the client care team to review your complaint. We aim to let you know our final conclusions within seven working days of receiving your comments.

We will not charge you for investigating your complaint.

what if I am not satisfied with the outcome?

If we are unable to resolve your complaint you may be entitled to ask the Legal Ombudsman to look into your complaint. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman:

• by post at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
• by telephone: 0300 555 0333, or
• by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• 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

        and

• you must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The entitlement to complain extends to a complaint about the bill of Howell-Jones LLP. There may be a right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, or by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. The Legal Ombudsman may not deal with a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for assessment of that bill.