Our commitment to our clients
We are committed to providing a high-quality standard of service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it so that we can sort out any mistakes or misunderstandings. We value your feedback which provides us with an opportunity to check the quality of our advice and to improve our standards. We commit to dealing with your complaint carefully and objectively and will always seek to resolve any issues in your best interests.
Who should you complain to?
If you wish to complain about our service or charges, you should first raise it with the lawyer dealing with the matter or their supervising Consultant. Alternatively, you can also contact the Complaints Partner, Mr. Pranavan Shantikumar, at the contact details below. Mr. Shantikumar is responsible for ensuring that all complaints are handled effectively and in accordance with this procedure. How should you make a complaint?
The relationship with your lawyer is built on trust and openness. You should be able to talk to your lawyer and raise any concerns with him/her as soon as they arise. In this way some complaints may be quickly resolved by way of a conversation with your lawyer. If you want to speak to the Complaints Partner, you may contact him at the details provided below. You may also write to us if you prefer at the contact details below – we do not have set forms for this process.
How to contact us
By telephone: 020 7269 7949 By email: pran@arkaslaw.co.uk By post: Arkas Law Limited, 150 Minories, London, EC3N 1LS.
What happens next?
If you telephone us, we will attempt to resolve the issue in that call.
If you email or write to us, or if your complaint can’t be resolved by a call then we will acknowledge receipt within 7 days of our receiving the complaint and set out a suggested timetable for response.
We will then investigate your complaint. We will conduct a full review of your file and may contact you to get further information from you if we feel this is appropriate or necessary. We may also contact you to suggest a resolution of the complaint before our final written response.
We aim to provide a written reply to your complaint, including our suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of our acknowledging your complaint. If, for whatever reason, we require more time to respond, we will write to you to advise when we expect to be able to provide you with our full response.
Once you have had time to consider our response we will endeavour to meet/speak with you to try and resolve your issues to our mutual satisfaction.
Within three days of the meeting, or any conversation we have with you instead of a meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we have to change any of these timescales, we will let you know and explain why.
If after exhausting our complaints process, you feel your issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction or 8 weeks have passed without our final response, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
Making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent body which deals with complaints about solicitors and other legal professionals. You may contact the Legal Ombudsman in any of the following ways: by calling 0300 555 0333 or by emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or by post at Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ.
From 1 April 2023 the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them no later than 1 year from the date of the act or omission being complained about or no later than 1 year from the date you should have realised that there was a cause for complaint. The requirement to refer your complaints to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to you remains the same.
Note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organizations unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman’s website (www.legalombudsman.org.uk).
If your complaint relates to fees you may be entitled to have them reviewed by the court by applying for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you take advantage of this procedure within a month from the date of our invoice, your right to a detailed assessment is unconditional. If you delay beyond a month the court may impose conditions. Once a year has elapsed since the date of the bill you will lose the right to a detailed assessment unless there are special circumstances.
The Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for such an assessment.
Should there be a concern about a solicitor’s behaviour which we have not resolved, you have the right to register your concern with the SRA. Further information can be found at Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Alternative dispute resolution
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations 2015 promote alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a means of redress for consumers in relation to unsatisfactory services. Accordingly, a number of organisations have been, or are in the process of being, approved as ADR entities for the settlement of consumer complaints as an alternative to the Legal Ombudsman.
Arkas Law has not adopted a specific ADR process, so if you have any concerns about the services you receive you should contact the firm’s Complaints Partner, Mr. Pranavan Shantikumar in the first instance.
A copy of this complaints policy is also available on request.