Complaints policy

Our Commitment to Our Clients

At Arkas Law, we are committed to providing our clients with a high standard of legal service. If something goes wrong, or you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service or charges, we want to hear from you so that we can investigate your concerns and, where appropriate, put matters right.

We take all complaints seriously and aim to deal with them promptly, fairly and objectively. Your feedback helps us identify areas where improvements may be needed and maintain the quality of our service.

Who Should You Complain To?

If you have concerns about our service, the handling of your matter or the charges incurred, you may initially raise them with the lawyer responsible for your case or their supervising Consultant.

Alternatively, you may make a formal complaint directly to our Complaints Partner, Mr Pranavan Shantikumar, using the contact details below.

The Complaints Partner is responsible for overseeing the handling of complaints in accordance with this procedure.

How to Make a Complaint↑ Back to top

We encourage you to raise any concerns as soon as possible so that we have an opportunity to resolve them promptly.

You may initially discuss an issue with the lawyer handling your matter. Some concerns may be resolved informally through a conversation. However, if you wish to make a formal complaint, you may contact our Complaints Partner directly.

You can make your complaint by telephone, email or post. There is no requirement to complete a particular form, and there is no charge for making a complaint or for us to investigate it.

When making your complaint, please explain what has gone wrong, when the issue arose and what you would like us to do to resolve it. This will help us investigate your concerns effectively.

How to Contact Us

What Happens After You Complain?↑ Back to top

We aim to deal with complaints as efficiently as possible and will keep you informed throughout the process.

1. Initial Discussion

If you raise your concerns by telephone, we will try to resolve them during the conversation where appropriate.

If the issue cannot be resolved informally, or you wish to proceed with a formal complaint, we will follow the procedure set out below.

2. Acknowledgement

We will acknowledge your formal complaint within seven days of receiving it. Our acknowledgement will confirm receipt of your complaint and provide an indication of the anticipated timetable for our investigation.

3. Investigation

We will investigate your complaint fairly and objectively. This may involve reviewing your case file, examining relevant correspondence and documents, and obtaining further information from you or members of our team where necessary.

Where appropriate, we may contact you during the investigation to discuss your concerns and explore a possible resolution.

4. Written Response

We aim to provide a written response setting out our findings and any proposed resolution within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint.

If we need additional time to investigate the matter, we will inform you of the reason for the delay and provide an updated estimate of when you can expect a response.

We will keep you informed of any further significant changes to the anticipated timetable.

5. Review of Your Complaint

If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you may ask the Complaints Partner to review the matter.

We will consider any further points you raise and, where appropriate, arrange a meeting or telephone conversation to discuss whether the complaint can be resolved.

Following any such discussion, we will confirm in writing what was discussed and any proposed or agreed actions. We aim to provide this confirmation within three days of the meeting or conversation.

6. Final Response

Following the review, we will provide a written final response explaining our conclusions, the reasons for our decision and any steps we propose to take to resolve the complaint.

We aim to provide this response within 14 days of receiving your request for a review.

We will seek to complete our complaints process within eight weeks of receiving your formal complaint. If we anticipate that this will not be possible, we will explain the position to you and advise you in writing of your right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, where eligible.

If we cannot resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may also have the right to refer it to the Legal Ombudsman once we have issued our final response.

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent body that investigates complaints about the service provided by solicitors and other legal service providers.

You must normally give us an opportunity to resolve your complaint through our internal complaints procedure before approaching the Legal Ombudsman.

You may generally refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied with our final response or if eight weeks have passed since you first complained to us without the matter being resolved.

The applicable time limits generally require you to refer your complaint:

  • Within six months of the date of our final written response; and

  • No more than one year from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining, or no more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that you had cause to complain.

The Legal Ombudsman may apply exceptions in appropriate circumstances. You should contact the Ombudsman promptly if you are concerned about a time limit.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman using the following details:

The Legal Ombudsman can only consider complaints from eligible complainants. Certain businesses and organisations may qualify, subject to the applicable eligibility requirements.

Further information about eligibility, the complaints process and applicable time limits is available on the Legal Ombudsman’s website.

Concerns About Professional Conduct↑ Back to top

The Legal Ombudsman deals primarily with complaints about the service provided by legal professionals.

If your concern relates instead to a solicitor’s professional conduct or a potential breach of regulatory requirements, you may also be able to report the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Examples may include concerns about dishonesty, misuse of client money or other potential breaches of professional standards.

The SRA determines whether a matter falls within its regulatory remit and what action, if any, is appropriate.

You can find further information and details of how to report a concern on the SRA’s website:

Report a solicitor to the SRA

If your complaint concerns our fees or charges, we encourage you to raise the issue with us in the first instance so that we can investigate and explain the basis of the charges.

Depending on the circumstances, you may also have the right to apply to the court for a detailed assessment of a solicitor’s bill under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974.

The time limits and conditions governing a detailed assessment depend on the circumstances. An application made within one month of delivery of the bill generally carries an unconditional right to assessment, while applications made later may be subject to additional conditions or the court’s discretion.

Applications made more than 12 months after delivery of the bill, or after payment, are subject to further restrictions.

The Legal Ombudsman may be unable to consider a complaint about a bill where court assessment proceedings have been commenced, depending on the circumstances.

If you are considering a detailed assessment, you should obtain appropriate independent advice promptly.

You may also be entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, subject to its eligibility requirements and applicable time limits.

Availability of This Procedure

A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.

We will also provide clients with written information about their right to complain, how to raise a complaint and the relevant external complaint routes when they instruct us.

Last updated: October 2026