Complaints Policy

Arbor Law Limited – Complaints Handling Policy

Arbor Law is committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients.

This Complaints Handling Policy sets out how we deal with formal complaints.

Please contact the Arbor lawyers acting for you in the first instance if you feel your concerns might be better addressed by speaking with them. This will help us to improve our standards.

Otherwise, please follow the process below.

Once you have made a complaint, we will respond in the manner set out in this Complaints Policy.

What should you do if you have a complaint?

If you have a complaint, please contact kate.bennett@arbor.law, daniel.adams@arbor.law or ed.rea@arbor.law or write to Arbor Law Limited, Attention: Complaints at 118 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ED, United Kingdom.

Your correspondence should set out the full details of your complaint, including:

  • why you feel dissatisfied with the service which you have received;
  • how you would prefer to be contacted about your complaint; and
  • if there is anything in particular which you would like us to do to resolve your complaint.

You should enclose all relevant correspondence or documentation to support your complaint.

What will happen once we have received your complaint?

  1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within seven days of our receipt of the complaint, enclosing a copy of this Complaints Policy.
  2. We will log your complaint in our complaint register and investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to an appropriate person in our team, who will independently review your matter file and speak to the relevant individuals, including those named in the complaint.
  3. Where we believe a conversation could assist in resolving the complaint, then, within fourteen days of receiving your complaint, we will endeavour to resolve your complaint via a call.
  4. Where we speak with you and are unable to resolve your complaint by agreement within twenty-one days or where we do not believe a call would be appropriate, then within six weeks of receiving your complaint, we will write to you with our findings, which may include a suggested solution where appropriate.
  5. We will endeavour to provide our final determination letter within six weeks of receiving your complaint to us.

Where it is reasonable to do so, we may increase some of the timescales detailed above. If this is the case, then we will inform you in writing and we shall provide a reasonable explanation as to why we have extended the time periods.

If you are not satisfied with the firm’s response, or if we do not resolve your complaint within six weeks of your contacting us, then the Legal Ombudsman may be able to consider your complaint. There are, however, restrictions to this service, as set out on the Ombudsman’s website (see below).

If you wish to contact the Legal Ombudsman, you should contact them within six months of the date of our sending to you our final resolution letter. In addition, you should be aware that the Legal Ombudsman will not accept your complaint if:

  • more than six years have elapsed from the date of the act or omission giving rise to the complaint; or
  • more than three years have elapsed from the time when you should have known about the complaint.

For further information, you can write to the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. You can telephone them on 0300 555 0333.

You may also be able to object to our invoice by applying to the court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you exercise this right, you could be prevented from making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. In addition, if you apply to the court for an assessment and if all or part of the bill remains unpaid at the end of that assessment, we are entitled to charge interest. There are strict time limits that apply to this process and you may wish to seek independent legal advice on the issue.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority may be able to help you if you are concerned about our behaviour, for example, if you are concerned about dishonesty, taking or losing money or being treated unfairly because of your age, a disability or another characteristic.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority at www.sra.org.uk.