Our Complaints Procedure

Morris Legal will always strive to provide the best service possible for all clients, however, on occasion, some may be disappointed or dissatisfied with the service we provide; how well we respond to such disappointment is an important element of our standard of service to clients.  It is, therefore, in our interest to deal as effectively as possible with any problems as soon as they arise.

We have, therefore, detailed below the procedure we operate when a client does file a complaint.

To whom you should complain

Whenever a file has been opened the solicitor will send out a Client Care Letter to you.  This letter advises you to contact Andrea Morris in her capacity of Complaints Handler in the first instance and also refers to this Complaints Procedure. It is Andrea Morris’ responsibility to liaise with you and the solicitor concerned.

The Morris Legal Complaints Structure

The Morris Legal Complaints Structure operates at two levels:-

Complaints Handler

(Andrea Morris)

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Solicitor Concerned

(The solicitor who is responsible for day to day conduct of your file)

The Initial Complaint

Initially, we hope that you will raise any difficulties with the solicitor concerned.  In most cases, it should be possible to resolve problems or misunderstandings at this level.  We will do everything we can to show you that the matter is being addressed, as you would wish.

In the event that the solicitor concerned is unable to satisfy you at this initial informal stage, they must report the complaint to Andrea Morris who is the Complaints Handler for Morris Legal. Alternatively, you may have taken the step of reporting your complaint direct to Andrea Morris.

The Acknowledgement Letter

Andrea Morris in conjunction with the solicitor concerned will then write to you acknowledging the complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the necessary details.  This is to ensure that you:-

• Are satisfied that the complaint has been dealt with seriously;
• You get a prompt response;
• You receive an assurance that the matter is being reviewed and;
• You are notified as soon as possible of the outcome.

In this letter, Andrea Morris will also advise you of who she will be speaking with when she is investigating the complaint. You should expect to receive the Acknowledgement Letter within 7 days of you first registering your complaint.

It may however be necessary to alter this timescale for example if a matter is complex.  Andrea Morris will however advise you accordingly.

We hope that, at this point, your complaint will have been satisfactorily addressed. When this is the case, kindly confirm the position in writing to Andrea Morris who will then close your complaint file.

What if you decide not to take matters any further at this stage?

In some instances you may decide not to take the matter any further for whatever reason and, as such, you may not respond to the Acknowledgement Letter sent out by Andrea Morris. It is, therefore, Andrea Morris’ responsibility to send a chasing letter to you, in the event that a response is not received within 7 days of the Acknowledgement Letter being sent.

If after 7 days of the Chasing Letter being sent, you still do not respond, then Andrea Morris will write to you confirming that, as a response has not been received, Morris Legal will assume that you do not intend to proceed and we will not, therefore, carry out an investigation into the alleged complaint.

What will happen if you do respond?

In the event that you decide to respond, Andrea Morris is appointed to investigate the complaint and will acknowledge your reply confirming what will happen next.  This is to be undertaken within a day of receiving your reply. She will then start to investigate the complaint.  We have detailed below a series of steps, which can be undertaken when investigating a complaint.

The Investigation

1. Andrea Morris may examine the conducting solicitor’s initial reply (if any) and consider the information recorded in the complaint file.  This procedure should only take up to 14 days from receiving your reply to the Acknowledgement Letter and the file.

2. On liaising with solicitor concerned Andrea Morris may formally reply to your complaint in writing.  This letter is to be sent to you within 28 days of receiving your reply to the Acknowledgement Letter.

3. Andrea Morris may then meet you in order to discuss the position and hopefully resolve the complaint.  This should be done within 3 days of receiving all necessary details from the solicitor concerned. After this meeting has taken place, Andrea Morris will write to you confirming what took place and any solutions that have been identified/agreed within 2 days of that meeting. If you do not want a meeting or it is inconvenient for whatever reason, then Andrea Morris will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This is to include suggestions for resolving the matter and is to be sent within 5 days of us completing our investigation.

4. On occasion, it may be necessary to invite you to agree to independent mediation.

5. At this stage, if you remain dissatisfied, Andrea Morris will request that you write to the Legal Ombudsman to enable you to contact them about your complaint if necessary. Their contact details are Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ telephone 0300 555 0333 www.legalombudsman.org.uk Please note that you must raise your concerns with the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the final letter.

In the highly unlikely event that you need to make a complaint, and your complaint is not about our service, but is about our conduct, the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) deals with conduct issues rather than the Legal Ombudsman which deals with service issues. You can visit the SRA’s website here to see how you can raise concerns with them.