At Williams Hortor we aim to offer a high standard of legal expertise at a fair rate and to achieve, for each of our clients, the most practicable and efficient legal solutions to the matters they bring to us.

Whilst our hope is that you never have cause to complain about the services which we provide to you, we do understand that sometimes misunderstandings do occur or you may feel dissatisfied with some element of our service.  We would hope that if you do have any concerns, you raise these with us directly so that these can be resolved informally to your satisfaction.

In the event that we are unable to resolve the issue, there are other mechanisms to help us reach a fair resolution, beginning with utilising our formal complaints procedure.

Below are details of our formal complaints procedure.

Introduction

We are committed to maintaining the highest professional standards and providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. A complaint can show us how to do better. If something goes wrong, we want to know about it and put it right as quickly as we can.

The aim of the formal complaints process is to resolve a problem to the satisfaction of the person making the complaint.

If you want to make a formal complaint, please email Kay Agbaje-Williams at kay@williamshortor.com. Please put ‘COMPLAINT’ in the email subject heading. We aim to deal with complaints according the timetable which is set out below. There is no fee for dealing with your complaint.

Complaints process timetable

 Action Timescale
We will write to acknowledge receipt of the complaint and send a copy of the complaints procedure Within two working days
We may invite you to a meeting (remote or face to face) or alternatively arrange to discuss the issues by telephone Within two working days
We aim to confirm the outcome of the meeting or telephone conversation in writing Within five working days of the meeting/telephone conversation
We will investigate the issues further, if necessary Within 14 days of receiving the complaint
Alternatively if a meeting/telephone discussion is not possible or required, we will investigate the issues Within 14 days of receiving the complaint
We aim to write to you with the outcome Within 21 days
Review and close the complaint Within 8 weeks of receiving the complaint

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our complaints process, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within:

  • six months of our final response to your complaint; and
  • no later than one year of the act or omission being complained about; or
  • no later than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted:

Complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

You have the right to complain to the SRA regarding dishonesty and behavioural conduct.

The SRA can be contacted:

  • By telephone: 0370 606 2555 or
  • By post: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
  • Website: https://www.sra.org.uk/

We confirm that there will be no legal repercussions or detriment for making a complaint. All complaints will be dealt with confidentially, without disclosure to any third parties.