How to complain
At BLM we are committed to the delivery of a high quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. We acknowledge that we may not always get things right and if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case or transaction to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case or transaction and we will not charge you for dealing with your complaint.
Complaints to the Regulator in England and Wales
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can find more information on how to raise your concerns at http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
Clients in England and Wales
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case or transaction.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
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Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint, and
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No more than six years from the date of the act/omission or;
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No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint
For more information about the legal Ombudsman, you can contact them as follows:
Visit: www.legalonbudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9W
Clients in Scotland
If our client relations manager has not been able to resolve your complaint, you may submit a formal complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), which is the gateway for all complaints against solicitors in Scotland. For more information about the SLCC you can contact them as follows:
Visit: www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk/making-a-complaint
Call: 0131 201 2130
Email: enquiries@scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk
The SLCC decides if a complaint relates to the service provided or the conduct of a solicitor and whether the SLCC or the Society or both should investigate the matter. If your complaint relates to a solicitor’s conduct it will be investigated by the Law Society of Scotland.
The SLCC operates strict time limits. Details of these time limits are outlined in the Rules of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission 2016 (amended December 2016).
Clients in Northern Ireland
Any complaint made to us must be within six months of completion of your case or transaction or within six months of discovering a cause for concern, whichever is later.
If we have not been able to resolve your complaint with our internal procedure then you can refer your complaint to The Law Society of Northern Ireland, you must do this within 6 months of our final response.
All complaints should be submitted to the Law Society using their Complaints Form which can be obtained at www.lawsoc-ni.org/3--submitting-a-complaint
You can also request an information pack by telephoning or writing to:
The Law Society of Northern Ireland
96 Victoria Street
Belfast
BT1 3GN
Tel: 028 9023 1614
Clients in the Republic of Ireland
If we have not been able to resolve your complaint internally the Law Society of Ireland may be able to investigate your complaint. For more details as to what types of complaints the Law Society can investigate please visit www.lawsociety.ie/Public/Complaints-against-solicitors/Steps-to-take/. If the Law Society can investigate your complaint you will have to complete their complaint form and send it to:
Complaints and Client Relations Section
George’s Court
George’s Lane
Dublin 7
The Law Society cannot open a complaint file until they have a signed complaint and postal address.
