We want to give you the best possible service. Should you experience dissatisfaction with the service or become dissatisfied with a bill you receive from M1 Law and wish to make a formal complaint, please follow our Complaints Procedure set out below and we will do our very best to resolve the matter promptly and fairly to your satisfaction:
Stage 1: As a first point of contact, you should telephone or write to the person handling your matter, stating clearly that you are making a Complaint. They will pass the Complaint to a Complaints Handler, who will acknowledge your complaint. The Complaints Handler will attempt to resolve your Complaint in the first instance, normally within 14 days.
Stage 2: In the event of the Complaints Handler being unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction within 14 days, at your request a Partner will investigate the issues you have raised. The Partner will review the relevant files and the work undertaken on your behalf and will submit M1 Law’s final response to you. You should normally receive a written final response within 6 weeks of the date of your complaint being referred for Stage Two review. We will inform you if it is likely to take longer.
Stage 3: If after completion of our Complaints Procedure you do not feel the matter has been resolved to your satisfaction, you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. The Legal Ombudsman, set up by the Office for Legal Complaints, deals with complaints against lawyers, is an independent complaints-handling body and operates a non-judicial dispute resolution procedure. The Legal Ombudsman service is only available to members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted via the Legal Ombudsman’s website www.legalombudsman.org.uk, or by telephone (0300 555 0333) or by email to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or by writing to: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
Please note that from 1 April 2023 the time limits to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman have changed. From the 1 April complaints should be made to the Legal Ombudsman within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority via the website https://www.sra.org.uk.
If your complaint is about the reasonableness of our charges, you can apply to the Court for a detailed assessment those charges under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If accepted for assessment, the Court will assess, not only the charges, but also the costs of assessment, and will certify what is due to, or payable by, us in respect of our charges, and the costs of assessment. An application for an assessment of costs must normally be made within 12 months of the delivery of our invoice, or in exceptional circumstances longer and on such terms as the Court may think fit. Please see sections 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974 for further details.
Last updated: 30 March 2023