As this is an important issue for managing your practice, the Law Society produce guidance on how to handle complaints effectively, please click here to view this*.

Lets be a Group that's Complaint Competent

We have produced below a suggested letter drafted from one produced by one time OSS advisor, Mike Frith.

Dear Mr

I am committed to providing a high quality legal service to all my clients. If something goes wrong I need you to tell me about it. This will also help me to maintain and improve my standards as well as seeking to resolve your problems.

Or

I am sorry you have had to complain about my service but I am committed to providing a high quality service and therefore have devised a simple and quick procedure to resolve any problems.

My complaints procedure is as follows:

If you have or wish to continue with a complaint, please let me have the full details. What will happen next?

1. I will deal with your complaint in the first instance. I will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and ask you to confirm or explain the details. You can expect to receive my letter within two working days of me receiving your complaint.

2. I will record your complaint within a day of receiving your complaint.

3. When I acknowledge your reply I will confirm what will happen next.

4. I will then start to investigate you complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps. • If you agree, I will investigate your complaint within 10 days. I will send you my detailed reply or invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter. • If you agree I will ask another independent solicitor to investigate your complaint and report to me. I will do this within 3 days.

5. I will then write inviting you to meet me and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. I will do this within 3 days.

6. Within 2 days of the meeting I will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions I have agreed with you. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, I will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include my suggestion for resolving the matter. I will do this within 5 days of completing my investigation.

7. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you can write to me again. I will then arrange to review my decision.

8. If you are still not satisfied with your complaint I will either with your consent, ask a member of the Solicitors Sole Practitioners Group or my local Law Society or another solicitor to review your complaint and respond to me within 10 days. I will let you know how long this process will take.

9. I will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of the end of the review. At this time I will write to you confirming my final position on your complaint and explaining my reasons. I will also give you the name and address of the Consumer Complaints Service. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact them about your complaint.

If you have any queries, please let me know.

Yours sincerely,

A Sole Practitioner

The letter is relevant for a letter with the Rule 15 details or else it can be used or adapted as a response to a problem or complaint. Each firm will wish to adopt its own approach to when the Complaint Procedure letter is sent. It is perfectly proper to refer to it in the Rule 15 letter and say that the Procedure can be requested if there is a problem.