When a client makes a formal complaint to the Managing Partner the Managing Partner will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 5 working days.
He will then undertake an independent review of the file and decide if in his view the complaint is justified or whether there is objective evidence on the file to refute the complaint. As part of this process, he may request further information from the complainant or the fee earner with conduct of the file. This will normally be completed within 20 working days.
Either it will be found that there is objective evidence that the complaint is justified, objective evidence that it isn’t justified or there will be insufficient evidence to determine the validity of the complaint based on the contents of the file.
If the complaint is not deemed to be justified a letter will be sent notifying the complainant of that decision and the reasons why within 5 working days of the conclusion of the review. If the complaint is justified or partly justified the client will be contacted to discuss the proposed resolution and if it can be resolved at this stage then a letter outlining the complaint, why the complaint was justified and the actions taken will be sent to the client within 5 working days of the resolution being agreed.
The complaints handling process will not normally extend beyond 6 weeks but in complex matters, of if additional information is requested that delays the process these time limits may not be complied with.