Lewis Rodgers Complaints Procedure

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

If you have a complaint, you should put it in writing and address it to Stephen Rodgers our Complaints Partner (or Jason Lewis if the complaint is about Stephen Rodgers).

What will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within five days, enclosing a copy of this complaints procedure.

2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps.

  • A review of your case file and your complaint.
  • A discussion between Stephen Rodgers (or Jason Lewis) and the person whom the complaint is about.

3. Stephen Rodgers (or Jason Lewis) will send you a detailed reply to your complaint within 15 working days of the date of the letter acknowledging your complaint.

4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. Another partner of the firm will review the matter and we will write to you confirming the final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons within 10 working days.

5. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. The details are Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ. Any compliant to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response on your complaint or within a year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or you becoming aware of it). For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 5550333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or you can consult the website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk

6. If we have to change any of the timescales above we will let you know and explain why.

Complaining to the Legal Ombudsman

1. Ordinarily, you cannot use the Legal Ombudsman unless you have first attempted to resolve your complaint using our internal Complaints Handling Procedure, but you will be able to contact the Legal Ombudsman if:

  • The complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks of first making the compliant to us; or
  • The Legal Ombudsman decides that there are exceptional reasons why the Legal Ombudsman should consider your complaint sooner, or without you having to use our internal Complaints Handling Procedure first; or
  • The Legal Ombudsman considers that your complaint cannot be resolved using our internal Complaints Handling Procedure because the relationship between you and us has broken down irretrievably.

2. If you wish to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must be one of the following:

  • An individual;
  • A micro-enterprise as defined in European Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 (broadly, an enterprise with fewer than 10 staff and a turnover or balance sheet value not exceeding €2 million);
  • A charity with an annual income less than £1 million;
  • A club, association or society with an annual income less than £1 million;
  • A trustee of a trust with a net asset value less than £1 million; or
  • A personal representative or the residuary beneficiaries of an estate where a person with a complaint died before referring it to the Legal Ombudsman.

3. If you are not, you should be aware that you can only obtain redress by using our Complaints Handling Procedure or by mediation or arbitration, or by taking action through the Courts.

Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Complaining to the Solicitors Regulation Authority

1. 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.

Address: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Email: report@sra.org.uk
Website: www.sra.org.uk

Alternative Dispute Resolution

1. Where we are not able to settle your complaint using our internal complaints process, there are alternative complaints bodies (such as the Ombudsman Services www.ombudsman-services.org) which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.

2. Please let us know if you would like to consider using an alternative complaints body to resolve your complaint.

Complaints Procedure