Our complaints policy

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.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, the first step is to write to or speak to the person who is dealing with your matter. If you are not satisfied with response given please contact Lynne McGonnell, Partner, who is the person responsible for dealing with client care issues. The postal address is 58 Howard Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE30 1AL, or email complaints@hadaway.co.uk.

What will happen next?

  1. We will send you a letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint within a maximum of three working days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve reviewing your file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you. If your complaint relates to a matter where the file has been closed we may need to obtain your file from our archive storage facility, which may take 1-2 working days.
  3. We will send you a detailed reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.If we cannot give you a full response within that time then we will let you know how long it is likely to take.
  4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for a partner who has not had any dealings with your matter to review the initial decision.
  5. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
  6. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) at the Office for Legal Complaints on 0300 555 0333, or by writing to PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH. Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

The LeO will not normally deal with complaints unless our complaints procedure has been exhausted and allows us to do this within eight weeks. The LeO asks that you contact their office no more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about or no more than one year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint, and within six months of the date of our final response to your complaint.

Please note that the LeO will not handle complaints from large businesses (see the LeO website – www.legalombudsman.org.uk)

If you think we have breached an SRA Principle. You should report the matter directly to the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) The Cube, 199 Wharfside Strete, Birmingham B1 1RN. Call 0370 606 2555 or email report@sra.org.uk or via their website at  www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

Objecting to our bill(s)

You may have the right to object to our bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. You should make an application within one month of receiving the bill. You will need permission of the court for the bill to be assessed if the application is made more than one month after you receive it. The court will not usually order an assessment of the bill more than 12 months from the date you receive it.

Non-payment of our bill(s)

You should be aware that the firm may be entitled to charge interest if all or part of our bill(s) remains unpaid.

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

Complaints about data protection

If you want to complain about how we have handled your personal data please follow the procedure in our privacy notice at www.hadaway.co.uk/privacy-policy.

If you are not our client

If you are not our client we can consider complaints in limited circumstances including allegations we have not complied with our professional obligations or data protection obligations.