How to make a complaint

If you have any concerns about our service, our work or our charges, you should discuss these first with the individual who has day to day control of your matter.

If this person cannot satisfactorily address your concerns and you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Complaints Handler in writing either by post to 19 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1JW of via email to complaints@hawkinsryan.com. Please mark your letter or email “Complaint” and quote the file reference from our previous correspondence if possible.

Acknowledging your complaint

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within five working days of receiving this.

Investigating your complaint

We will investigate your complaint. This will normally involve reviewing your file in detail and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you. We may also need to contact you to ask for further information or to confirm, explain or clarify any issues. 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.

Next step

We will write to you again, to confirm the outcome of our investigation and any suggested resolution and explaining our reasons for the decision within fifteen working days.

Appealing against our final decision

If you are not satisfied with our decision you should contact us again within ten working days to request for a partner who has not had any dealings with the matter to review the initial decision. We will write to you within ten working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming the firm’s final position on your complaint, and explaining our reasons.

Our final response

A final response to your complaint will be provided in writing. If you choose to accept the outcome then please let us know within one month of receiving the final response letter.

The Legal Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied with our final response then you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body, who can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman at:

The Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6167

Slough

SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333

Enquires@legalombudsman.org.uk

The Legal Ombudsman Rules

The Legal Ombudsman will not normally deal with complaints unless our complaints procedure has been exhausted. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman should be made within one year of the date of the act or, omission about which you are concerned or, within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman will not handle complaints from large businesses (see the Legal Ombudsman website www.legalombudsman.org.uk

The Solicitors Regulation Authority

We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). If you have any concerns regarding our conduct such as issues related to dishonesty, mishandling of funds, or unfair treatment based on age, disability, or other characteristics, the SRA can assist you. For more information on how to raise your concerns, please visit the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s website www.sra.org.uk