COMPLAINTS POLICY

Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. However if you have a complaint you are invited to let us know as soon as possible. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint but you are free to do so should you wish.
Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has a twelve-month time limit from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining within which to make your complaint. Chambers must therefore have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether they are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not deal with complaints that fall outside of the twelve month time limit.

Complaints Made by Telephone

You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure in paragraph 4 and 5 below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint then please telephone the individual nominated under the Chambers Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints - Colin Sartain. If the complaint is about Colin Sartain telephone Nic Lobbenberg KC. You may contact these on 02070921900. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. He will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved he will record the outcome, check that you are satisfied with the outcome and record that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record the outcome of the telephone discussion in writing.
If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will be invited to write to us about it within the next 14 days so it can be investigated formally.

Complaints Made in Writing

Please give the following details:

Your name and address;
Which member(s) of Chambers you are complaining about;
The detail of the complaint; and
What you would like done about it.

Please address your letter to either Colin Sartain or Nic Lobbenberg KC at 4BB, 44 Southampton Buildings, London WC2A 1AP. We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with

Our Chambers has a panel headed by Nic Lobbenberg KC and made up of experienced members of Chambers and a senior member of staff, which considers any written complaint. Within 14 days of your letter being received the head of the panel or his deputy in his absence will appoint a member of the panel to investigate it. If your complaint is against the head of the panel, the next most senior member of the panel will investigate it. In any case, the person appointed will be someone other than the person you are complaining about.
The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon as possible to let you know he has been appointed and that he will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If he finds later that he is not going to be able to reply within 14 days he will set a new date for his reply and inform you. His reply will set out:

The nature and scope of his investigation;
His conclusion on each complaint and the basis for his conclusion; and
If he finds that you are justified in your complaint, his proposals for resolving the complaint.

Confidentiality

All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, members of our management committee and to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister member or staff who you have complained about, the head or relevant senior member of the panel and the person who investigates the complaint. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.

Our Policy

As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our management committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving services.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers. Ordinarily you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at your complaint if it meets all three of the following criteria:
- The problem or when you found out about it, happened after 5 October 2010, and
- You are referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within either six years of the problem happening or three years from when you found out about it, and
- You are referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response.
You can find out further information about the Legal Ombudsman by visiting their website:
https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
To make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman please complete their online questionnaire:
https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/helping-the-public/make-a-complaint/

If you are not the barrister’s client and have concerns about a barrister or the Chambers from which they work please contact the Bar Standards Board using their Online Reporting Form:
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/ask-us-a-question-or-report-a-concern-landing.html
You can find out further information about the Bar Standards Board by visiting their website:
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/

Regulation

Chambers and the individual barristers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board.

If you have concerns about a barrister or the Chambers from which they work please contact the Bar Standards Board using their Online Reporting Form: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/ask-us-a-question-or-report-a-concern-landing.html

You can find out further information about the Bar Standards Board by visiting their website: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/