About this policy
This policy deals with complaints made by third parties, including professional clients, lay clients, opponents and members of the judiciary.
This policy deals with complaints made about Members of Chambers and/or the staff of Chambers.
This procedure is governed by the Executive Board of Chambers and may be subject to change. Any change to this policy will be notified on the Complaints page of the Chambers website.
Complaints Procedure
1. Our aim is to provide you with the best service possible at all times. However, if you have a complaint, you may inform us as soon as possible. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint, although you are free to do so should you wish.
2. Be assured that any complaints made will be taken seriously and handled with care and will not disadvantage your case or matter. We will investigate and handle complaints in a fair and consistent manner, diligently and impartially, and seek to respond and resolve your complaint promptly.
3. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them. From 1 April 2023, the time limits are:
a. The complainant must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than one year from the act/omission, or one year from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
b. The complainant must also refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the complaint receiving a final response from their lawyer, if that response complies with the requirements in rule 4.4 of the Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available if the complainant remained dissatisfied, and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to them within six months).
4. The 36 Group must have regard to the timeframes above when deciding whether we are able to investigate your complaint. Therefore, Chambers will not usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman’s time limits. The Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances.
Third-Party Complaints
5. The Ombudsman will also only deal with complaints from consumers. This means that only complaints from the barrister’s client are within their jurisdiction. Non-clients who do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman who are not satisfied with the outcome of our investigation should contact the Bar Standards Board (BSB) rather than the Legal Ombudsman.
6. It must be noted that that it may not always be possible to investigate a complaint brought by a non-client. This is because the ability of chambers to satisfactorily investigate and resolve such matters is limited and complaints of this nature are often better suited to the disciplinary processes maintained by the BSB. Therefore, chambers will make an initial assessment of the complaint and if they feel that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through our complaints process, we will refer you to the BSB.
Complaints made by telephone / video call / other formats
7. You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure in paragraph 10. If you would like to make your complaint in other ways or formats, or accessible options, please do not hessite to contact us so that we can best accommodate your needs.
8. However, if you would rather speak initially on the phone, video call, or other format that suits your preference and information needs about your complaint, then please engage the Senior Clerk within the appropriate team. You can find their contact details here. If the complaint is regarding the Senior Clerk, please contact the Chief Executive Officer. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like to have done about it. They will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved they 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.
9. If your complaint is not resolved at this stage, you will be invited to write to us about it so a formal investigation can take place. At this stage, we will also check if you would like to engage with us on accessible formats, to meet your specific information and communication needs. We will discuss and agree the best way and format for us to engage and communicate. We will advise you on the best way to set out your concerns/complaints for the next stage of the formal investigation, depending on your needs.
Complaints made in writing
10. For complaints made in writing, please provide the following details:
a. Your name and address;
b. Which member(s) of chambers you are complaining about;
c. The detail of the complaint; and
d. What you would like done about it.
11. Please address your correspondence to the Senior Clerk of the team applicable to your complaint, or, if not appropriate, the Chief Executive Officer. You can find their contact details here.
12. Acknowledgement of the complaint will be provided within 72 hours of the complaint being received.
13. Within 14 days of the complaint being received, the Senior Clerk will appoint someone to investigate the complaint (which may be themselves) and inform the barrister or staff member who is the subject of the complaint. The person appointed must be a Senior Clerk, or senior member of Chambers who holds a position of Authority within Chambers.
14. The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon as possible to let you know they have been appointed and that they will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If they find later that they are not going to be able to reply within 14 days, they will set a new date for their reply and inform you. In any event, we will keep you informed and provide regular updates on progress of the complaint investigation. Their reply will set out:
a. The nature and scope of their investigation;
b. Their conclusion on each complaint and the basis for their conclusion; and
c. If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposals for resolving the complaint.
Confidentiality
15. All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that it is necessary. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, members of our management committee and to anyone subject to or party to the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister or staff member who are subject to your complaint. The BSB is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint in the discharge of its monitoring functions.
Our Policy
16. 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. From time-to-time, a summary of the complaint will be provided to the BSB on an anonymous basis which will only provide information about the complaint and any outcomes.
17. The Heads of Chambers shall analyse the Complaints File annually and report annonymised statistics at the Annual General Meeting.
Data Protection Complaints
18. If your complaint relates to the way in which The 36 Group has handled your personal data, including how it has been collected, used, stored, shared or disclosed, you may raise a data protection complaint with us under the process set out below.
How to make a data protection complaint
19. Data protection complaints should be emailed to the Chief Executive Officer via Rowan@36group.co.uk
20. Your complaint should include:
- Your name and contact details
- A description of the personal data concerned
- The nature of your concern (e.g. how your data was collected, used, shared or retained)
- Any steps you have already taken to raise the matter informally
21. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
22. We will then investigate your complaint without undue delay. Once our investigation is complete, we will notify you of the outcome in writing.
If you remain dissatisfied
23. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, or if we have not resolved it within a reasonable time, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Professional Indemnity Insurance
24. Any complaint of negligence or involving a potential claim against a barrister must be brought to the attention of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund without delay. It is the responsibility of the barrister concerned to do so.
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
25. If you are unhappy with the outcome of Chambers’ investigation and you fall within their jurisdiction, you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for lawyers, at the conclusion of our complaints procedure. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has been investigated by our Chambers, or if the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks of making your complaint. Please note the timeframe for referral of complaints to the Ombudsman as set out at paragraph 3 above. Those clients who are able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:
a. Individuals;
b. Businesses or enterprises that are micro-enterprises within the meaning of Article 1 and Article 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (broadly businesses or enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding €2 million);
c. Charities with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
d. Clubs, associations or organisations, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
e. Trustees of trusts with an asset value of less than £1 million; and
f. Personal representatives or beneficiaries of the estates of persons who, before they died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
26. You can find contact details for the Legal Ombudsman on their website.
27. If you are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation, alternative complaints bodies as approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute also exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should you and the barrister both wish to use such a scheme. If you wish to use your chosen ADR provider, please contact us to discuss this, including time limits for contacting your chosen ADR. Please also note that if mediation is used, neither you nor the barrister is required the accept the proposed resolution. If mediation does not resolve the complaint, you may still make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (provided you fall within their jurisdiction and you do so within the time limit).
28. For complaints related to Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the CPS complaints procedure shall be followed. This can be obtained from the Senior Clerk – Crime.
29. If you are not the barrister’s client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation, you are able to contact the Bar Standards Board. Their contact details can be found here.
