Hopkins Law Ltd
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, please contact our Complaints Director Kerry Mordey on 02920 395888 or kmordey@hopkinslawltd.com or by post with the details.

What will happen next?

1.       We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within seven days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

2.       We will then investigate your complaint.  This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Complaints Director, Kerry Mordey who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

3.       The Complaints Director may invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. If such a meeting takes place, the Complaints Director will write to you within fourteen days after the meeting to confirm what took place and any solutions she has agreed with you.

4.       If the Complaints Director, does not think it necessary or helpful to offer a meeting, or if you do not wish to attend a meeting, she will send you a detailed written reply including her suggestions for resolving the matter. The Complaints Director will endeavour to do this within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter, but a more complex matter may take longer. If more time is needed, the Complaints Director will write to you within 21 days to keep you informed and to advise you when she expects to provide the response.  

5.       The response from our compliance manager will be our final decision on your complaint unless you request a review of that decision. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Complaints Director, you should contact us again to ask for a review. We will then arrange for another suitably qualified person (either within the firm or external to the firm) to review both your complaint and the response by the Complaints Director. 

6.     We will write to you within seven days of receiving your request for a review, to explain who will be carrying out the review. 7. The person carrying out the review of your complaint will endeavour to complete his or her review within 21 days after the acknowledgement letter is sent to you, but a more complex matter may take longer. If more time is needed, the person carrying out the review will write to you within 21 days to keep you informed and to advise you when he or she expects to complete his or her review.

7.      The person carrying out the review will set out his or her findings in writing, explaining his or her decision on the complaint and the steps we must take in response. This will represent our final written response to your complaint. 

8.      If a complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks of it being made, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. The question of which complaints are covered by the Legal Ombudsman is governed by the Scheme Rules published by the Ombudsman. From 1 April 2023, any complaints which are to be raised to the Legal Ombudsman can be no later than:

Either

One year from the date of the act or omission of which you are complaining or

One year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to apply Rule 4.7. This rule will enable the Ombudsman to exercise their discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers, providing that there is sufficient evidence to do so, and that it is both fair and reasonable.

         The address and contact details for the legal ombudsman are set out below:-

          Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ 

          Website www.legalombudsman.org.uk

          Telephone 0300 555 0333 

          Email enquiries enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

If you believe we have breached the SRA rules known as SRA Principles you can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA):-

Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN  0370 606 2555. 

Web-site https://www.sra.org.uk

E-mail enquiries https://www.sra.org.uk/home/contact-us/

Telephone 0370 606 2555

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

March 2024