Sharif McKenzie Solicitors are committed to providing a high-quality legal services to its clients. In the vast majority of cases our clients experience an excellent and unblemished service. If, however, something goes wrong, we would like to resolve the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible to your satisfaction. It is important that any problems you experience are reported to us in order that we may remedy the situation and make sure it does not happen again.

If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received we encourage you to raise it with the member of staff you are dealing with in the first instance – if you feel comfortable doing so. We hope that by doing this matters can be resolved quickly to your satisfaction. If you do not feel able to do that, or, you do so but do not arrive at a satisfactory outcome, you may use our formal complaint procedure.

 

How to make a formal complaint

Please send an email to admin@sharifmckenzie.com or write to “The Complaints Officer” at Sharif McKenzie.com, 855 Hig Road Leytonstone, London, E11 1HH. The letter or email you send should contain the following information:

1. Your full name and address.

2. The firm’s case reference.

3. The name of the individual who acts for you.

4. A concise outline of the complaint together with any supporting documents or evidence.

The formal complaints policy is available to clients of the firm. There are limited circumstances in which the firm will consider a complaint from a non-client, but it is rare. If you are a non-client and wish to utilise the policy you should explain why you think the firm should deal with your complaint. If you are an opponent of a client of the firm i.e. in a divorce or litigation, we will not deal with your complaint under any circumstances.

 

If you Complain, what will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 14 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 the Solicitor who has the conduct of your case. Our Complaint Handling officer will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. It may take longer if there are staff absences or if we are waiting for you to provide any clarification or further evidence that we request.

3. Our Complaint Handling officer will then contact you in order to discuss your complaint. If necessary, he will invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

4. Our Complaint Handling officer will then send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter (or any solutions he has agreed with you) within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for your complaint to be re-investigated further by Our Complaint Handling officer.

6. Our Complaint Handling officer 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.

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

 
The timescale for dealing with a complaint (as set out above) is subject to the complexity of the issues. If a complaint is particularly complicated the investigation may take much longer than that required for a more straightforward matter. If that is the case we will inform you as soon as it becomes apparent that more time is needed.

As a regulated law firm our services are subject to the jurisdiction of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Legal Ombudsman (LeO).

A referral to the SRA is not appropriate if you have a complaint about service or advice, and rather, is only suitable if there are good grounds to suspect conduct by an individual or the firm which breaches the SRA Handbook / Code of Conduct.

Please note that you have the right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. We will, however, suggest you discuss your concerns with us first so that we can review the bill.

If you would like to discuss how the services provided to you could be improved, to the level of your bill, or should there be any aspects of our services to you not satisfied, please contact the person who is responsible for dealing with your case. If matters cannot be resolved with them and you wish to take the matter further, please contact Mr Kamran Sharif via email at admin@sharifmckenzie.com or by post to 855 High Road Leytonstone, London E11 1HH. We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints, and this will immediately be sent to you. You may request a leaflet explaining our complaints procedure at any time.

It is our intention to handle any complaint promptly, fairly, openly and effectively in accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Code of Conduct 2011, Outcomes 1.9 – 1.11. The above rules can be viewed in the Client Care section of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011 at the link below:

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/part2/rule1/content.page

If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about poor service from lawyers. The Legal Ombudsman can investigate complaints up to six years from the date of the problem happening or within three years of when you found out about the problem. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, this must be done within six months of our final response to your complaint. If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, their contact details are as follows: Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint by post at the following address:-

 

The Legal Ombudsman,
PO Box 6805
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ

 

Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response on your complaint but for further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

Call 0300 555 0333 between 8:30am to 5:30pm. Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01or 02) from both mobiles and landlines. Calls are recorded and may be used for training and monitoring purposes. For minicom call 0300 555 1777.