Complaints Procedure

1. My aim is to give all my clients a good service at all times. However, if you have a
complaint please let me know as soon as possible, by telephone or in writing. I will
treat your complaint as confidential although I may discuss it with other barristers or
officials from the Bar Standards Board as part of their monitoring functions. I will not
reveal your name to others unless I appoint an independent person to investigate a
complaint or set up mediation. I will deal with your complaint promptly.
2. If you wish to make a complaint by telephone, I will make a note of the details of your
complaint and what you would like done about it. I will endeavour to resolve matters
with you on the telephone. If after discussion you are satisfied with the outcome I will
make a note of the outcome and the fact that you are satisfied. If you are not satisfied
you may wish to make a written complaint
3. You can therefore make a complaint to me as your legal services provider about my
conduct of your matter in writing or orally,
4. If you wish to make a compliant in writing you can write to me by e mail to
info@anthonyphilpott.com, If you wish to make a written complaint please give me
the following details: • Your name, telephone number and address; • The detail of
your complaint; and • What you would like done about it,
5. There are a number of ways in which your complaint may be dealt with: (a)
Discussion over the telephone; (b) Dealt with by correspondence; (c) Discussion at a
meeting between us; (d) The appointment of an independent person to investigate
the complaint,
6. I will acknowledge receipt of your complaint promptly,
7. I will monitor complaints annually to see whether there are any lessons that can be
learnt by me from any complaints,
8. On receipt of your complaint I will review it as soon as possible and either talk it
through with you so that I can understand the basis for it and then having done so I
will reply to you in writing to you,
9. In this way you get a response from me as your legal services provider,
10. Upon receipt of a written complaint I will: (a) Reply in writing, normally within 48
hours, to acknowledge the complaint and inform you how I shall be dealing with it. (b)
Reply within 14 days responding in full to your complaint. I will offer you the
opportunity to meet with you if that is appropriate. If I find later that I am not going to
be able to reply within 14 days I will set a new date for my reply and inform you. My
reply will set out: • The nature and scope of my investigation; • My conclusion on
each complaint and the basis for my conclusion; and • If I find that you are justified in
your complaint, my proposals for resolving the complaint.
11. As your legal services provider I will have eight weeks to put things right,
12. I will try to resolve your compliant with you informally by my direct conversation with
you if you wish,
13. I will only consider a complaint worthy of investigation if it is complained that I have
acted without reasonable skill and care that can be reasonably expected of a lawyer
in the conduct of the matter of which I have conduct,
14. There will be matters of the exercise of my judgment that cannot be considered as
being a failure to exercise my reasonable care and skill in the conduct of your matter,
15. It should be noted that it may not always be possible to investigate a complaint
brought by a non-client. This is because my ability 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 Bar Standards Board. Therefore, I will
make an initial assessment of the complaint and if I feel that the issues raised cannot
be satisfactorily resolved through my complaints process I will refer you to the Bar
Standards Board. I will not therefore, within this complaints procedure, be able to
investigate complaints made from non- parties to the conduct of your matter whether
from legal representatives of other parties or others in the conduct of your matter,
16. If I am not able to resolve your compliant I may refer it to an independent person to
investigate and resolve your compliant. If I decide to appoint an independent person
to investigate the complaint (for example, a barrister in another chambers), we both
would need to agree who to appoint. An independent person who has considerable
experience in the area that is the subject matter of the dispute should be chosen.,
17. If there is no reply from me as your legal services provider you can complain to the
Legal Ombudsman,
18. If you are not happy with my final written response and you fall within their
jurisdiction, you may make a formal complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, the
independent complaints handling body for complaints about lawyers. Please note the
timeframe for referral of complaints to the Legal Ombudsman.
19. 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.
20. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must 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,
21. You must also refer your concerns usually within six months of my final response to
you as your legal services provider,
22. You will be able to make your complaint on line to the Legal Ombudsman,
23. When the compliant is made to the Legal Ombudsman their Early Resolution Team
will review the complaint,
24. If Early Resolution is not possible the complaint will be assigned to an investigator of
the Legal Ombudsman,
25. Once the complaint is accepted by the investigator of the Legal Ombudsman the
investigation will begin with both sides being heard,
26. The investigator will try to resolve your complaint based on their findings,
27. You will have 14 days within which to give your comments on their findings,
28. If you do not agree with the investigator’s Decision, a Legal Ombudsman may make
a final decision about the complaint in the final stage of the complaint process,
29. The Legal Ombudsman's website sets out a list of the categories of complaint which
it investigates. These include the following categories (some of which may also
include aspects of negligence or misconduct): • Costs excessive • Costs information
deficient • Data protection/breach of confidentiality • Delay/failure to progress •
Discrimination • Failure to advise • Failure to follow instructions • Failure to
investigate complaint internally • Failure to keep complainant informed of progress •
Failure to keep papers safe,
30. If I as your barrister and you as my client use mediation, neither of us is required to
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).
31. You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806,
Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ Telephone number: 0300 555 0333 Email:

enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk More information about the Legal Ombudsman is
available on their website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
32. If you are unhappy with my final written response, alternative complaints bodies
(such as [include one of the following: ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation and
the website]) also exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal
services, should we both wish to use such a scheme. If you wish to use [include one
of the above], please contact me to discuss this. Please also note that: (1) the time
limit for contacting [include one of the above] is [insert time limit], and (2) if we use
mediation, neither you nor I am required to accept the proposed resolution.
33. In addition CEDR Limited (https://www.cedr.com) is an alternative dispute resolution
(ADR) body which can deal with any complaint you make in the event that: I as your
barrister am unable to resolve the complaint through my complaints process, and
both me as your barrister and you as my client agree to use the scheme. I am not
required to use ADR, but I inform you of this as an option to resolve your compliant.
This is a requirement under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer
Disputes (Amendment) Regulations 2015.
34. 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).
35. If you are not my client and are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation then
please contact the Bar Standards Board at: Bar Standards Board Contact and
0207 6111 444 Website: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk
36. I will maintain confidentiality at all times and discuss your complaint only to the extent
that is necessary for its resolution and to comply with requests for information from
the Bar Standards Board discharging its monitoring functions.
37. I will retain all correspondence and other documents generated in the course of your
complaint for a period of six years and I will review complaints at least once a year to
ensure that I maintain good standards of service.