Complaints Policy

This policy explains how to make a complaint to Lawyerly Ltd and how we deal with it. It covers complaints about our service and about our invoices. We deal with every complaint promptly, fairly and free of charge, and making one will not affect how we handle your work.

If you would like this policy, or our response, in another format, please ask.

You may raise a concern with the person handling your work, or with the firm by email to support@lawyerly.co, by telephone on 0203 442 8479, or by post to 3rd Floor, 45 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4JL. Complaints are dealt with under the supervision of our Legal Service Director.

It helps if you include your name and your business, how you would like us to contact you, the work or invoice concerned, what went wrong and the outcome you are looking for.

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and confirm who is dealing with it.

A director who was not involved in the work will investigate your complaint or, if that is not possible, a senior solicitor who was not involved. They will review the file, speak to those involved and may ask you for more information.

We aim to send you our written response within four weeks, and you will receive our final written response within eight weeks of your complaint. It will set out what we found, what we propose to do, and your right to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman.

If there is an exceptional delay, we will explain why and confirm when to expect our response. You may then refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman without waiting.

If you feel our conclusions are wrong or incomplete, you may ask for an internal review within 14 days of our final response. A director or senior solicitor who was not involved will carry it out or, if there is no suitable person, an independent solicitor at our cost. We aim to reply within 14 days.

You do not need to ask for an internal review before referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

If you are not satisfied with our final response, or eight weeks have passed since you complained, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

The Legal Ombudsman can consider complaints from individuals and smaller organisations. These include businesses with fewer than ten employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million, charities, clubs and associations with a net annual income of less than £1 million, and trusts with assets of less than £1 million. Larger businesses are not eligible, but we deal with their complaints under this policy in the same way.

You should refer your complaint within six months of our final response, and within one year of the problem or of when you should reasonably have known of it. The Legal Ombudsman can extend these limits where it is fair to do so, but it is best not to rely on this.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH, on 0300 555 0333, at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

A complaint about an invoice follows the same process and may be referred to the Legal Ombudsman if it is not resolved.

You may also have the right to ask the court to assess our bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. Strict time limits run from when the bill is delivered, and the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint once you have applied for an assessment, so we recommend taking independent advice first.