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If you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided then you have the right to complain. The Legal Ombudsman service has been operational since October 6th, 2010 and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are dealt with appropriately.
However, before you contact the Legal Ombudsman you must first register an official complaint with us. Normally, the Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve the matter. If after 8 weeks you are still dissatisfied you can then involve the Legal Ombudsman. For more information on how the Legal Ombudsman works please visit the Legal Ombudsman website.
Martin Tolhurst Partnership is authorised and regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority who have further information on their website regarding complaints here: Reporting an individual or Firm.
Martin Tolhurst Solicitors has a complaints procedure, a copy of which can be found below. If you need to pursue a complaint then please refer to the Legal Ombudsman but please refer your complaint to Martin Tolhurst Solicitors in the first instance.
Download the PDF for our written complaints about service procedure
Complaints about our service procedure PDF - how it works
Download the PDF for our written complaints about professional misconduct procedure
You may have approached or instructed us via our website, or we may have sent you an on-line link to commence our work, and your instructions may therefore constitute "online" trading with us. The European Union, with effect from 15th February 2016, requires all on-line traders, irrespective of whether they market products or services to consumers in other EU member states, require us to put a link to the European Commission's website informing you as client/consumers with us of the existence of the Online Dispute Resolution platform and the possibility of using it to resolve disputes together. The link to this platform is: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr
If you wish to use this platform, please advise us and the appropriate email contact for this purpose is: enquiries@martintolhurst.co.uk
In normal circumstances you are required to register a complaint within one year. You must then give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint before contacting the Legal Ombudsman. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made within six months of the date of the conclusion of the Firm's complaints procedure. In summary:
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can have the complaint independently reviewed by the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk) , 0300 555 0333, Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, which investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. From 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. Please note that you must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
To register a formal complaint, please write to us and include all the information suggested by the Legal Ombudsman - their website includes some useful checklists and sample letters.
In addition to the Legal Ombudsman, several other complaints bodies exist which are also able to deal with complaints about legal services - these are: Ombudsman Services, ProMediate, Small Claims Mediation and the European Online Dispute Resolution platform. Information about these alternatives can be found at:
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