Complaints Policy

 

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 us with the details. The letter should be addressed to the Senior Partner of Sandersons.

What will happen next?

  1. We will endeavour to send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure. We will fully document the complaint and our handling of it.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to the Senior Partner, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
  3. The Senior Partner will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will endeavour to do so within 14 days of sending you an acknowledgement letter.
  4. Within three days of the meeting, the Senior Partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
  5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, we will endeavour to send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including our suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  6. We will endeavour to complete our response within eight weeks. If after our investigation and response you are still not satisfied with the quality of service offered, The Legal Services Act has set up the Legal Ombudsman to deal with complaints of poor service. Ordinarily, a complainant must also refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within one year of the complaint to the firm and generally within six months of the firm’s response. We will confirm the relevant deadline in our response to a complaint made to us. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman generally handles complaints only by individuals, very small businesses, charities, trusts and clubs and associations. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB; or by telephone on 0300 555 0333; via the website www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by email at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
  7. Alternatively, if the complaint concerns a matter of professional misconduct rather than poor service, if you remain dissatisfied you can contact the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) at 5th Floor, The Outer Temple 222-225 Strand London WC2R 1BA about your complaint or in some cases (mainly complaints between professionals) the European Patent Institute (epi). Any complaint to the IPReg must usually be made within 12 months of the date of the professional misconduct alleged or your discovery of it but for further information, you should contact the IPReg on 020 7353 4373 or via their Website www.ipreg.org.uk or by e-mail to ipreg@ipreg.org.uk.

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