We aim to provide all clients with a high-quality, professional service. If something goes wrong, we encourage you to tell us so we can resolve the issue and improve. This policy meets the requirements of the SRA Standards and Regulations and explains how you can make a complaint and what you can expect from us.
The fee earner with conduct your case. The person responsible for supervising the work of the fee earner is Donald Tiong.
If you require advice or assistance, please telephone the office within office hours (9am-5.30pm) on Monday - Friday. If you wish to contact us out of office hours or at weekends you can either:-
Leave a message on our office answer-phone. Every effort will be made to respond to your message on the following working day; or
In emergencies only you can contact Donald on his mobile telephone number 07772 326 052. This number should be used sparingly. On occasions you may get a voice-mail answering service where you can leave urgent messages.
In the event that your representative is on vacation you will be notified of the identity of the person dealing with your case in their absence. If your representative is off sick or otherwise unavailable you may be referred to another fee-earner who will do their best to answer your questions and deal with any urgent matters.
Your fee earner has extensive experience in handling matters within instructed area of law. Their work is supervised by a specialist, professionally accredited supervisor (Law Society Accredited Panel Member and/or a fully qualified solicitor). All substantive decisions or advice will be provided or guided by the supervising solicitor. Where a hearing is required, you will be represented by the supervisor or by an experienced, suitably qualified advocate with the relevant professional accreditation to ensure you have the best possible representation. In complex cases, an external barrister may be instructed.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your case, then this should be raised in the first instance with the person dealing with your case. If your complaint remains unresolved then you should contact us regarding our complaints handling procedure, in any event you should write to us with your concerns and we shall contact you very soon after. Although we would suggest that you address your concerns at this stage via our complaint handling procedures, but there is nothing stopping you to contact our director, Donald Tiong, at any time on 07772 326 052. If we are unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you may raise the matter with the Legal Ombudsman Service within six months of our final response to your compliant. The contact details is Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ, telephone number: 0300 555 0333. We have enclosed a copy of our client complaint procedure for your record.
As part of our legal obligations, we are required to confirm your identity. This may be achieved in a number of ways. During your first meeting with our adviser, you would have been advised on this matter.
Where your matter is eligible for legal aid, we will assess your case to determine whether it is automatically non-means-tested or whether a means assessment is required. If your matter is covered by non-means-tested legal aid, you are automatically entitled and there will be no cost to you. If means testing is required, we will guide you through the assessment to confirm your eligibility under the legal aid scheme.
We will update you by telephone or in writing with progress on your matter at least one a month unless we agree otherwise at different stages.
We will communicate with you in plain language.
We will explain to you by telephone or in writing the legal work required as your matter progresses.
We will update you on the cost of your matter monthly.
We will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances.
We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of this matter and any important changes in those estimates.
We will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded or resolved.
On occasions, some of our clients raise concerns about their safety and experiences of abuse to our employees. We hold the safety, well-being, and dignity of our clients as paramount priorities. In our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional legal services, we are pleased to inform you of our clients Safeguarding Measures within our firm.
Our Safeguarding Measures are designed to address the actual risk of harms whether past or present experienced by our clients. These are some of the key components of our clients safeguarding measures include:
Channels of reporting safeguarding concerns: If you have experienced past or present neglect and/or abuse by member of the care home/ hospital / family member/ other clients on the ward, we encourage you to tell us.
Confidentiality: We have established confidential reporting channels to encourage the prompt reporting of any safeguarding issues. Our employees are encouraged to use these channels to report concerns relate to your well-being or safety.
Handling of your safeguarding concerns: Your caseworker will take detail information from you regarding your concerns. Depending on the nature of the risks identified and the urgency of the situation, we may recommend an in-person consultation. This meeting is designed to address any immediate concerns and make recommendations for the next steps.
Ongoing education and training: Our team undergo continuous education and training to stay informed about developments in laws related to young persons and vulnerable adults and experienced to identify risk of harms to our clients. This ensures that our team remains at the forefront of legal advocacy and services for this demographic.
Should you have any questions about our Vulnerable Clients Safeguarding Measures or if there are specific considerations you would like to discuss regarding your case, please do not hesitate to discuss this with your legal representative.
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 about our services or a bill, please contact us with the details.
What will happen next?
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our complaint manager, Donald Tiong who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
Donald will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
Within three days of the meeting, Donald will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Donald will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another senior manager, someone unconnected with the matter at the practice to review the decision.
We 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.
If we have been unable to settle your complaint using our internal complaints process, you have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body, established under the Legal Services Act 2007, that deals with legal services complaints.
You have six months from the date of our final letter in which to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email address: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk.) within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside of this period, within three years of when you should reasonably have been aware of it). For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Although alternative complaints bodies such as Ombudsman Services, ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, but we have decided not to use such scheme. If we are unable to resolve the issue with you, we would prefer the matter to be dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman.
Hours of Business
We are open from 9.00-17.30 Monday to Friday. In an emergency you can contact Donald Tiong on 07772 326 052. Please be aware however that we will not always be at the office when you ring the emergency number and therefore will not always have access to your case papers and therefore our immediate advice may be limited.
We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:
updating and enhancing client records
analysis to help us manage our practice
statutory returns
legal and regulatory compliance
Bison Solicitors is a solicitor company authorised and regulated by Solicitor Regulation Authority. As a law firm, we take client’s data security very seriously and we continue to review our obligations under the GDPR which came into force in 2018.
On the outset, your personal data and record is legally privileged information, therefore, as your legal representative we will never disclose your information without your express written permission. As part of our work, we may be legally required to request or in some situations, we could come to possess your personal data. This document intends to explain how we process your data, storage and your rights under the GDPR.
As a general rule, we will only request and obtain your personal data if you instructed us to do so- a written express permission shall be obtained prior to obtaining your personal data.
As your solicitor, subject to your written consent, we may request your personal records from various government agencies and may keep your records for a period of up to 6 years when your matter is concluded. The information that we obtain is only for the purpose of your case preparation. Following information may be obtained depending on the nature of your case:
Name, Date of Birth, Address
Medical records which may include records from health and social services.
In certain situations we may request your criminal records from the Police, Prison and Probation services.
Records from Department Work Pension
Records from Court Services
Employment records
During the life of your case, your records will be kept in 3 ways:
Physical case file
Stored on our secured cloud based case management system called Leap. Leap is an industry standard legal case management system provider.
Our firm’s secured cloud based backup system.
Once your case is concluded, your physical case file will be achieved to our secure on premise or external secure storage facility. Your electronic data will remain accessible by the firm via Leap and securely stored/protected.
The information stored on the case management system can be accessed by our employees. Kindly note that all our employees are legally obligated to protect your personal data as per our professional obligations as your solicitor and contractual non- disclosure agreement between the firm and the individual employee.
Our firm’s secure cloud based back up system is managed by our IT provider, Net Technical Solutions (NTS). We are satisfied that NTS is in compliance with its obligations under GDPR.
For a period of 6 years after your matter is concluded, you may request a copy of your files to be destroyed or a copy to be sent to you. Your request for your records must be in writing. Once a request is received, our Data Officer, will release your personal data within 40 days of receiving your written consent.
It is our firm’s policy not to keep your records longer than 6 years from the time your matter is concluded, as such, your data will be destroyed without further notice.
Request for a copy of your records should be made in writing to our Data Officer, Donald Tiong.
In summary, we, as your solicitor, will never use your data for marketing purpose. We will never disclose your data to a 3rd party without your written consent. Any request for a copy of your records must be made in writing without exception.
If you have any queries regarding this compliance statement please contact Donald Tiong, our firm’s Data Officer on 01252 268 068.
Storage of Papers and Documents
After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. We will keep our file of papers (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) for no more than 6 years. Your papers may be scanned and stored electronically and the original papers destroyed. Please let us know immediately if you do not want your documents stored in this manner. We will keep the file on the understanding that we have the authority to destroy it 6 years after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.
If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However if you need a copy of your papers for other reasons there may be an administrative and postage charge if you request that we post on your papers.
Access To Your Personal Data
Under data protection laws, including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to request access to the personal data that we hold about you at any time. This includes information related to your matter collected during the course of our relationship. This right is commonly known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).
To prevent unauthorized access to personal data, we may request additional information to verify your identity.
You can make a SAR in writing or verbal request to us. We will respond without undue delay and within one month of receiving the request.
Termination
You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.
In some circumstances, we may consider we ought to stop acting for you, for example, if you cannot give clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed, or if it is clear that you have lost confidence in how we are carrying out your work.
We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example, if you do not pay a bill or comply with our request for a payment on account. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
Applicable Law Governing this Agreement
Any dispute or legal issue arising from our terms of business will be determined by the law of England and Wales, and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts. If there is anything further which you wish me to explain about our professional standards or the basis of our charges please let me know. We ask you to sign this letter but will take it that you accept these terms in any event if you carry on giving us instructions.
We hope the information above is useful to you. However, if you wish to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact us.