Complaints Policy

We have a 3 stage internal complaints procedure details of which appear below. If we are unable to resolve your complaint through our internal procedures you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman who is independent and impartial and who has official powers to resolve complaints. Details of how to contact the Legal Ombudsman also appear below:

Stage 1:

In the first instance if you have a complaint about your matter please raise it with the person dealing with your file.

Stage 2:

If the complaint is not resolved at that stage, the complaint will be escalated to a Supervisor who will conduct an independent investigation of the complaint and will arrange to meet with you at our office.

Stage 3:

If the supervisor is unable to resolve your complaint, you can then refer the complaint to our Complaints Partner. Our Complaints Partner is Muhammad Karim. He is a qualified Solicitor and a Notary Public. If the Complaint’s Partner deems it more appropriate for an independent complaints handler to look into your complaint- we can forward your complaint to Legal Compliance Consultants. By instructing us in your matter you authorise us to forward any information we may hold in relation to you and your matter to Legal Compliance Consultants to enable them to independently review your complaint.

• If our Complaints Partner is unable to resolve your complaint, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman
• You can also contact the Legal Ombudsman if 8 weeks have passed since you first made your complaint and your complaint remains unresolved

• Complaints can be made by telephone letter fax and e-mail. Usually if your complaint cannot be resolved by the supervisor of the person who is the subject of your complaint we will ask you to put your complaint in writing

• Our Complaints Partner’s contact details are:
  Muhammad Karim
  Dynasty Shields Lawyers and Solicitors
  Plaistow, London E13 0AH, United Kingdom
  210 S Clark St Chicago, IL 60603 USA
  Telephone: 07418374105
  Fax: 020 7681 3223
  E-mail: muhammad.karim@dynastyshields.com

• The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:
  The Legal Ombudsman
  PO Box 6806
  Wolverhampton
  WV1 9WJ
  Telephone: 0300 555 0333
  E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
  Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

• You should contact us as soon as you have a concern about an issue
• You should not normally contact the Legal Ombudsman until we have attempted to resolve your complaint through our internal procedure or until 8 weeks have passed since the date when you first made your complaint. We do not however wish to discourage you from contacting the Legal Ombudsman for further information and advice should you wish to do so
• The Legal Ombudsman asks that you contact them within 12 months of your last contact with us, failing which the Ombudsman may be unable to deal with your complaint
• The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the matter complained of or your date of awareness of the matter was before 6 October 2010. Subject to that the Legal Ombudsman will accept complaints in respect of matters which occurred up to 6 years ago, although that 6 year period is reduced to 3 years from any date when you should have known about the matter.

If a complaint is made we will:

• acknowledge your complaint within 3 days
• provide a full response to your complaint within 7 days under Stage 1
• provide a full response under Stage 2 within 21 days of escalation

If a complaint is made to our Complaints Partner, he will:

• acknowledge your complaint within 3 days
• provide a substantive response to your complaint within 21 days of escalation
• if we have to change any of these timescales, we will let you know and explain why
• if you complain to the Legal Ombudsman, they will contact you with their timescale for resolving your complaint

• If your complaint can be resolved by the case handler this may, in simple matters, be done by telephone but will otherwise be in writing. You will be requested to attend our office so that a face to face meeting can take place. Experience has shown that most complaints or misunderstandings are resolved in this meeting.
• Complaints made to our Complaints Partner will be dealt initially with a face to face meeting with you at our offices and then the outcome confirmed in writing
• An investigation into your complaint will involve a detailed look at your paper and/or electronic file. We will discuss your complaint with the person who is the subject of your complaint and anyone else who may have been involved in the matter, which is the subject of your complaint.
• Our Complaints Partner will write to you with a detailed response to all aspects of your complaint. This will include any proposals for resolution of your complaint
• Once our Complaints Partner has written to you in an attempt to resolve your complaint you can if you wish contact him to discuss matters further. If you are unhappy with our proposals to resolve your complaint (or if 8 weeks have elapsed since you made your complaint) you can at this stage contact the Legal Ombudsman.