Complaints - Devon Chambers

Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. However, in the unfortunate event that the service provided by Devon Chambers or any of our Barristers does not meet your expectations, Devon Chambers has a dedicated complaints procedure. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint as the right of complaint extends to the lay client as well as the professional client, however should you wish to involve to a solicitor you are free to do so.

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them. The time limits are:

The act or omission, or when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint, must have been after 5 October 2010; and
The complainant must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than six years from the act/omission, or three years from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The complainant must also refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the complaint receiving a final response from their lawyer, if that response complies with the requirements in rule 4.4 of the Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available if the complainant remained dissatisfied, and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to them within six months).

Chambers must have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether they are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not therefore usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman’s time limits. The Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances.

The Ombudsman will also only deal with complaints from consumers. This means that only complaints from the barrister’s client are within their jurisdiction. Non-clients who are not satisfied with the outcome of the Chambers’ investigation should contact the BSB rather than the Legal

It should be noted that it may not always be possible to investigate a complaint brought by a non-client. This is because the ability of chambers to satisfactorily investigate and resolve such matters is limited and complaints of this nature are often better suited to the disciplinary processes maintained by the BSB. Therefore, chambers will make an initial assessment of the complaint and if they feel that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through the chambers complaints process they will refer you to the Bar Standards Board.

Complaints by telephone

You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint, then please telephone the Senior Clerk, Rachael Duchnowski or the Head of Chambers, Jason Beal. If the complaint is about the senior member of staff telephone the Head of Chambers – Jason Beal. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like to have done about it. They will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved they will record the outcome, check that you are satisfied with the outcome and record that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record the outcome of the telephone discussion in writing.

If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will be invited to write to us about it, so it can be investigated.

Complaints in Writing

Please give the following details:

Your name and address;
Which member(s) of chambers you are complaining about;
The detail of the complaint; and
What you would like done about

Please address your letter to Jason Beal, Head of Chambers, 8 The Crescent, Plymouth, PL1 3AB. We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with.

Information Regarding Complaints

The clerks will notify clients in writing at the time of engagement:

Of their right to make a complaint, how and to whom this can be done, including their right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman at the conclusion of the complaints process, the timeframe for doing so and the full details of how to contact the Legal Ombudsman (see Document at D5)
That the lay client may complain directly to Chambers without going through solicitors.

In cases of public or licensed access using an intermediary, the intermediary will similarly be informed.

The notification of the information at (a) and (b) will be contained in the ordinary terms of reference letter (or equivalent letter) that is sent by Chambers upon acceptance of instructions. In the case of the lay client, where there is, unless it is public access case, no letter of engagement, a specific letter will be sent to them notifying of the information at (a) and (b)

Chambers’ website and brochures will carry information about the Chambers’ Complaints Procedure

Response to complaints

All complaints will be acknowledged within 5 working days.

Together with the acknowledgment, the complainant will be provided with: –

The name of the person who will deal with the complaint together with a description of that person’s role in Chambers
A copy of the Chambers’ Complaint Procedure
The date by which the complainant will next hear from Chambers.

At the conclusion of the complaints process, complainants will be informed in writing of their right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, the timeframe for doing so and the full details of how to contact them.

Confidentiality

All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, members of our management committee and to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister member or staff who you have complained about, the head or relevant senior member of the panel and the person who investigates the complaint. The BSB is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its monitoring functions.

Our policy

The Senior Clerk will then refer the complaint to the Head of Chambers who will inform the person who is the subject of the complaint (in the event that that person is not already aware of the complaint).

The Head of Chambers may, within their discretion regard the complaint as vexatious on the grounds that it discloses no ground upon which any reasonable tribunal could conclude that the barrister in question has acted inappropriately or that the complaint which has already been dealt with by Chambers’ complaints procedure. In that case, the Head of Chambers will inform the complainant accordingly.

In the event that the complaint is justiciable, the Head of Chambers will call a meeting of 3 senior members of chambers (including the Head of Chambers or someone deputed on their behalf) to consider whether there are any grounds to the complaint. In the event that the committee concludes that there are no grounds, the complainant shall be informed accordingly and told of their further grounds for redress.

In the event that the committee concludes that the grounds of complaint (or any of them) are made out, the committee shall consider the appropriate remedy which shall include, but not limited to, the following:

Providing advice to the barrister concerned.
Recommending that the barrister send a letter of apology to the complainant.
Recommending that the barrister provide suitable restitution to the complainant.
Inviting the Head of Chambers to refer the matter to the Bar Standards Board, the Bar Council, the Legal Ombudsman, the Inns of Court or, where necessary, any law enforcement agency.

The Complainant shall be informed in writing of the finding in accordance with paragraph 2.20.4.6 above and notified of their rights to pursue the matter further.

As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our management committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman/alternative dispute resolution

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation and you fall within their jurisdiction you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers, at the conclusion of our consideration of your complaint. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by chambers. Please note the timeframe for referral of complaints to the Ombudsman as set out at paragraph 2 above. Those clients who are able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:

Individuals;
Businesses or enterprises that are micro-enterprises within the meaning of Article 1 and Article 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (broadly businesses or enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding €2 million);
Charities with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
Clubs, associations or organisations, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
Trustees of trusts with an asset value of less than £1 million; and
Personal representatives or beneficiaries of the estates of persons who, before they died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806,

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

Telephone number: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

More information about the Legal Ombudsman is available on their website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation, alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate, https://www.promediate.co.uk/ and Small Claims Mediation, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/small-claims-mediation-service ) also exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should you and the barrister both wish to use such a scheme. If you wish to use either of the above, please contact us to discuss this. Please also note that if mediation is used, neither you nor the barrister is required to accept the proposed resolution. If mediation does not resolve the complaint, you may still make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (provided you fall within their jurisdiction and you do so within the time limit).

If you are not the barrister’s client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation then please contact the Bar Standards Board at:

Bar Standards Board

Contact and Assessment Team

289-293 High Holborn

London

WC1V 7JZ

Telephone number: 0207 6111 444

Website: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk