About Us

Introduction

You can download our Complaints Procedure as a PDF or read it in full below.

1 Our aim is to give you good service at all times. However, you can let us know if you have a complaint as soon as possible. Involving solicitors to make your complaint is unnecessary, but you are free to do so should you wish.

2 Please note that 4 Brick Court Chambers will only consider complaints that are raised within:

• 12 months from the date of the act/omission
• Three years from the date that the complainant should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint (if the act/omission took place before 6 October 2010 or was more than six years ago)

Complaints made by telephone

3 You may wish to make a complaint in writing, and if so, please follow the procedure in paragraphs 4 and 5 below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint, please telephone 020 7832 3200 and ask to speak to the individual nominated under the 4 Brick Court Chambers Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints – our Senior Practice Manager, Billy Forecast. If the complaint is about the Senior Practice Manager, please ask to speak to the Head of Chambers, Isabelle Watson. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. S/he will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved, s/he 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.

4 If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone, you will be invited to write to us about it within the next 14 days so it can be investigated formally.

Complaints made in writing

5 Please give the following details:

• Your name and address
• Which barrister or member of staff are you complaining about
• The details of the complaint
• What would you like done about it

Please email your letter to the Senior Practice Manager, 4 Brick Court Chambers, 4 Brick Court, Temple, London, EC4Y 9AD or billy.forecast@4bc.co.uk. Alternatively, you should address your letter to the Head of Chambers if your complaint is regarding the Senior Clerk or via email to isabelle.watson@4bc.co.uk. Where possible, we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide details of how your complaint will be dealt with.

6 4 Brick Court Chambers has a panel headed by the Head of Chambers and comprised of experienced Chambers members who consider any written complaint. Within 14 days of receiving your letter, the head of the panel, or his deputy in his absence, will appoint a panel member to investigate it. If your complaint is against the head of the panel, the next most senior member of the panel will investigate it. In any case, the person appointed will be someone other than the person you are complaining about.

7 The investigative person will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If s/he finds later that s/he will not be able to reply within 14 days, s/he will set a new date for his/her reply and inform you. His/her reply will set out:

• The nature and scope of his/her investigation;
• His/her conclusion on each complaint and the basis for his/her conclusion; and
• If s/he finds that you are justified in your complaint, his/her proposals to resolve the complaint.

Confidentiality

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

Our policy

9 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 services.

Complaints to the Legal Onbudsman

10 If you are unhappy with the outcome, you may file your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them. In particular, there is a six-month time limit from the conclusion of the investigation by 4 Brick Court Chambers in which to raise your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. The time limits are below:

• Six years from the date of the act/omission
• Three years from the date that the complainant should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint (if the act/commission took place before 6 October 2010 or was more than six years ago)
• 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 remains dissatisfied and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning complaint must be referred to them within six months)

You can write to them at:

Complaints Team
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ

Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk