Complaints Procedure

Reviewed: June 2026
Next review due: June 2027
Policy owner: Senior Partner / Complaints Partner

1. Our complaints policy

As a firm, we are committed to providing a high standard of legal service to all our clients. We recognise that, from time to time, concerns may arise. Where something has gone wrong, or where a client believes they have reason to complain, we aim to deal with the issue promptly, fairly and constructively.

This procedure is intended to help us resolve complaints at an early stage wherever possible, maintain the standards we set for ourselves, and learn from feedback so that we can improve our service.

A documented review of this policy and the process it describes will take place annually, or sooner if required, to verify its effective operation across the firm and to identify any trends, root causes or improvements required.

2. What is a complaint?

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction by a client about the service provided by the firm, including where the client considers that their expectations of a good service have not been met.

A complaint may relate to, for example, delay, communication, costs information, the handling of a matter, or the conduct of a member of staff. Each complaint will be considered on its own facts.

3. Prospective clients

A complaint may also be made by a prospective client where they consider that we have unreasonably refused to provide a service, or where we have persistently or unreasonably offered a service that they did not want.

Where a concern is raised by a prospective client, we will consider whether it falls within this procedure and whether there is sufficient information for us to review the issue fairly.

4. How to make a complaint

You may raise a complaint with any of the following:

  • The person dealing with your matter.
  • The Client-Service Partner for the office dealing with your matter, whose name is stated in the Client Care Letter sent to you at the start of your matter, or is available on request from that office.
  • The firm’s Senior Partner, Mr Philip Astles, at Kidd Rapinet LLP, 29 Harbour Exchange Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 9GE telephone: 0207 205 2115 email: pastles@kiddrapinet.co.uk.

If you require this procedure in another format, or if you need any reasonable adjustment to help you make or progress a complaint, please let us know and we will consider how best to assist you.

5. Initial handling of your complaint

If you raise your complaint with the person dealing with your matter, they will aim to resolve it informally with you where appropriate. If the complaint cannot be resolved informally, either you or the person dealing with your matter may refer it to the Office Client-Service Partner or to the Senior Partner.

The Senior Partner will retain overall responsibility for the handling of complaints. The steps set out below will usually be undertaken by the Office Client-Service Partner, to whom the Senior Partner may send the details of the complaint. If the complaint is about the Office Client-Service Partner, the Senior Partner will arrange for the complaint to be dealt with by another appropriate person.

6. What will happen next?

  1. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 7 days. We will set out our understanding of your complaint, ask you to confirm whether this is correct, and request any further information or clarification that may be needed. We will also confirm who will be dealing with your complaint.
  2. Your complaint will be recorded in our central complaints register for monitoring, management information and review purposes. A separate complaint file will also be opened where appropriate.
  3. Once we have received any confirmation or clarification requested from you, we will confirm what will happen next.
  4. We will then investigate your complaint. This may include asking the person who dealt with your matter to respond to the issues raised, reviewing your file and relevant correspondence, and seeking any further information required.
  5. Where appropriate, you may be invited to meet or speak with the Office Client-Service Partner, or another person appointed to deal with the complaint, to discuss the complaint and explore whether it can be resolved.
  6. If a meeting is declined or is impractical, we will provide a written response to your complaint, including any proposals we have for resolving it. If we consider that your complaint is justified, we will apologise and offer an appropriate remedy.
  7. If a meeting or telephone discussion takes place, we will write to you afterwards to confirm what was discussed and any agreed outcome.
  8. We will normally provide our substantive response within 14 days of receiving your initial complaint or, where clarification is required, within 14 days of receiving the information needed to investigate it. If we need more time, we will tell you why and confirm when we expect to respond.

7. Review of our response

If you remain dissatisfied following our response, you may ask for the decision to be reviewed. The review may be carried out in one of the following ways:

  • by the Office Client-Service Partner reviewing the handling of the complaint and the reasons why you remain dissatisfied;
  • by another person, or a small number of people within the firm who are not connected with the complaint, reviewing the complaint, the response, the file and any other relevant information;
  • by the Senior Partner carrying out or arranging a review; or
  • by inviting you to agree to a process of independent mediation, if appropriate and available.

The review will usually take place within 14 days of your request. Once the review has been completed, we will inform you of the outcome. If mediation is proposed, the timescale will depend on the arrangements made with the mediator.

If you remain dissatisfied after the review, we will write to you within 7 days of you telling us this. We will confirm our final position on your complaint and explain why we consider our handling of the complaint, our decision and any review to be reasonable.

8. Legal Ombudsman

If you remain dissatisfied after we have given our final response, or if we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent and impartial organisation that deals with complaints about legal services.

The Legal Ombudsman usually expects you to have given us the opportunity to deal with your complaint first. If the Legal Ombudsman considers that our proposals for resolving your complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be referred to it within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned, or within one year of the date when you should reasonably have realised there was cause for complaint. You must also refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final written response.

The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are: telephone 0300 555 0333; email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; website www.legalombudsman.org.uk. Please check the Legal Ombudsman’s website for its current postal address and the most up-to-date information before submitting a complaint.

9. Solicitors Regulation Authority

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about a solicitor’s or firm’s conduct. This may include concerns such as dishonesty, misuse of client money, discrimination, or other serious or repeated breaches of professional rules.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority does not usually deal with complaints about poor service. Poor service complaints should normally be raised with us first and may then be referred to the Legal Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied.

You can raise concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority through its website: www.sra.org.uk.

10. Our commitment

We aim to resolve complaints as quickly and fairly as reasonably possible. We will treat complaints seriously, investigate them proportionately, and use the learning from complaints to improve our service and internal procedures.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Online Dispute Resolution Platform

The European Online Dispute Resolution Platform is at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.  Our email address for this purpose is ptaylor@kiddrapinet.co.uk.

Sarah WalkerComplaints Procedure