COMPLAINT PROCEDURE AND CONFIDENTIALITY
COMPLAINTS
We aim to offer all our clients an efficient service, and I am confident that we will do so in this case. However, if you would like to discuss how the service to you could be improved, the level of your bill, or should there be any aspect of our services with which you are not satisfied, please raise the matter with me, the fee-earner/caseworker or solicitor dealing with your case.
If your complaint relates to our bill, then you may have the right to have the bill assessed under the Solicitors Act 1974.
I trust that we would be able to resolve anything you are unhappy with between us, but should you have cause to complain, you should contact me orally or in writing. In the event that you are not happy with how I have resolved or attempted to resolve your complaint, you may contact Mr Fian Emile KOUAME, the principal of the firm.
We hope you will not have reason to complain as we take the interest of our clients seriously and we welcome ideas and suggestions aimed at improving our services. We pride ourselves on the quality of service we offer and in the many satisfied clients we have. We sincerely hope you will without any doubt be one of them.
However, in the events that you are still unsatisfied with how we have handled your complaint(s) and you would like to make a formal complaint, please contact Mr Fian Emile KOUAME, the principal of the firm who is also responsible for complaint(s) on 07 951 86 77 12 or by e-mail (ek@emsosolicitors.com or alternatively by post as above and ask for a copy of our complaints procedure to be sent to you. We will look into your complaint carefully and promptly.
If for any reason, we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then we are regulated by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority [SRA] and complaints and redress mechanisms are provided through the SRA and the Legal Ombudsman.
You may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman Service who can be contacted at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within three months of the end of our work for you or within three months of you finding out there was a problem.
You should contact the Legal Ombudsman on Tel.0300 555 0333 and e-mail enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or you can find out more information on their website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We are under a professional and legal obligation to keep your affairs confidential. We will keep all information given by You to us strictly confidential except where we are required to disclose such information by law, court or arbitration proceedings, professional duty or as requested by regulatory or governmental authorities (including but without limitation the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, HM Revenue and Customs, to comply with laws about anti-money-laundering, disclosure of the proceeds of crime and anti-terrorist financing) or our insurers.
You agree to keep similarly the advice we give You confidential and no person except You may rely on or use our advice. This obligation is however subject to a statutory exception: all UK law firms are subject to reporting, disclosure and other requirements imposed by the UK regulators or laws, such as concerns about breaches of the law.
These requirements can override our usual duty of confidentiality to You as we are not permitted to inform anyone of the fact that we have made a report.
In addition, these requirements may oblige us to ask You to provide us with information that may be relevant for legal or regulatory purposes at any time. Any failure by You to provide any information of this sort shall entitle us to cancel this Contract on giving immediate written notice to You.
We are required by The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency where we know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing.
If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we are not able to tell You that a disclosure has been made and we may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell You why.
We store our e-mails and documents in “Cloud” based storage servers. Accordingly, you agree that this storage is permitted and your information is stored in accordance with our policy on “Storage of documents and Lien”.