Complaints Policy

Our vision is to be the most trusted and first choice advisors for everyone going through relationship changes. We will only achieve our vision if we are fair and transparent in everything that we do. That is why we are one of the first law firms in the country to publish online a guide for what to do when things go wrong, or if you are unhappy.

What to do if you have a complaint

If you are a client and you have a concern or complaint about any aspect of our service, or about our charges, please raise this initially with the lawyer at Evolve who is your primary contact. We find that a phone call or meeting is best (and there would be no charge for this) but feel free to email or write to your lawyer instead if you prefer. We hope that we will be able to resolve your concern at this early stage. However, if this is not possible, or you would prefer not to raise your concerns with your lawyer at Evolve, please email or write to Robin Charrot (one of our directors), who has chief responsibility for resolving complaints, and tell him why you are unhappy. Robin’s e-mail address is robin@evolvefamilylaw.co.uk and our address is here. If your complaint is about Robin, please contact Louise Halford, (our other director). Louise’s email address is louise@evolvefamilylaw.co.uk

What will happen next?

  • Within one working day
    We will send you a written acknowledgment of your complaint. Robin or Louise will investigate your complaint.
  • Within one week
    Robin or Louise will start to investigate your complaint, and they will tell you if they need more information from you.
  • Within three weeks
    Robin or Louise will complete their investigations, including reviewing your file and speaking to the members of staff who worked for you, and will provide you with a detailed written response, including any suggestions for resolving your complaint. If we need more than three weeks, for example where complex issues are raised, we will inform you of the reason for the delay and we will agree an extended timeframe with you. If there are still outstanding issues after our response to your complaint, please email or write to us within three weeks to let us know what they are. Otherwise, we will assume that you accept our response to your complaint. We will deal with any further issues raised by you within a further three weeks, and will confirm our final position (and explain our reasons) to you in writing.

We will not charge you for handling your complaint. However, if we have issued a bill or bills on your matter and some of all of that bill/those bills are not paid, we will be entitled to take debt recovery steps, including charging interest, whether or not you complain to the Legal Ombudsman(see below).

If we have not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction within nine weeks of making your complaint, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman:

You will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. In any event, complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within a year from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining, or no more than a year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint. For further information, you should contact the legal Ombudsman using the details above.

If you are a client and we have made a contract with you by electronic means, you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. This service can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/odr. Our email address for this purpose is robin@evolvefamilylaw.co.uk

In the event that your complaint is not about poor service but is instead about our behaviour, i.e. professional misconduct (for example dishonesty, taking or losing your money, or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or any other characteristic), then you should complain directly to the SRA. The SRA’s contact details are The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN, telephone 0370 606 2555 or email contactcentre@sra.org.uk.

The SRA’s website is SRA | Solicitors Regulation Authority | Solicitors Regulation Authority

 

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