Complaints Procedure

Tolhurst Fisher Complaints Procedure

The information set out below provides details about our complaints procedure which can be found in our terms of business.

Scope

All claims, complaints and disputes arising out of or in connection with the legal services we provide (“Complaint”) will be resolved pursuant to this complaints procedure.

Procedure

1. All Complaints should in the first instance be referred to the Client Partner named in your engagement letter who will attempt to resolve the issue promptly.
2. If the Client Partner is unable to resolve the Complaint or if you feel unable to discuss the Complaint with the Client Partner, you should contact Nigel Holdcroft who is our nominated complaints partner or, if this is not appropriate, Charles Latham our managing partner. Our nominated complaints partner, or if inappropriate another partner nominated by him, will promptly investigate the complaint and endeavour to resolve it with you.

Regulator

If, having followed this procedure you are not satisfied that the Complaint has been resolved, you may refer the Complaint to be independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman whose contact details are set out below.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

There may also be a right to object to an invoice by applying to the court for an assessment of the invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquires@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Nigel Holdcroft – Partner

Email: nholdcroft@tolhurstfisher.com

Telephone: 01702 352511

Charles Latham – Senior Partner

Email: clatham@tolhurstfisher.com

Telephone: 01702 352511

Mediation

As a further alternative if and to the extent that any complaint has not been resolved by the Firm, and prior to referral to the Legal Ombudsman, it may be referred to mediation by a sole mediator agreed between us and you or, in default of agreement, appointed by The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.

Mediation shall not apply to any complaint in which we seek

1 – an order or award (whether interim or final) restraining you from doing any act or compelling you to do any act; or

2 – a judgment or award for a liquidated sum to which there is no arguable defence (provided that the exception shall cease to apply and the Complaint may be referred to arbitration on the application of either party if the court decides that you should have permission to defend the claim); or

3 – the enforcement of any agreement reached or any binding order, award, determination or decision made in respect of the complaint;

4 – nor shall anything in this paragraph inhibit us at any time from serving any form of demand or notice or from commencing or continuing with any bankruptcy, winding up or other insolvency proceedings.

This is the website of Tolhurst Fisher LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England with registered number OC326898 authorised and regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The SRA’s Rules can be found in its Code of Conduct, available through the following link: SRA Code of Conduct. All references to ‘Tolhurst Fisher’ or ‘the firm’ should be read as referring to Tolhurst Fisher LLP. 

A list of members is available for inspection at the firm’s registered office: 

Tolhurst Fisher LLP

Trafalgar House
Nelson Street
Southend-on-Sea
SS1 1EF
Tel: +44 (0)1702 352511

This website is intended to provide a general overview only, based on English law. Specialist advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking, any action based on the content of this website. Tolhurst Fisher disclaims any liability in relation to the use of any information contained in this site.

This website and its contents are copyright Tolhurst Fisher LLP. Although this website may contain links to other websites, Tolhurst Fisher is not responsible for the content or use of any of those sites. Please let us know if you would like to have a link to your website.

Tolhurst Fisher LLP is a firm of solicitors with offices in Southend and Chelmsford.

Our Duty of Confidentiality

We will treat any information which is confidential to you and which we obtain as a result of acting for you as strictly confidential, save:

(a) for the purpose of acting for you; or
(b) for disclosures to our accountants, auditors or other advisers or for the purposes of our professional indemnity insurance; or
(c) as otherwise required by law or other regulatory authority to which we are subject.

We may refer publicly to your name as a client of ours, provided we do not disclose any information which is confidential to you. We shall be under no duty to disclose to you (or take into account in the course of providing the Services) any information acquired by us in acting for any other client or any information in respect of which we owe a duty of confidentiality to a third party.

The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints-handling body of the Law Society. If you are unhappy with any investment advice you receive from us you should contact either of those bodies.

Tolhurst Fisher LLP is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

Financial Services and Markets Act 2000

Tolhurst Fisher LLP is not authorised by the Financial Services Authority. However, we are included on the Register maintained by the Financial Services Authority so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity in the UK, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website.

Investment transactions

Tolhurst Fisher LLP is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services to clients because we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide

Nothing we say or do should be construed as an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activities, nor as advice on the investment merits of acquiring or disposing of particular investments.

Important Notice

Unfortunately, these days all businesses and individuals are at risk of Cyber Fraud, where sophisticated fraudsters will send bogus emails to clients and others containing their own bank account details in order to unlawfully divert funds to them.

Fraudsters are also able to change emails from clients to us, and alter account details in the same way.

Our bank account details will not change during the course of this matter, and if you receive what appears to be an email from us notifying you of a change, then you act on it as it will not have been sent by us.

On occasions we will ask you to verify your account details by telephone to avoid this risk.

We do not accept any responsibility for monies transferred to an incorrect account.

If, at any time, you are concerned whether any email is not genuine, would you please telephone us immediately.