Client Care

5 Essex Court has a reputation for providing excellent levels of service to our clients.

Chambers is fully committed to providing a high quality of service when administering counsel’s instructions. We provide clear and transparent management when dealing with instructions for hearings, paperwork and subsequent billing.

If you have any particular requirements, please do not hesitate us to discuss the best way for us to assist you.

Feedback

We are delighted to receive feedback from clients on the quality of our services. Members of Chambers and clerks also pass your comments onto our chambers manager for review. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our business.

If you have any specific issues you wish to raise, please contact chambers’ Senior Clerk, Mark Waller on 0207 410 2000

Complaints

Chambers prides itself on providing a first-class service to its clients at all times. However, if you believe that our professionalism has fallen short and wish to complain, you are invited to advise us as soon as possible. Your complaint can be made through your solicitor or directly to Chambers.

Submission of Complaint

Complaints can be made by telephone or in writing, although we would encourage clients to raise their complaint by telephone initially, subject to the severity of the complaint raised.

Complaint by Telephone

If your complaint concerns a barrister, please telephone the Senior Clerk (or in his absence the Chambers' Manager) on 020 7410 2000. If the complaint relates to the Senior Clerk, you should ask to speak with the Head of Chambers. If your complaint involves the Head of Chambers, you should ask to speak with the Senior Clerk; he will refer you the most senior member of Chambers available. The person you contact will take a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done. He will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the complaint can be resolved to your satisfaction, he will record the outcome and the fact that you are happy with the resolution of the complaint. We will then write to you confirming these facts.

If your complaint cannot be resolved to your satisfaction, you will be invited to write to us within the next seven days so that the complaint can be formally investigated.

Complaint by Correspondence

If you are writing to Chambers regarding your complaint, please set out the following details:

• Your name and address;
• Which member of Chambers/staff you are complaining about;
• The details of the complaint; and
• How you wish the complaint to be resolved.

Please address your letter to the Senior Clerk. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within a maximum of five working days and provide details of how your complaint will be processed, and by whom. We would expect to advise you within 28 working days of the outcome of the investigation. If it is likely to take longer than this period, we will write notifying you of this fact, explain why and provide a revised completion date.

Complaints regarding a barrister's competence and professional conduct are investigated by the Senior Clerk and a senior, experienced member of Chambers. You are entitled, when advised of the investigating barrister, to ask in writing for an alternative barrister, giving reasons for your request. Complaints concerning staff and client care matters will be investigated by the Senior Clerk. Complaints concerning the Senior Clerk will be investigated by a senior member of the Chambers' Management Committee.

All investigations will be carried out as quickly and efficiently as is reasonably possible; you should be aware that diary commitments may delay the procedure but everything will be done to expedite the investigation. The background and conclusions of the investigation regarding the complaint, together with a recommendation(s) for the resolution of the complaint, will be put to the Head of Chambers for his ultimate decision and sanction. The Head of Chambers will write to you once the matter has been investigated and:

• If found unjustified, explain why.
• If found justified, set out his proposals for resolving the complaint. This may include reduction in
• Provide details of the Bar Standards Board's complaint procedure

In the event that the complaint refers to the Head of Chambers, the process will be undertaken by the Head of the Management Committee.

A copy of the letter will be provided to the barrister/member of staff who is the subject of the complaint.

Confidentiality

All conversations and documents shall be deemed confidential and disclosed only to the extent necessary. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, 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 Senior Clerk, the senior member investigating the complaint and the Head of Chambers. You should be aware that 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

As part of our commitment to client care we make written records of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for seven years. Our Management Committee reviews complaint records with a view to improving service standards.

Further Recourse

We hope that if you have a complaint, you will use our in-house procedure. However, if you would rather not do so or are unhappy with the outcome you may pursue your complaint with the Bar Standards Board at any time. Details are available on www.barstandardsboard.org.uk. You can write to them at:

Complaints Department
Bar Standards Board
289-293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HZ

Tel: 020 7611 1444
Fax: 020 7831 9217
Email: complaints@barstandardsboard.org.uk