Complaints

OUR APPROACH

At Magma Legal, we want to provide a high-quality service to all our clients, but we appreciate that we may not always achieve this aim. We also want to know about problems and put them right, if we can, promptly, fairly and effectively. So, we value feedback from our clients and want to learn from it.

STEP ONE – CONTACTING US

Please contact your solicitor in the first instance to verbally report your complaint. You may be asked to put your concerns in writing.

We cannot promise to get you a complete answer quickly in every case, as we want to understand every complaint fully, and this can take time. We will however acknowledge your complaint promptly in writing and will keep in touch with you to update you on progress.

STEP TWO – OUR REVIEW AND RESPONSE

Your solicitor or another solicitor at the firm will review your complaint internally and will aim to complete investigations within two weeks, but it can take longer, especially if we require further information from you, if files have been archived or if the issues are particularly complex, in which case we aim to complete an investigation within four weeks.

Where necessary, we may invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint and the details of the investigation, with a view to attempting to resolve your complaint if possible.

If we have made an error which is negligent then we are required to refer you to another lawyer and cannot advise you further. If this is the case, we will let you know and will also be obliged to notify our professional indemnity insurance underwriters.

STEP THREE – IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH OUR RESPONSE

We hope we can resolve the problem, but if we are not able to, our Complaints Partner and Compliance Officer for Legal Practice, Omer Simjee, will internally review your complaint, our investigation and our response.

If our Complaints Partner has already been involved, as they are your solicitor, we will ask another solicitor to conduct the review.

STEP FOUR – RECOURSE TO THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN OR THE SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

  • Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

and

  • No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
  • No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please write to: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ; or email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; or phone 0300 555 0333.

The Ombudsman may refer your complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, if they are not the correct body to conduct the investigation (for full details, please visit:  http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/).

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.