Last updated: June 2026

  1. 5 St Andrew’s Hill’s (“5SAH”) staff and members aim to provide instructing solicitors and clients with a good service that fits their requirements. However, from time to time things may go wrong, and if this occurs we want you to tell us about it.
  2. If you are not satisfied with the service that you have received, then please contact us using the following procedure. Our aim is to consider any expression of dissatisfaction and provide you with a satisfactory resolution within the timescales set out below.
  3. Please contact us with about a problem as soon as you can, it is always best to deal with an issue whilst matters are fresh in your and our minds. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, we will not consider complaints made more than a year after the problem arose.
  4. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint, but you are free to do so should you wish. You are also free to make your complaint through any other representative (such as a relative or friend).
  5. Your complaint will be treated seriously and in accordance with the procedures set out in this policy, it will be:
    • handled using plain and appropriate language;
    • responded to fairly, consistently and promptly;
    • assessed competently,
    • diligently and impartially; and
    • resolved at the earliest opportunity.
  6. Making a complaint is free. You will also not be disadvantaged in any other way by making a complaint (for example by delays to the progress of your case, unless the complaint directly necessitates such delays).
  7. 5SAH has an Equality & Diversity policy designed to ensure no one is disadvantaged because of disability or impairment in receiving services (including making a complaint) from this Chambers and its Members. If it would help to have this information in an alternative format or we can help in another way please contact Chambers on 020 7332 5400 or on clerks@5sah.co.uk.

First-Tier and Second-Tier Complaints

  1. This document sets out the procedure for a complaint to Chambers (5SAH), which is known as a “first tier complaint”. If after eight weeks from making a complaint to 5SAH the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you may have the right to make a “second-tier complaint”, which is a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

Time Limits

  1. The Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers. It has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them which are:
    • The complainant must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than one year from the act/omission, or the date by which the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
    • The complainant must also refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the complainant receiving a final response from their lawyer, if that response sets out clearly and prominently that the Legal Ombudsman is available if the complainant remained dissatisfied, and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to them within six months (rule 4.4 of the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules).
  2. 5SAH must have regard to the Legal Ombudsman's time limits when deciding whether they are able to investigate your complaint. We will not therefore usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman's time limits. The Ombudsman can extend the time limit where it is fair and reasonable for them to do so, and to the extent that they consider fair.
  3. You may complain to the Legal Ombudsman if after eight weeks following the making of a complaint to Chambers, it has not been resolved to your satisfaction. Therefore, Chambers will endeavour to deal with your complaint within that time frame and will only exceed that time frame by agreement with you, or in exceptional circumstances where the issues are complex.

Making a Complaint

  1. We define a complaint as ‘a material expression of dissatisfaction by a client or solicitor instructing a member of Chambers about a matter being dealt with by Chambers’ staff and/or its members, this may comprise negligence, incompetence or a significant shortfall in the levels of service provided’.
  2. Please advise us of your complaint, preferably in writing, by post, email, or fax, to either the relevant barrister, to another barrister in Chambers or the Chambers Director. If you complain to a barrister, please provide the Chambers Director with a copy of your complaint. If you choose to make your complaint verbally, we are likely to ask you to confirm it in writing.

What we need to know

  1. So that we can deal with your complaint quickly and properly we need you to tell us:
    • Your name and address, email address and telephone number;
    • Which barrister, clerk or member of staff you are complaining about;
    • The details of your complaint including copies of any relevant documents, emails etc.
    • Your desired resolution.

Dealing with the Complaint

  1. Chambers has a panel headed by the Head of Chambers (currently David Josse K.C.) and made up of members of the management committee and the Chambers Director, which will consider any written complaint. Your complaint will be acknowledged promptly. Within 7 days of your complaint being received the head of the panel will appoint a member or members of the panel to investigate it. Where your complaint is against a member of staff the person appointed will normally be the Chambers Director. Where your complaint is against the Chambers Director, the head of the panel will appoint another member of the panel to investigate. Where your complaint is against the head of the panel, the next most senior member of the panel will investigate it. In any case, the person appointed will be someone other than the person you are complaining about.
  2. The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon as possible (and save in exceptional circumstances, within 14 days of your complaint) to provide you with a copy of this procedure, let you know they have been appointed and when they expect to be able to determine your complaint.
  3. We aim to deal with your complaint as quickly as possible, how long this takes depends upon what the complaint is about, we normally hope to be able to provide you with our response within 20 working days and in any event in no more than 30 working days.
  4. In dealing with the complaint, the matter will be reviewed to assess the need for:-
    • Remedial action: where an error can be rectified;
    • Appropriate redress: as a compensatory/goodwill measure for you;
    • Improvement action: to consider the cause of the complaint and implement changes designed to prevent a re-occurrence.
  5. Within the timescales promised, the person appointed to investigate will deliver a written response to you which will set out:
    • The nature and scope of their investigation;
    • Their conclusion on each complaint and the basis for their conclusion;
    • If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposals for resolving the complaint. Such proposals will be proportionate to the level of poor service and may include an apology, and/or other redress.
  6. The existence of this procedure does not prohibit us from dismissing without investigation complaints that we reasonably consider are manifestly unjustified. In such cases we shall advise you in writing that we are taking such action.

Records of complaints

  1. As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint, the steps taken in response to it, and the outcome. We also retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years from the resolution of the complaint.

Options following Chambers Review

  1. If, having had the matter reviewed by the Chambers, you remain unsatisfied, you are entitled to refer your complaint to:
    • the Legal Ombudsman
    • The Bar Standards Board (BSB).
  2. The Legal Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by chambers. Further information about how to make a complaint can be found on the Legal Ombudsman’s website or you can contact them at:
    Legal Ombudsman
    PO Box 6806
    WV1 9WJ
    Tel: 0300 555 0333 (Overseas: +44 121 245 3050)
    Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
    Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
  3. There are strict time limits that you must observe in making such a referral which are set out at paragraphs 9-11 above.
  4. The BSB can be contacted at:
    BSB Contact and Assessment Team
    289-293 High Holborn
    London WC1V 7HZ
    Telephone number: 0207 6111 444
    Email address: contactus@barstandardsboard.org.uk
    Website: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

Confidentiality

  1. All communications regarding your complaint will be treated as confidential and will only be disclosed to those dealing with the complaint and the person or persons complained about. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, members of our management committee and to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation.
  2. We may also be required to disclose such information to our regulators, the Bar Standards Board and the Legal Ombudsman, as part of their regulatory function.

Annual Review

  1. Complaints received are reviewed annually by the Chambers Director who will provide the Chambers Management Committee with a report detailing the number and type of complaints and the persons complained of, together with changes considered necessary as a result of any complaint which have been implemented or are proposed. The report will not identify the complaining persons.