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Complaints

Furley Page Solicitors is committed to high quality legal advice and client care

If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or are unhappy about your bill, in the first instance please contact your usual Furley Page representative, who will discuss the complaint with their Head of Department and/or the Furley Page Complaints Partner as appropriate.

Alternatively you can submit a written complaint and send by email to: info@furleypage.co.uk or by post to our Canterbury office:

Furley Page LLP
39 St Margaret’s Street
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2TX

We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints which is available by writing to us at:

In the first instance your complaint should be directed to the fee earner dealing with the matter.

Please note that complaints should be made within 6 years of the act/omission about which you are complaining, or within 3 years of when you knew / ought to have known that there was reasonable cause for complaint.

We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.

Contact details of the Legal Ombudsman are:

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

Legal Ombudsman
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Tel: 0300 555 0333

Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman :-

  1. within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint; or
  2. within one year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring; or
  3. if outside of these periods, within one year of when you should reasonably have been aware there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman do, however, accept complaints late where they consider it fair and reasonable to do so.

You also have the right to complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority if your complaint refers to our conduct rather than our service.

Solicitors Regulation Authority can be contacted at:

The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1R

Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk

Tel: 0370 606 2555

Download a copy of Furley Page Complaints Policy >>

Civil Mediation Council (CMC) complaints procedure

In respect of complaints in relation to a member of our staff acting as a Civil mediator we confirm the following:

  1. All complaints will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days of receipt of the written complaint.
  2. All complaints will be investigated and responded to within 21 working days of receipt. Please note that on occasions further time may be required, and if that is the case the complainant will be notified of this in writing.
  3. If the response is not accepted, the complainant can appeal to the CMC on certain grounds.

Download a copy of Civil Mediation Council (CMC) Complaints Procedure >>

Family Mediation Complaints Procedure

Information to clients wishing to complain

In respect of complaints in relation to a member of our staff acting as a Family mediator we confirm the following:

  1. A client, former client, prospective client or qualifying third party (who has been invited to participate in a mediation process, for example another professional who attends a mediation) may make a complaint that relates to breaches of the FMC’s Codes of Practice or Standards Framework that occurred within the last three months. For complaints that relate to the way a mediation was conducted as a whole, the date the three months runs from is the last mediation session.
  2. All complaints shall in the first instance be sent to your usual Furley Page representative, who will discuss the complaint with their Head of Department and/or the Furley Page Complaints Partner as appropriate. Alternatively you can submit a written complaint and send by email to: info@furleypage.co.uk or by post to our Canterbury office: Furley Page LLP, 39 St Margaret’s Street, Canterbur, Kent, CT1 2TX.
  3. Your complaint will be acknowledged in writing within 10 working days of receipt of the written complaint.
  4. All complaints will be investigated and responded to within 30 working days of receipt. Please note that on occasions further time may be required, and if that is the case the complainant will be notified of this in writing.
  5. Mediation of the complaint is welcomed where both you and mediator wish this to proceed.
  6. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Family Mediation Standards Board (FMSB) to consider the complaint within 3 months of completing the mediator’s own complaint process, if certain criteria are met.

Details of the FSMB’s complaints process can be found here: Complaints About Mediators – Family Mediation Council

To complain to the FMSB please complete their standard form and send it to complaints@familymediationcouncil.org.uk.  They will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days.

Please note it is common for a mediator to contact you as a potential mediation participant after seeing your ex partner/your child’s other parent. Complaints about a mediator making contact with you in this way do not need to be investigated by mediators and will not be accepted by the FMSB.

Likewise, mediators may sign court forms to say one person has attended a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) without notifying you as potential second participant to the mediation or inviting you to attend a MIAM yourself. Complaints about a mediator not making contact with a potential participant do not therefore need to be investigated by mediators and will not be accepted by the FMSB.

Neither mediators nor the FMSB will be able to disclose any information to you that is confidential between the mediator and the mediation participant(s). It is therefore normal that if you are not a client or former client of the mediator, you will only receive a limited amount of information in response to your complaint, even in circumstances where it is considered by the FMSB

Complaints that appear to be vexatious or of a purely personal nature do not have to be investigated by mediators and will not be considered by the FMSB.

Complaints can be considered vexatious when:

  • the purpose appears to be to intimidate, disturb, disrupt and/or unduly or unfairly pressurise the mediator or the FMSB;
  • they are persistent/repetitive, and repeating the same or substantially similar complaints which have already been investigated;
  • they are clearly unfounded and unsupported by evidence;
  • they are irrelevant and relate to matters other than mediation;
  • abusive or offensive language is used.

Complaints are of a purely personal nature if they are discriminatory or focus on the personal attributes or circumstances of a mediator rather than their actions as a mediator.

In certain circumstances, it may be possible for you to refer your complaint to another external complaints handler such as the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk) or the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) (www.sra.org.uk). Further information is available on the website links.

Download a copy of the Family Mediation Complaints Procedure.

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