A: Introduction

1. A complaint can be made directly to us about a barrister at Med-Arb-International. You do not need to have a solicitor to make a complaint to us (though you may have one if you like).
2. Your complaint to the barrister will be handled on his or her behalf pursuant to this Procedure.
3. Please ensure that the complaint is made promptly. 
4. Complaints Handling Procedure is set out below, it is free of charge.
5. The procedure is voluntary. However, if you are thinking of making a complaint under The Legal Ombudsman Scheme (“the LeO Scheme”) he will usually require you to make a complaint to us first.
6. The LeO Scheme deals with complaints about the service received by the client whom the barrister was acting for in court (or advising out of court) whether he or she instructed the barrister through a solicitor or under the Public Access Scheme. Services provided by barristers in these chambers which are covered by the LeO Scheme mainly consist of advice given (on paper or verbally), documents prepared in the case and court appearances by the barrister (including any advice given, or negotiations which take place, outside court). It also covers complaints about the service provided by our staff a link to the Legal Ombudsman can be found here. The Legal Ombudsman records data of the complaints it has investigated. That data can be found here.
7. If your complaint involves allegations of professional misconduct or professional negligence it may be that our Complaints Handling Procedure is not suitable to resolve it, or part of it. You will be informed if it is considered that your complaint is wholly or partially unsuitable for our Complaints Handling Procedure for this reason.
8. Any complaint which involves an allegation of professional negligence or any other possible claim on the barrister’s insurers, the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Limited, will be reported to them even though the complaint is being investigated under our Complaints Handling Procedure. This is a requirement of the insurance.
9. We do expect you to cooperate with reasonable requests for further information and for clarification of your complaint and we reserve the right to complete our Complaints Handling Procedure on the information you have given so far if you persistently or in substance fail to cooperate in these respects or fail to respond to our correspondence in a reasonable time or at all.
10. Our procedure is mainly meant to deal with complaints by clients. If you are not a client, for example, if you are someone who was involved in a case but not the barrister’s client (such as a solicitor, a witness or an opposing party); or if you want to make a complaint about a barrister’s conduct unrelated to a particular case, you are free to make a voluntary complaint under our procedure which we will consider. However, in these situations your complaint is likely to be more suited to consideration by the Bar Standards Board or may be incapable of fair resolution because of the barrister’s duty of confidentiality to his own client. If it is considered that a non-client complaint cannot be resolved satisfactorily under our Complaints Handling Procedure, you will be informed and it is then up to you whether you take your complaint up with the Bar Standards Board. A link to their website can be found here. The Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service investigate complaints made to the Bar Standards Board. Details of findings and sanctions can be found here.

B: When and How to Make a Complaint

In Writing

1. To make a formal complaint in writing, please send a letter/email to info@med-arb-international.co.uk
2. Your letter should give the following details:
   1. Case reference number for your case
   2. Your name and address. Please also give an email address and a daytime telephone number if possible.
   3. Which individual you are complaining about.
   4. What you are complaining about.
   5. What you would like done about it.

C: How we will deal with your complaint

1. All correspondence from us will be to the postal address or email address you have given us.
2. We will acknowledge your written complaint by writing to you as soon as reasonably possible, usually within 2 working days of receipt.
3. The person appointed to deal with your complaint will write to you as soon as possible after appointment (usually within 5 working days). In his or her letter you will be informed of the appointment and they will ask you for any clarification or further information they believe is necessary fairly to deal with your complaint. The letter will also set out the intended procedure to deal with your complaint. Usually our procedure is that appointed person will consider your complaint on the material you have provided, put it to the barrister or member of staff for his or her response and then put the response to you for any further comments you wish to make in answer to it but the appointed person may vary this in his or her absolute discretion.
4. The appointed person will within 28 days (four weeks) of his or her appointment send you a decision letter.
5. Our Complaints Handling Procedure ends with the decision letter. If you accept the barrister’s proposals for resolving your complaint an agreement to that effect will be recorded on our Case Management System and any steps we have to take (such as waiver of fees, a letter of apology or any further training) will be promptly dealt with. If you do not accept you may, if you qualify for his scheme (see 6, above), make a further complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 12 months (one year) of our decision letter. Equally, if we have sent you a letter declining to deal with your complaint the 12 months will run from then.
6. There is also an overall time limit for complaints to the Legal Ombudsman which is generally 1 year from the date of the incident complained about.

D: Records and Confidentiality

1. All conversations with you during the Complaints Handling Procedure and all correspondence and documents produced by you or us in the course of our Complaints Handling Procedure are confidential and only for the purpose of carrying out the procedure, except that:
   1. They may be referred to by you or the barrister or staff member involved, in a subsequent complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
   2. Under a regulatory auditing requirement we must keep records of complaints and permit inspection of them by the Bar Standards Board. We will keep our file for 6 years to comply with that requirement.
   3. You agree that within Med-Arb-International, those implementing any further internal procedures arising from your complaint, and the Management Committee of Med-Arb-International – who are responsible for the monitoring of the complaints procedure and considering improvements to it – may be given sufficient information about your complaint to carry out their functions. Where possible information supplied to them about your complaint will be anonymised.
   4. If it is necessary to make a report to Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Limited you agree that we may provide them with full details of your complaint.

E: Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman or the Bar Standards Board

1. If you are a Chambers’ lay client and you are unhappy with the outcome of our Complaints Handling Procedure you may take your complaint up with the Legal Ombudsman or the Bar Standards Board. In general terms, the Legal Ombudsman deals with service complaints and the Bar Standards Board deals with professional misconduct and discipline. However, our understanding is that the Legal Ombudsman acts as a single point of contact for our lay clients and will refer any professional misconduct or discipline matters to the Bar Standards Board. You must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than one year from the act, or one year from when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint.
2. The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are:Legal Ombudsman
   PO Box 6167
   Slough
   S1 0EHTel: 0300 555 0333
   Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
3. If you are not a Chambers’ lay client and are unhappy with the outcome of our Complaints Handling Procedure then you may wish to contact the Bar Standards Board:Bar Standards Board
   Professional Conduct Department
   289-293 High Holborn
   London
   WC1V 7JZTel: 020 7611 1444
4. If your complaint concerns a Mediator who is regulated by the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) then the above process will apply save we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and normally investigate and respond within 21 working days. On occasions, further time may be required to issue a response in which case you will be notified in writing.
5. Should you not accept the finding of our internal investigation, you may appeal direct to the CMC on certain grounds. Please click here for further information.