OUR LEGAL NOTICES
Legal Notices
Maddox and Maddox Legal are trading names of Maddox Legal Limited. Our registered office is at Octagon Point, 5 Cheapside, London EC2V 6AA. Registered in England and Wales with company number 10872273.
Our trading address: Octagon Point, 5 Cheapside, London EC2V 6AA.
Our firm is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. SRA Number: 644314.
The Directors of Maddox Legal Limited are: Mark David Archer and Joss Burrell Alcraft.
The term “Partner” denotes a director, employee or consultant of the Maddox Legal Limited who has equivalent standing and qualifications. The term “Founder” or "Founding Partner" refers to a director of Maddox Legal Limited.
Terms of Use
These terms of use (together with the documents referred to in it) tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website (www.maddoxlegal.co.uk) (“site”), whether as a guest or a registered user. Use of the site includes accessing, browsing, or registering to use the site.
Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use the site, as these will apply to your use of it. We recommend that you print a copy of terms of use for future reference.
By using the site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use the site for any purpose.
Other Applicable Terms
These terms of use refer to the following additional terms, which also apply to your use of the site:
Our Privacy Policy, which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us. By using the site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
Our Cookies Policy which sets out information about the cookies on the site.
Changes to these Terms of Use
We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page.
Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we may have made, as they are, and will be, binding on you.
We may update the site from time to time, and may change the content at any time. However, please note that any of the content on the site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.
Changes to the Site
We do not guarantee that the site, or any content on it, will be free from errors or omissions.
Accessing the Site
The site is made available free of charge.
We do not guarantee that the site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. Access to the site is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our site without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason the site is unavailable at any time or for any period.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the site. To the extent we process any data submitted by you, we will process that data in compliance with the appropriate data protection legislation then, and for the time being, in force.
You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the site through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.
Your Account and Password
If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at email: info@maddoxlegal.co.uk and/or telephone:- +44 (0) 20 3709 2815.
Intellectual Property Rights
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in or relating the site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from the site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on the site.
You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.
You must not use any part of the content on the site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If you print off, copy or download any part of the site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use the site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.
No Reliance on Information
The content on the site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on the site.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on the site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on the site is accurate, complete or up-to-date.
Limitation of our Liability
Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.
To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our site or any content on it, whether express or implied.
We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with the use of the site.
- If you are a business user, please note that in particular, we will not be liable for:
- use of, or inability to use, the site;
- use of or reliance on any content displayed on the site;
- loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
- business interruption;
- loss of anticipated savings;
- loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
If you are a consumer user, please note that we only provide the site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use the site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.
We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our site. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
Rights you Licence
When you upload or post content to the site, you grant the following licenses:
- a licence to use such content as we see fit; and
- a licence to other users of the site and/or to third parties.
Viruses
We do not guarantee that the site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform in order to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.
You must not misuse the site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the site.
You must not attack the site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.
By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the site will cease immediately.
Linking to our Site
You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.
You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.
The site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
If you wish to make any use of content on the site other than that set out above, please email info@maddoxlegal.co.uk.
Third Party Links and Resources on our Site
Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only.
We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.
Applicable Law
If you are a consumer, please note that these terms of use, its subject matter and its formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction.
If you are a business, these terms of use, its subject matter and its formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
Cookies Policy
Last updated: 21st May 2018
Maddox Legal Limited ("us", "we", or "our") uses cookies on www.maddoxlegal.co.uk (the "Service"). By using the Service, you consent to the use of cookies.
Our Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third-parties we may partner with may use cookies on the Service, your choices regarding cookies and further information about cookies.
What are cookies
Cookies are small pieces of text sent by your web browser by a website you visit. A cookie file is stored in your web browser and allows the Service or a third-party to recognize you and make your next visit easier and the Service more useful to you.
Cookies can be "persistent" or "session" cookies.
How Maddox Legal Limited uses cookies
When you use and access the Service, we may place a number of cookies files in your web browser.
We use cookies for the following purposes: to enable certain functions of the Service, to provide analytics, to store your preferences, to enable advertisements delivery, including behavioural advertising.
We use both session and persistent cookies on the Service and we use different types of cookies to run the Service:
- Essential cookies. We may use essential cookies to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts.
Third-party cookies
In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-parties cookies to report usage statistics of the Service, deliver advertisements on and through the Service, and so on.
What are your choices regarding cookies
If you'd like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser.
Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.
Where can you find more information about cookies
You can learn more about cookies and the following third-party websites:
- AllAboutCookies: http://www.allaboutcookies.org
- Network Advertising Initiative: http://www.networkadvertising.org
Privacy Policy
Introduction
Maddox Legal Limited is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data which you provide to us when you enter into a contract with us for legal services or to supply us with products or services (whether on behalf of any organisation or personally), make payment to us, make an enquiry to us, visit our website at www.maddoxlegal.co.uk (regardless of where you visit it from) or otherwise. This privacy notice will also tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. In case of conflict, this privacy notice shall prevail over any contract with us for legal services or to supply products or services to us.
Whenever you give us personal data, you are consenting to its collection and use in accordance with this privacy notice, including our use of cookies. If you give us personal data on behalf of someone else, you are confirming that you have given them the information in this privacy notice and that they have agreed for us to use their personal data in the way we describe in this privacy notice.
5.1 Important information and who we are
Purpose of this privacy notice
This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Maddox Legal Limited collects and processes your personal data which you provide to us when you enter into a contract with us to purchase legal services or to supply us with products or services (whether on behalf of an organisation or personally), make payment to us, make an enquiry to us, visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) or otherwise.
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
Controller
Maddox Legal Limited is the data controller and is responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as the “Firm”, "we", "us" or "our" in this privacy notice).
Contact details
Our full details are:
Maddox Legal Limited – for the attention of Joss Alcraft
Octagon Point, 5 Cheapside, London EC4M 7EF
info@maddoxlegal.co.uk
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (“ICO”), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Third-party links on our website
Our website may, from time to time, include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
5.2 The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
- Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, title and date of birth.
- Contact Data includes trading address, billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
- Financial Data includes bank account details.
- Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of legal services we have provided to you or products or services you have supplied to us.
- Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website and systems.
- Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and legal services.
- Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.We may also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose.
Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific feature of our website. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we will treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data) unless we notify you otherwise. Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences unless we notify you otherwise.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with legal services). In this case, we may have to cancel a contract you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
5.3 How is your personal data collected?
We may use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
- Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- apply for our legal services or to supply us with products or services;
- subscribe to our service or publications;
- request marketing to be sent to you; or
- give us some feedback.
- Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We may collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.
- Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources.
5.4 How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out below.
Purpose/Activity
To register you as a new client, supplier or other contact
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
Performance of a contract with you or a third party
Purpose/Activity
To process and deliver your instructions including:
(a) manage payments, fees and charges
(b) collect and recover money owed to us
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary for our legitimate business interests (to recover sums due to us)
Purpose/Activity
To manage our relationship with you which will include:
(a) notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy notice
(b) asking you to leave a review or take a survey
(c) verify your identity
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Financial
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
(c) Necessary for our legitimate b business interests (to keep our records updated and to study how clients use our legal services)
Purpose/Activity
For training purposes and to improve our services to you
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Transaction
(e) Financial
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
Legitimate interests improve our services to you and to develop our employees and consultants
Purpose/Activity
To administer and protect our business and our website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Technical
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
(a) Necessary for our legitimate business interests (for running our business, IT/network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
Purpose/Activity
To deliver relevant website content to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of any advertising we serve to you
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Usage
(e) Marketing and Communications
(f) Technical
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
Necessary for our legitimate business interests (to assess how clients use our legal services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
Purpose/Activity
To use data analytics to improve our website, legal services, marketing, client relationships and experiences
Type of data
(a) Technical
(b) Usage
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
Necessary for our legitimate business interests (to define types of clients for our legal services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
Purpose/Activity
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about legal services that may be of interest to you
Type of data
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Technical
(d) Usage
(e) Profile
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
With your consent required
Opting out
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
Cookies
We may use cookies to monitor how people use our website. This helps us to understand how our clients and potential clients use our website so we can improve things like layout, function and design.
A cookie is a piece of information stored on your computer’s hard drive that records how you have used a website. The next time you visit that website, it can tailor your options based on the information it has stored about your last visit.
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly.
Further information can be found at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where we are required or permitted to do so by law.
5.5 Disclosures of your personal data
We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above:-
third parties (as referred to in section 5.10 below) including third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice;
our employees, agents and / or professional advisors; or
relevant authorities, in order to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We would not allow any third-party service providers to us to use your personal data for their own purposes and would only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
5.6 International
We will not knowingly transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). However, some third parties may run their operations outside of the EEA. Although they may not be subject to the same data protection laws as organisations based in the UK, we will take steps to make sure they provide an adequate level of protection in accordance with UK data protection law. By submitting your personal information to us you agree to this transfer, storing or processing at a location outside of the EEA.
5.7 Data security
We limit access to your personal data to employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and only when they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
5.8 Data retention
How long will you use my personal data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available from us by request. Please be aware that, by law, we have to keep basic information about our clients and suppliers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for not less than six complete years after they cease being clients and suppliers for tax purposes.
In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data. Please see below for further information.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
5.9 Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These are explained in the section titled “Definitions”.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time limit to respond
We endeavour to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. It may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
5.10 Definitions
“legitimate interest or legitimate business interest” means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best legal service and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
“performance of contract” means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you, an organisation you represent or a third party are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
“comply with a legal or regulatory obligation” means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.
“third parties” include:
- service providers acting as processors.
- professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, accountants/auditors, marketing advisers, human resources advisers and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, marketing, human resources, insurance and accounting services.
- HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, electronic readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain legal services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
Complaints
It is our intention to provide an excellent service and we hope you will not have cause to complain about the service that you receive. In the unfortunate event that you do feel frustrated or dissatisfied with any aspect of our service and you feel that you cannot resolve the matter directly with the lawyer dealing with your case please put your complaint in writing and send it marked for the attention of Sanjeev Verma, the Complaints Officer of the firm at sverma@maddoxlegal.co.uk who will attempt to resolve the issues that you raise. The Client Care Partner of the firm is Mark Archer, marcher@maddoxlegal.co.uk
You may also contact the Complaints Officer and the Client Care Partner at our office address, as follows:
Maddox Legal
Octagon Point
5 Cheapside
London
EC2V 6AA
T: 020 3709 2815
What will happen next?
1. Mark Archer will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy and letting you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. We aim to do this within 7 days of receiving your complaint. We may need to ask you for further information before we are able to begin fully investigating your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will then investigate and formally respond to your complaint.
3. Where appropriate, we may invite you to a meeting to discuss, and hopefully resolve, your complaint. Following any such meeting we will write to you within 14 days to confirm what took place and any solutions agreed at the meeting.
4. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible/appropriate, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint, including any suggestions for resolving the matter. We aim to do this within 21 days of acknowledging your letter. However, if the complaint is of a more complex nature, we will require more time, but we will let you know when you will receive a full response.
5. If you still remain unsatisfied, you should write to Mark Archer again within 5 weeks of us sending you our detailed reply and we will arrange for your complaint to be reviewed by a different person. Following that review we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We aim to do this within 14 days of receiving your request for a review.
6. If you do not respond to any correspondence we send you within 2 months of us sending it to you, then that correspondence shall stand as our final written response to your complaint.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
If, after having exhausted our complaints procedure you continue to remain dissatisfied with our handling of your matter, you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal ombudsman will check that you have attempted to resolve your complaint with us first. If the Legal ombudsman is satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further. You will have to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint
and
- within 1 year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year of you realising there was a concern.
The Legal Ombudsman had discretion to accept out-of-time complaints in circumstances where it deems it fair and reasonable to do so.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman and their procedures, please contact them directly at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333;
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk; email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk).
Complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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. Should you wish, you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, whose contact details are as follows:
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47
Telephone: 0370 606 2555 Website: (SRA | Reporting an individual or firm | Solicitors Regulation Authority) Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes
Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm wish to use such a scheme.
However, we don’t currently agree to use this Alternative Dispute Resolution service in view of the availability of the independent Legal Ombudsman Service established under the Legal Services Act 2007. We are bound by our Regulatory Code to comply with the Legal Ombudsman.
You can download this procedure in PDF format here.