Complaints Procedure

At this Chambers the aim is to give you a good service at all times. However, if you have a complaint, you are invited to let the Chambers know as soon as possible. The address for Complaints is Chambers of Yasmin Chawdhery, First Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW. Or complaints can be emailed to info@yasminchawdhery.com. You can also make a complaint by telephoning 0800 998 7012. All complaints will be acknowledged, preferably in writing, within 72 hours of receipt. We will aim to deal with your complaint within 8 weeks time. If you have a complaint, in the first instance you must discuss this with Yasmin Chawdhery.  

If this does not resolve matters or you feel unable to discuss matter with the person handling your case, in the first instance you should contact CRCS Legal:

Address: 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE

Telephone:  0330 2210511

Email:  enquiries@crcslegal.com

Yasmin will acknowledge the complaint and log this on to our case management system within 5 working days.  Yasmin will either then deal with the complaint or decide to outsource the complaint to CRCS Legal Ltd within that 5 working day period.  

What will happen next if the matter is passed to CRCS Legal?  

A Complaint Manager from CRCS Legal Ltd will contact you either in writing, e-mail or telephone to confirm receipt of your complaint and to set out an understanding of your concerns.    

You may be asked to provide any further comments, or further information, and you will be asked to confirm that the understanding is correct.   You will also be asked how you would like to resolve your complaint.  This will happen within 5 working days of CRCS Legal Ltd receiving the complaint from the firm.   

If you do not confirm that the understanding is correct within 7 days, it will be assumed that the summary is correct, and the Complaint Manager will move to the next stage.  

The Complaint Manager will request a copy of your file for review.   

The Complaint Manager may also speak with the person involved at the firm, if it is necessary to address your concerns and a review of your file will be undertaken.  This action will take place within 21 working days of your providing further information or clarification that the summary is correct.   

The Complaint Manager will then write to you setting out their view of your complaint and making any proposal for resolution, within 7 working days of completing the review.  You will be asked to provide any further comments and to consider any resolution that is being proposed. 

If you provide any further comments, these will be addressed within 7 working days of receipt of those further comments.   

Once all of the issues you have raised have been addressed, the file in respect of your complaint will be closed and the outcome recorded on the firm’s case management system.   

NB The timescales are subject to the Complaint Manager’s availability, for example they may have to change to allow for holiday or absence from the office.  If the timescale has to change you will be advised accordingly.   

What will happen if the complaint is handled by Yasmin Chawdhery?

The timescales set out above will be adhered to by Yasmin Chawdhery.  

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint 

We have 8 weeks in which to deal with your complaint.  If we do not deal with it within this timeframe or if you still remain unhappy, you can raise your concerns with The Legal Ombudsman. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of their complaint following investigation, they have a right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). The Legal Ombudsman will only consider complaints that have already been referred to Chambers and that have received an unsatisfactory response or outcome from Chambers. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent complaints body that can investigate complaints from consumers about the service they received from a barrister. Helpful information about the Legal Ombudsman complaints process is available on its website: 

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/how-to-complain/

The Legal Ombudsman's decision data can be found here:

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/data-centre/ombudsman-decision-data/

This shows providers which received an ombudsman's decision in the previous 12 months.  In each case, the data shows whether the LeO required the provider to give the consumer a remedy.

You should raise your complaint with this Chambers before going to the Legal Ombudsman. Non-clients who are not satisfied with the outcome of this Chambers’ investigation should contact the Bar Standards Board, rather than the Legal Ombudsman.  

Please note that it may not be possible for this Chambers to investigate a complaint made by a non-client. This is because of the ability for this Chambers satisfactorily to investigate and resolve such matters are limited and such complaints are often better suited to the disciplinary processes maintained by the Bar Standards Board. Our Chambers will make an initial assessment of the complaint, and if it appears that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through this Chambers’ complaints process, this Chambers will refer the complainant to the Bar Standards Board.  

 
Furthermore you may wish to consider alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Neither the complainant nor the barrister complained about is required to use ADR. A list of ADR bodies is available here:  www.tradingstandards.uk/consumer-help/adr-approved-bodies 

Going to ADR would not affect your right to raise a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman.  

This Chambers encourages you to speak initially on the telephone about your complaint at the phone number provided on this website under the "Contact Us" section. This is to see if this Chambers can resolve your complaint at an early stage and provide solutions to resolve the matter. You are welcome to put your complaint in writing, before speaking to someone from this Chambers about it.  If we have not been able to reach an informal resolution with you through speaking on the telephone, then you will need to put your complaint in writing. Please email your complaint to info@yasminchawdhery.com 

We have 8 weeks to deal with the complaint. If after 8 weeks, we have not dealt with your complaint you can approach LeO. If you are not satisfied with the Chambers’ response, you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.  A referral must be made to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of the letter confirming the investigation has come to an end and your file is closed. In any event, you must raise the formal complaint within 1 year of the incident giving rise to the complaint or within 1 year of when you were aware of an issue. 

You must complain to the Legal Ombudsman either within six months of your barrister’s actions/failure to act, or no later than three years after you should reasonably have known there were grounds to complain. You must also complain to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving your barrister’s final response to your complaint.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman 

You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at: 

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Or telephone on: 0300 555 0333  

Or Email on: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk 

See: www.legalombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/  

Complaints to the Bar Standards Board  

If you are not the barrister's client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation then please contact the Bar Standards Board.  

You can write to them at: 

 
Bar Standards Board 
Professional Conduct Department 289-293 High Holborn London WC1V 7JZ  

Or telephone on: 0207 6111 444  

Or visit their website on:  

www.barstandardsboard.org.uk