Chambers Policies
Equality and Diversity Policy Statement
Complaints Procedure
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY POLICY STATEMENT
23 ESSEX STREET is firmly committed to the principles of Equal Opportunities and Diversity and makes every effort to reflect the relevant legislative framework provided by Parliament and comply with the Equality and Diversity Code for the Bar. We do this by the promotion of policies, processes and procedures that endeavour to achieve a complete absence of discrimination in chambers’ internal policies and practices, its recruitment and casework and in the provision of all services.
The aim is to ensure a complete absence of direct or indirect discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, religion or political belief.
We thereby ensure:
Equality of access to all applicants
All recruitment is conducted by assessing candidates suitability for identified vacancies by applying objective criteria against job and person specifications.
Equality of treatment to all barristers and members of staff
We have implemented, will maintain and monitor procedures for:
(a) ensuring that work is allocated fairly and that everyone is given a fair opportunity for marketing, practice development, training and promotion and
(b) leave of absence, the facilitation of return to work after leave of absence and where possible facilitate flexible working practices.
Equality of service to all professional and lay clients
Chambers is concerned to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities and makes every effort to ensure this.
We continue to assess the steps we have taken and to monitor and undertake any need to update or amend any aspect of our practice and policy. The complete Equality and Diversity policy document is available on request.
Responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the detail of the policy is placed with Chamber’s Equality Officer, who is a member of the Management Committee. The Equality Officer ensures that consideration is given by the Management Committee and Chambers to the need for any amendment to the policy and the practices of Chambers at least once a year.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
1. Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. However if you have a complaint you are invited to let us know as soon as possible. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint but you are free to do so should you wish.
2. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has a twelve-month time limit in which a complaint must be raised from the date of the act or omission complained of from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint without taking advice from a third party. The Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances by the Ombudsman. Chambers must therefore have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether they are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not therefore usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the twelve month time limit.
3. The Ombudsman will also only deal with complaints from consumers. This means that only complaints from the barrister’s client are within their jurisdiction. Non-clients who are not satisfied with the outcome of the Chambers’ investigation should contact the Bar Standards Board rather than the Legal Ombudsman.
4. It should be noted that it may not always be possible to investigate a complaint brought by a non-client. This is because the ability of Chambers to satisfactorily investigate and resolve such matters is limited and complaints of this nature are often better suited to the disciplinary processes maintained by the Bar Standards Board. Therefore, Chambers will make an initial assessment of the complaint and if they feel that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through the Chambers complaints process they will refer you to the Bar Standards Board.
Complaints made by Telephone
5. You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure in paragraph 7 below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint then please telephone the individual nominated under the Chambers Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints - Richard Fowler, Senior Clerk. If the complaint is about the Senior Clerk telephone Head of Chambers, Simon Russell Flint QC. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like done about it. He will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved he will record the outcome, check that you are satisfied with the outcome and record that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record the outcome of the telephone discussion in writing.
6. If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone you will be invited to write to us about it so it can be investigated formally.
Complaints made in Writing
7. Please give the following details:
· Your name and address;
· Which member(s) of Chambers you are complaining about;
· The detail of the complaint; and
· What you would like done about it.
Please address your letter to Richard Fowler, Senior Clerk at 23 Essex Street London WC2R 3AA. We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with.
8. Our Chambers has a panel headed by Dafydd Enoch QC and made up of experienced members of Chambers and a senior member of staff, which considers any written complaint. Within 14 days of your letter being received the head of the panel or his deputy in his absence will appoint a member of the panel to investigate it. If 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.
9. The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon as possible to let you know he has been appointed and that he will reply to your complaint within 14 days. If he finds later that he is not going to be able to reply within 14 days he will set a new date for his reply and inform you. His reply will set out:
· The nature and scope of his investigation;
· His conclusion on each complaint and the basis for his conclusion; and
· If he finds that you are justified in your complaint, his proposals for
resolving the complaint.
Confidentiality
10. All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the head of Chambers, members of our management committeeand to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister member or staff who you have complained about, the head or relevant senior member of the panel and the person who investigates the complaint. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.
Our Policy
11. As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our management committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving services.
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
12. If you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation and you fall within their jurisdiction you may take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for complaints about lawyers, at the conclusion of our consideration of your complaint. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by Chambers. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has a twelve-month time limit from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining within which to make your complaint. You can write to them at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870
Birmingham
B30 9EB
Telephone number: 0300 555 0333
13. If you are not the barrister’s client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation then please contact the Bar Standards Board at:
Bar Standards Board
Professional Conduct Department
289-293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7JZ
Telephone number: 0207 6111 444