Making a Complaint to Leigh Day

Our Complaints Procedure for New Client Enquiries

We are committed to providing the highest standard of service for our clients and individuals who access our services and hope that you will never have reason to complain about our service to you or a bill of costs that we send to you. However, if you become unhappy or concerned about the service you have experienced, please bring it to our attention as soon as you can. We will try to resolve the matter fairly and quickly. You will not be charged for the handling of your complaint.

The firm’s complaints partner is Vijay Ganapathy who is responsible for this procedure.

In the first instance, your complaint will be investigated and responded to by the relevant department. If you remain unsatisfied with this response, you may escalate the matter to the Complaints Partner.

The Complaints Partner will investigate your complaint and provide an impartial response. If you are dissatisfied with the Complaints Partner’s response, you have the option to take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman is a free, independent, and impartial service, that handles complaints about legal services. Please note that time limits apply. You will find further details about the Legal Ombudsman below.

The Solicitors regulation authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour and that it may be in breach of the SRA’s Code of Conduct for Solicitors and Firms. You can find information on how and when to raise a concern with the SRA on its website.

If you are unhappy about a bill of costs that you have received, there are special rules about your right to apply for a remuneration certificate. You have either one month from the date of the bill to apply in writing where the information appears on the back of our bill, or where you have not been told of your right to apply for a certificate, 3 months from the date of the bill.

A preliminary point

The relationship with your lawyer is built on trust and openness. You should be able to talk to your lawyer frankly about all sorts of things so that some complaints (and these are likely to be minor issues) might lend themselves to be resolved by a simple phone call with your lawyer. However, if you are not comfortable speaking to your lawyer about the problem then speak to either their supervisor or the Complaints Partner instead.

How Do I Make a Complaint?

You can make a complaint to us by email, by post, or by phone. 

Email: ComplaintsReports@leighday.co.uk 
Address: Vijay Ganapathy, Leigh Day, Panagram, 27 Goswell Road, London, EC1M 7AJ 
Telephone: 020 7650 1200

We encourage substantial or complicated complaints to be made in writing, so that the issues can be clearly set out. 

However, we realise that not all clients may be able to formulate a detailed written account. In such cases, you are welcome to contact us by telephone. During the call, we will make a note of the issues and then send our written summary to you by email for confirmation. This summary will form the basis of your complaint.

Who Do I Complain To?

Our system is that, wherever possible, complaints are resolved within the department handling your case. You should look at the “Client Care” letter that was sent to you at the start of your case. It will name the person in the firm to whom you should address your complaint. 

If your case is being handled by a solicitor who is not a partner, then the complaint should, in the first instance, be made to the partner who supervises your case. However, if your case is being run by a partner, the head of that department will respond to your complaint. If your case is being run by a head of department, another partner will be named in your Client Care letter to deal with your complaint.

Although you should already know the name of the person dealing with your case, the reference, in the top right hand corner of our letters will show the name of the fee-earner who deals with your case (the first initials).

You will be informed in writing by the lawyer with conduct of your matter if there is any change to the person to whom problems with our level of service should be addressed.

The person dealing with your complaint will inform the Complaints Partner that a complaint has been made, so that it can be recorded on our complaints file and monitored.

If you are unhappy with the response provided by the department handling your case, you should write to our Complaints Partner, Vijay Ganapathy at ComplaintsReports@leighday.co.uk.

If you have a complaint about any of the people we employ who are not solicitors, then you should also write to the Complaints Partner.

Next Steps

i.    We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 3 working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

ii.    We will then investigate your complaint which will normally involve the Complaints Partner reviewing your matter file and speaking to the member(s) of staff who acted for you.

iii.    The Complaints Partner will then write to you with his findings within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. However, if the complaint is complicated, further time may be needed. If so, the Complaints Partner will write and tell you and set another time limit.

iv.    If you are not satisfied with the Complaints Partner’s response, and/or we fail to resolve your complaint satisfactorily within 8 weeks you can contact:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within 6 months of the date of our final written response on your complaint but for further information, you should email the Legal Ombudsman, enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, or call 0300 555 0333.

Raising your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman is a free, independent and impartial service, that handles complaints about legal services. Please find contact details for the Legal Ombudsman below:

Postal Address: The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email:enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

The Legal Ombudsman has produced helpful factsheets to guide you if you have a complaint. We can let you have copies on request, or you can find them on the Legal Ombudsman’s website. They are called ‘Here to Help’, ‘How to Complain to your Service Provider’ and ‘Investigating Your Complaint’.

You can ask the Legal Ombudsman to become involved, at the end of our internal complaint’s procedure, if you remain unhappy with the outcome. The Legal Ombudsman has a helpline if you need to speak to them about how to make a complaint. Calls are charged at a local rate and will be recorded. There is no charge for the Ombudsman’s services.

Legal Ombudsman’s Time Limits

Please see the Ombudsman’s website. 

If we are unable to resolve your complaint, you can refer it to the Legal Ombudsman. You must do so within 6 months of receiving our final response.

From the 1 April 2023 you must make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within either:

•    One year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
•    One year from the date when you realised that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman has the ability to exercise discretion to extend the 1-year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so. 

Complaints on Data Subject Access and Erasure Requests 

The Data Use and Access Act 2025 provides individuals with the right to make a complaint about the processing of their personal data directly to the data controller. 

If you would like to make a complaint regarding how your personal data is handled by Leigh Day, you can send an email to DataProtection@leighday.co.uk or send it by post to: 

Data Protection Officer
Leigh Day
Panagram
27 Goswell Road
Barbican
London 
EC1M 7AJ 

It will help us to deal quickly and fully with your complaint if you can state that you are making a complaint, set out your concerns as clearly as possible, and provide your full name, contact details and your file reference number (if you have one). 

We will acknowledge the complaint within 30 days, and respond to it without undue delay. 

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate the matter further to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Other Points to Note

Should you have any questions concerning this policy, please contact the Complaints Partner, Vijay Ganapathy.