Legal Ombudsman

Complaint form

What kind of legal complaints do we deal with?

We can resolve complaints about the service provided by lawyers– things that customers think their lawyers either have not done very well or have failed to do at all.

A complaint might be something to do with the way a lawyer has handled a house purchase, a divorce or a patent application – anything that depends on the services of a lawyer. We can also look into the same sorts of complaints against lawyers in criminal cases.

Who can we accept a complaint about?

We deal with a broad cross section of lawyers – we take complaints about many different kinds of legal professional. For a complete list please visit us at

Who can complain to us?

Any individual whose lawyer is registered in England or Wales can use the Legal Ombudsman.

Very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts can also use our service.

The Legal Ombudsman is administered by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007.

Legal Ombudsman

Complaint form

We find it can be easier to talk through your complaint over the phone. This way we can make sure we have everything we need to consider your complaint. Please think about calling us to speak with one of our team. Calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes. If you are worried about cost, we can call you back.

If you choose to complete our form, please read the following information to make sure we are the right organisation to deal with your complaint and that it is the right time to bring your complaint to us. Please write as clearly as you can, as it will help us understand your complaint.

When can you bring your complaint to us?

If you haven’t complained to the lawyer or law firm yet, you should do so straight away. You might be able to sort it out with them directly. You can contact us if you are not happy with their response. You need to give them up to eight weeks to get back to you with a final offer (that’s eight weeks from when you first complained).

You should come to us as soon as you can after trying to sort things out with your lawyer yourself. So don’t delay. If you are not happy with their final response you have up to sixmonths to bring your complaint to us. Your complaint should also be brought to us within six years from when the problem first occurred (or within three years from when you first became aware of the problem, if it happened more than six years ago) and the problem you are complaining about must have taken place after 5 October 2010 (or, if it happened on or before 5 October 2010, you must not have been aware of it until after 5 October 2010).

Submitting your complaint

Having filled out this form, you can either phone us on 0300 555 0333 to talk through your complaint, or post the completed form to:

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

or email it to us at

Your complaint

Please send us a copy of your complaint and any response from your lawyer. There is no need to send us any other documents at this stage.

When we ask you for documents, please only send copies. We will scan any documents you send us to make computer copies and then destroy the originals. So please make copies of any important papers relating to your complaint – such as letters, statements, official documents or certificates. If we ask for any of these later, only send us copies.
You should keep the originals yourself.

About you…

How would you like us to address you?
(Mr/Mrs/Ms/Doctor/Professor/other):

Your last name:

Ian / Dowens
121 Axiom Apartments Mercury Gardens Romford Essex RM1 3HJ
/ 07429192133
01708751838 / 07429192133

Your complaint

About you…continued

We prefer to do as much as possible over the phone, but this might not suit everyone. How would you like us to contact you in the future?

/ By phone / email
/ By email /
/ By post

If by phone, what time of day is best for you?

If you would like any kind of help to use our service or communicate with us, please tell us what you need. We can offer large print, Braille, audio CD and translations. More details are on the website.

Are you making a complaint on behalf of someone else? If you are:

What is their full name?

What is their full postal address?

What is their telephone number?

What is your relationship to the person who wants to complain?

Have they agreed to you making this complaint on their behalf?

Your complaint

About you…continued

We may ask you to provide evidence that you can complain on their behalf.

If you are raising the complaint on behalf of someone else, please ask them to sign and date this form in the space below if they are able to do so.

Signed /
Dated /

If they have not agreed, please go back and make sure they want you to complain on their behalf. You might even suggest they get in touch with us themselves.

Our service is free to use and you don’t need any special skills to make a complaint.

You might decide to pay someone else to help you make your complaint. We will only cover the cost of this if your personal circumstances mean that you are unable to complain on your own behalf without professional help.

About your complaint…

Who are you complaining about?

Name of the lawyer – please provide their full name if possible

Mr Ashley Bean and Mr R Littlestone

Name of the law firm

MLC Solicitors

Full postal address of the law firm

First Floor 45 High Street Wanstead London E11 2AA

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Your complaint

About your complaint…continued

What kind of legal work is involved in the complaint?For example, it could be to do with buying or selling a house or business premises, family matters, a personal injury, or drawing up a contract or a will.

Providing legal support with respect to an application to the First Tier Tribunal in January 2014 to recover funds that had been overcharged by the Property Management Companyand have New Management Company take over.

What are you complaining about?Please provide a list describing briefly what the lawyer did (or did not do) that made you unhappy with the service you received.Please also tell us the date that you first became aware of each problem.

Problem

Failed to ensure the correct language was used when drafting the compromise agreement between the two parties. Tried to apportion the blame on the agreement to the barrister. / January 2014
Failed to respond within a reasonable timescale to our requests with regards to rectifying this problem / April 2014 onwards
Failed to ensure that the terms of the agreement were followed by the Property Management Company. / April 2014 onwards
Partner at MLC Law claimed in initial responses that he had fully investigated our complaint. However, during a meeting to discuss the complaint it was clear that he had no knowledge of the intricacies of the case and reason for our meeting. / October 2014 onwards
MLC serving a bill for their services when the amount of settlement is part of ongoing investigation and dispute. / January 2015

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Your complaint

About your complaint…continued

What effect has this had on you? This could be anything from feeling upset or embarrassed through to missing out on something important to you, or even losing money.

As a result of Ashley Bean’s negligence I (and the members of the Axis Residents Association) have only received £25,279.29 instead of the £66,758.01 that was agreed by myself and included as the amount to be repaid in the compromise agreement. In addition to this, the funds received from the old property manager were incorrectly allocated amongst residents in spite of the terms of the agreement. This has led to certain leaseholders being refunded for money they were not entitled to, other leaseholders being in debt due to charges.
I have had to deal with complaints, embarrassment and feeling of letting the members down, constantly being phoned by members, my honesty and integrity being questioned almost on a daily basis as well as dealing with new management company chasing for a resolve to this matter as they are holding monies to be shared amongst ARA members, and without this cannot reconcile accounts.
I have incurred costs and a vast amount of my time has been taken up that should have been spent with my family, leading to added stress and frustration.

Have you complained about this to the lawyer or law firm involved?Remember, we can only become involved if you have already complained to the lawyer or law firm and you have allowed them at least eight weeks to respond.

When did you complain to the lawyer or law firm?

Please provide the full date or dates.

Following months of emails with Mr Ashley Bean and Barrister Mr Challengerand 97
members of the Axis Residents Association I decided to formally complain to MLC
solicitors on 25 September 2014.

When did the lawyer or law firm respond to your complaint?

Please provide the full date or dates.

MLC Solicitors responded (via Robert Littlestone, Partner) on 1 October

What response have you had to your complaint? Please describe what the lawyer involved has said or done about your complaint since you made it to them.

The initial response from Mr Littlestone did not answer our complaint fully and we
requested a meeting to discuss. This was held on 1 December 2014. At this meeting it
was apparent that Mr Littlestone had little knowledge of the case and had not conducted
thorough investigations as he had stated in his initial response. However, throughout
the meeting on a number of occasions he agreed with our understanding that the full
amount of £66,758.01 should be paid to members of the Axis Residents Association
(ARA), commenting that it seemed ‘black and white’. However, Mr Ashley Bean said that
this was not the case, and that it was all down to interpretation of the agreement, and
that my (and the ARA’s) understandingwas different to the property management
company. He also added that he had no input intothe final agreement that was signed
and that it was drafted by the barrister. However, when comparing the draft that had
been prepared by Mr Ashley Bean and the final draft that was signed, it is clear that the
changes made as a result of the negotiations had no impact on the settlement amount or
how it would be apportioned. At the end of the meeting Mr Littlestoneasked for some
time to consider his response and would provide a letter within ten days.
On Monday 15December we received an email from Mr Littlestone stating that he had
not hadtime to properly consider the matter and intends to deal with this matter during
the Christmas /New Year break. No response was received. On 13 January 2015 I sent a further letter statingthat if I did not receive a response with 7 days I would be proceeding to the
LegalOmbudsman as far more than 8 weeks had passed since my initial complaint was
made.I received an email on 13 January 2015 stating that Mr Bean needed to speak to
a counsel who had only just returned from a break and that we would have a full
response by end of the week. We were led to believe that Mr Littlestone not Mr Bean was
handling our complaint!
This email did not have an answer to our complaint. No letter or email was sent to me at
end ofthe week.
On 21 January 2015 we finally received a letter from Mr Littlestone.
The letter solely concentrated on how MLC Law could support theARA in securing the
outstanding monies owed, and completely avoided any aspect of ourcomplaint or his
findings into the conduct of Mr Ashley Bean and the reason for myself and the ARA not
receiving the £66,758.01 stated in the agreement. The letter reflected that there was a
possibility of further costs being incurred as the case would have to go to court.
I was also shocked to find that MLC had submitted a bill for their services whilst this
matter wasstill not resolved.

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Your complaint

About your complaint…continued

What would put things right for you...

What would you like the Legal Ombudsman to do to resolve your complaint?

If we do think there has been a problem with the service you have received from your lawyer, then our aim is to help put things right. It could be as simple as an apology, the return of files or completing the work. In other cases, we might decide that some compensation from the lawyer will help to put things right. We have no powers to discipline or fine a lawyer. Our job is to resolve complaints.

For myself and the ARA to receive the amount stated in the agreement (£66,758.01), and for
it to be apportioned as outlined in the agreement.
Compensation for the vast amount of time and expenses from 28 days after January 29th
2014 (26/02/2014) when the terms of the Agreement as agreed by all parties should
have been finalised.

Have you made a complaint before to us or anyone else about this matter?

If you have:

When did you complain before? Please provide the full date or dates.

Who did you complain to before?

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What we do with the information you provide…

For us to consider your complaint properly, you need to know what we do with the information you provide.

Data protection

We will need to handle personal details about you if we are going to deal with your complaint effectively. This could include sensitive information. We might also need to exchange information about your complaint with the lawyer or law firm involved and other relevant organisations.

Some information is ‘restricted’, which means we cannot share this with others. We will always tell you what information is being shared, and who with, beforehand.

We will carry out customer surveys

From time to time, we will ask our customers –the people who make a complaint and their lawyers – to comment on the service we provide. So we might ask you to fill in a questionnaire or answer a few questions over the phone at some point. You do not have to answer.

Please put a cross in the box if you do not wish to be contacted to comment on our service

Remember to make copies of any documents you send us

We will scan any documents you send us to make computer copies and then destroy the originals. So please make copies of any important papers relating to your complaint – such as letters, statements, official documents or certificates – and send us only the copies. You should keep the originals yourself.

Please remember to send us a copy of your complaint and the lawyers response only. There is no need to send us any other documents or evidence at this stage.

And finally…

How did you hear about us?For example, did you see one of our leaflets, read an article about us or did someone tell you about us?

I did a search on the internet to find out the relevant body to take my complaint further.

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And finally...continued

Declaration

I declare that:

To the best of my knowledge, everything I have reported to you is correct.
The Legal Ombudsman has my permission to contact the lawyer or law firm involved.
I understand that the Legal Ombudsman will share information provided by me with others who are directly involved in the investigation of my complaint, on a confidential basis, including the lawyer or law firm involved and regulators, such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority or Bar Standards Board.
I will treat any information provided to me by the Legal Ombudsman during the investigation of my complaint as confidential and will not pass this on to anyone else.
I agree to cooperate fully with staff from the Legal Ombudsman during their investigation of my complaint.

If you do not agree to any of the above five statements, we will not be able to investigate your complaint.

Before sending this form to us, please make sure you have completed all areas, and then signed and dated the form here.

Signed / Ian Dowens
Dated / 26/01/2015

Thank you for filling in this form.

The Legal Ombudsman is administered by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007.