Complaints Procedure

Our Commitment to Service

Charlie Sherrard KC is committed to providing excellent service at all times. However, if you have a complaint about the service you have received, I encourage you to let me know as soon as possible so that I can address your concerns. It is not necessary to involve solicitors in order to make your complaint, but you are free to do so should you wish.

Important Time Limits

Please note that there are strict time limits for complaints:

• Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within one year from the act or omission being complained about, or one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
• There is a time limit of six months from receiving a final response to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman.

I must have regard to this timeframe when deciding whether I am able to investigate your complaint. I will not therefore usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman’s time limits, although the Legal Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances.

Who Can Complain

The Legal Ombudsman will only deal with complaints from consumers, meaning complaints from my direct clients. If you are not my client and are unhappy with the outcome of an investigation, you should contact the Bar Standards Board rather than the Legal Ombudsman. Details of how to contact the BSB can be found at the end of this procedure.

How to Make a Complaint

Complaints by Telephone

You may wish to make a complaint in writing (see below), but if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint, in the first instance, please contact the Senior Clerk at 2BR Chambers:

Paul Rodgers, Senior Clerk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7440 8888

Paul Rodgers will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like to have 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 and check that you are satisfied. You may also wish to record the outcome of the telephone discussion in writing.

If your complaint is not resolved on the telephone, you will be invited to write so it can be investigated formally.

Complaints in Writing

Where you make a complaint in writing, please provide the following details where possible:

• Your name and address
• The detail of the complaint
• What you would like done about it

Please address your correspondence to:

Brian Altman KC and Christine Agnew KC
Heads of Chambers, Complaints
2BR
95 Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1DT

Email: clerks@2br.co.uk

We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within seven days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with.

Investigation Process

2BR Chambers has a complaints panel headed by the joint Heads of Chambers, Brian Altman KC and Christine Agnew KC. Written complaints will be investigated by either of the Heads of Chambers. In the event that neither is able to respond to your complaint within our policy timescales, your complaint will be investigated by a member of the panel appointed by them within 14 days of your correspondence being received.

When we acknowledge receipt of your complaint, we will notify you of the name of the person who will investigate your complaint.

The person appointed to investigate will write to you as soon as possible to let you know they have been appointed and that they will reply to your complaint within 28 days. If they find they are not going to be able to reply within 28 days, they will set a new date for their reply and inform you.

Their reply will set out:

• The nature and scope of their investigation
• Their conclusion on each complaint and the basis for their conclusion
• If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposals for resolving the complaint

Confidentiality

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 joint Heads of Chambers, members of our Management Committee, and to the Chambers Manager, as well as to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its monitoring functions.

Our Policy

As part of our commitment to client care, a written record of any complaint is made and all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint are retained for a period of six years. Our Management Committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving services.

If you require any reasonable adjustment in making a complaint, kindly inform us as soon as you are able.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

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 Legal Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by Chambers. Please note the timeframes for referral of complaints to the Legal Ombudsman as set out above.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

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

Alternative Dispute Resolution

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation, alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate) also exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should you and I both wish to use such a scheme.

If you wish to use ProMediate, please contact us to discuss this. Please note that:

1. The time limit for contacting ProMediate is two weeks immediately after the results of the Chambers investigation
2. If mediation is used, neither you nor I am required to accept the proposed resolution
3. If mediation does not resolve the complaint, you may still make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (provided you fall within their jurisdiction and you do so within the time limit)

Website: www.promediate.co.uk

Complaints to the Bar Standards Board

If you are not my client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation, then please contact the Bar Standards Board at:

Bar Standards Board
Contact and Assessment Team
289-293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7JZ

Telephone: 020 7611 1444
Website: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this complaints procedure, please contact:

Email: csherrard@2br.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7440 8888
Address: 2BR Chambers, 95 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1DT

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Last updated: December 2025