Professional Indemnity Insurance

A Practising Barrister in this Chambers maintains (as a minimum) professional liability insurance provided by the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund, managed by the Bar Mutual Management Company, 90 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4ST. Territorial coverage is worldwide, subject to the terms of cover of the Bar Mutual.

A member of Chambers is self-employed and in independent practice at the Bar.

Whilst sharing the costs of offices and administration, Counsel will not share in profits of liabilities.

Barristers’ Register

Counsels in St Joseph Chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).

A barristers’ details will be contained on The Barristers’ Register, the online database maintained by BSB.  Please consult the barrister’s register for more information.

Client Confidentiality

We also recognise the absolute importance of client confidentiality.  All members of Chambers and staff are fully cognisant of the duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential (Core Duty 6 of the Bar Standards Board’s Handbook and rC89.5).

Complaints

We are very keen to ensure that the service we offer, whether by a practising member of chambers or by a member of the administrative staff, is of the highest quality. We welcome feedback from solicitors and, should we receive any complaint, it will be taken very seriously.  If you have any concerns about any administrative or other matters in Chambers, please raise them with Virginie Waldron, our Chambers Director.

If you wish to invoke our complaints procedure, details of that procedure are set out below.

St. Joseph Chambers prides itself on the excellence of its service.   If at any time you have any concerns about the quality of the services of Counsel or members of staff you are invited to let us know as soon as possible.

First, we encourage you to discuss any day-to-day concerns about the services of Counsel directly with them.  Any such concerns can also always be raised with our commercial team. We would very much hope that the matter can be resolved at this point, and that you will be satisfied with the outcome.

If you feel that the concern you have raised has not been dealt with to your satisfaction, then you may wish to make a formal complaint.  We set out the steps in our formal complaint’s procedure below.

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers has a twelve-month limit from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining within which to take your complaint.  When deciding whether we are able to investigate any complaint we reserve the right not to handle complaints falling outside the twelve-month time limit.

Formal complaints procedure

Please address your formal letter of complaint to Virginie Waldron, our Chambers Director, St. Joseph chambers, 7 Bell Yard, London, WC2A 2JR.

Please give the following details:

– Your name and address,

– The member of Chambers you are complaining about.

–  The detail of the complaint and what you would like done about it.

Within 14 days of your letter being received the Chambers will investigate the complaint.  The person investigating the complaint will be someone other than the person you are complaining about.

The person handling the investigation will write to you as soon as possible to let you know they have been appointed and that they will set a date for their reply.  Their reply will set out using clear and concise language:

• 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.

Except in the case of obvious factual error by us, or at Chambers’ absolute discretion, the complaints procedure ends with this decision letter. At the conclusion of the complaints process, the person handling the investigation will forward a further copy of this complaint’s procedure to the complainant with their response to the complaint.

Opposing Party Complaints

You should be aware it may not always be possible to investigate a complaint brought by a non-client of Chambers. 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 of the Bar Standards Board. Their contact details are included below.

In such circumstances, we may disclose information we have received from you to the extent that it is necessary to do so, to the solicitors instructing the barrister concerned; the same information may also be disclosed by us to the Bar Standards Board.

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 our Chambers Director and will include anyone else we consider necessary to involve in the complaint and its investigation. If such a complaint is made, we will assume that you are authorising those investigating the complaint to view all the papers or other correspondence relevant to the matter.

Records

As part of our commitment to client care we will make a written record of any formal complaint.  Our Chambers Director periodically inspects a record of complaints with a view to improving our service.  Records of complaints are retained for 10 years.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman or the Bar Standards Board (professional regulatory body for barristers) 

We hope that you will use our procedure and that this will resolve any outstanding issues.   However if you are unhappy with the outcome, you can  take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman (the “LeO”).  The LeO has responsibility for dealing with all service complaints against legal professionals and normally can only consider complaints once the Chambers’ complaints procedure has been exhausted.

The LeO sets out the time limits for accepting complaints, details can be found in the link below:

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/for-consumers/complaints-process/bringing-a-complaint-to-us/

You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman,
PO Box 6167,
Slough,
SL1 0EH

enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
0300 555 0333

More information about the LeO is available on their website:  http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Decision data sets out the names of legal service providers which received an ombudsman’s decision in the previous 12 months.  It sets out whether the LeO required any provider to give the consumer/complainant a remedy This can be viewed at https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/for-consumers/complaints-process/bringing-a-complaint-to-us/

The Bar Standards Board investigates complaints of professional misconduct or professional disciplinary issues.

You can write to the Bar Standards Boards at:

Complaints Department
Bar Standards Board
289-293 High Holborn
London WC1V 7HZ

DX: 240 LDE
Tel: 020 7611 1444
Email: contactus@barstandardsboard.co.uk

Website: https://barstandardsboard.org.uk/