Our aim is to give you an excellent service at all times. However, if you have any feedback or wish to make a complaint about the level or service you have been provided by a member of Chambers or a member of staff, 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 if you wish. Set out below are the steps in our formal Complaints Procedure. Please note that complaints about processing of personal data are subject to the process specifically set out separately below.

Please be assured that any complaints made will be taken seriously and handled with care and will not disadvantage your case or matter. We will investigate and handle complaints in a fair and consistent manner, diligently and impartially, and seek to respond and resolve your complaint promptly.

If your complaint against a member of Chambers extends beyond service-related issues into allegations of misconduct or professional negligence, it is not usually appropriate for Chambers to deal with such matters. For complaints alleging misconduct, we advise you to contact the Bar Standards Board, which is the regulatory body for all barristers.

For complaints alleging professional negligence, it is necessary for the barrister(s) in question to inform their professional indemnity insurer. Such complaints will be passed onto their insurer, and it may be that they decide to handle the matter themselves. Contact details for the insurer will be passed onto you in such circumstances.

Complaints made in writing

Please address your formal letter of complaint to: Mr Paul Cray, Chief Executive, Farrar’s Building, Temple, London EC4Y 7BD.

You are welcome to send in hard copy, or via email to paul@farrarsbuilding.co.uk. If your complaint relates to Paul Cray, please instead address your letter to Paul Lewis KC, Head of Chambers, or send via email to chambers@farrarsbuilding.co.uk.

Please provide the following details:

• Your name and address;
• Which member(s) of Chambers or staff you are complaining about;
• Whether you were the lay client, instructing solicitor, or had another role;
• The detail of the complaint; and
• What resolution you are seeking.

Complaints made by telephone

If you would rather speak on the telephone, video call, or other format that suits your preference and information needs, about your complaint, then please telephone Paul Cray on +44 207 583 9241. If the complaint is about Paul Cray, then please telephone Paul Lewis KC on +44 207 583 9241. The person you contact will make a note of the details of your complaint and what you would like to have done about it. They will discuss your concerns with you and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved, they 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.

If your complaint is not resolved as part of the telephone discussion, you will be invited to write to us in accordance with the procedure as set out above, so that it can be investigated formally by Chambers. At this stage we will also check if you would like to engage with us on accessible formats, to meet your specific information and communication needs. We will discuss and agree with you the best way and format for us to engage and communicate together. We will advise you on the best way to set out your concerns and complaint for the for the next formal investigation stage, depending on your needs and preferences.

Complaints handling process

Farrar’s Building has a panel headed by Paul Lewis KC, made up of experienced members of Chambers from which an individual will be appointed to investigate the complaint.

We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two working days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with. For complaints made in other accessible formats, we will discuss and advise you on the best way to set out your concerns, tailored to your needs, and how to provide the information set out above.

Within fourteen days of your written complaint being received by Chambers, Paul Lewis KC (or their deputy in their absence) will appoint a member of the panel to investigate it. If your complaint is against Paul Lewis KC, the next most senior member of the panel will investigate it. In any case, the person investigating the complaint will be someone other than the person you are complaining about.

 

The person appointed to investigate the complaint will write to you as soon as possible to let you know that they have been appointed and that they will respond to your complaint within 14 days. If they later find that they are not going to be able to respond within 14 days, they will set a new date for their response and inform you. In any event they will keep you informed and provide regular updates on the progress of the complaint investigation. The response will set out:

• The nature and scope of their investigation;
• Their conclusion on each complaint and the basis for their conclusion; and
• If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposal(s) for resolving the complaint.

At the conclusion of the complaints process, the person handling the investigation will forward a further copy of this Complaints Procedure to you with their response to the complaint.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman

We hope that any service-related issues will be resolved under our Complaints Procedure. However, if you are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation and you fall within their jurisdiction, you may refer your complaint to 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, or if the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks of making your complaint. Those clients who are able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:

1. Individuals;
2. Businesses or enterprises that are micro-enterprises within the meaning of Article 1 and Article 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (broadly businesses or enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding €2 million);
3. Charities with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
4. Clubs, associations or organisations, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million
5. Trustees of trusts with an asset value of less than £1 million; and
6. Personal representatives or beneficiaries of the estates of persons who, before they died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

Please note that the Legal Ombudsman has time limits within which a complaint must be raised with them. From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be no later than:

• one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.

Further, a complainant must ordinarily refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of the final response to the complaint from their lawyer, provided that the written response complies with the requirements in rule 4.4(a) of the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman is available if the complainant remains dissatisfied, full contact details for the Legal Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of that response). Full information about the Legal Ombudsman’s procedure and time limits can be accessed on the Legal Ombudsman’s website, details of which are provided below.

The Legal Ombudsman can extend the above time limits in exceptional circumstances.

Farrar’s Building will have regard to these time limits when deciding whether we are able to investigate any complaint. We will not therefore usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman’s time limits.

The Legal 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 Chambers’ investigation should contact the Bar Standards Board rather than the Legal Ombudsman.

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, Farrar’s Building will make an initial assessment of the complaint and if we feel that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through our Complaints Procedure, we will refer you to the Bar Standards Board.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman via:

• Post: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH
• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Website: legalombudsman.org.uk

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation, alternative complaints bodies as approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute also exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should you and the barrister both wish to use such a scheme. If you wish to use your chosen ADR provider, please contact us to discuss this, including time limits for contacting your chosen ADR. Please also note that if mediation is used, neither you nor the barrister is required to accept the proposed resolution. 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).

If you are not the barrister’s client and are unhappy with the outcome of our investigation then please contact the Bar Standards Board via:

• Post: Bar Standards Board Professional Conduct Department 289-293 High Holborn London WC1V 7HZ
• Telephone:: 0207 611 1444
• Website: barstandardsboard.org.uk

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 Head of Chambers, our Chief Executive, members of our Management Board and anyone else we consider necessary to involve in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the barrister or member of staff about whom you have complained about, the head or relevant senior member of the panel and the person who investigates the complaint.

Further, the Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.

Inspection / retention of records

As part of our commitment to client care, we make a written record of any formal complaint and will retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our Management Board will inspect an anonymised record of complaints on a regular basis with a view to improving our services. From time to time, a summary of the complaint will be provided to the Bar Standards Board, on an anonymous basis, which will only provide information about what the complaint was about, and the outcomes.

Data Protection Complaints

The further procedure set out below details how we handle complaints relating to the processing of personal data, in line with the obligations on Chambers and Members of Chambers under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

This procedure applies to complaints from any individual who believes we have infringed data protection law in the way their personal data has been collected, used, stored, shared, retained, secured or otherwise handled their personal data. This procedure is designed to support compliance with the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, including the requirement to provide a process for handling data protection complaints.

A data protection complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction / concern relating to the way we have handled personal data or complied with data protection law. That may include concerns as to how we responded to a data subject access request, the lawfulness of processing, accuracy of data, retention, security or disclosure to third parties, direct marketing, international transfers or the handling of a personal data breach. It is not necessary that a person use legal terminology or refer to specific legislation for a concern to amount to a data protection complaint. If it is unclear whether your concern amounts to a complaint under this procedure, we will clarify this with the complainant where appropriate

You may wish to submit a complaint if you believe:

• We have mishandled your personal data
• We have not complied with data protection laws
• We have failed to respond to a data rights request appropriately

Complaints may be submitted to chambers@farrarsbuilding.co.uk, or by post to Farrar’s Building, Temple, EC4Y 7BD, addressed for the attention of Paul Cray, Chief Executive.

Complaints can be made in accordance with the complaints procedure set out above, but please ensure you include as a minimum your name and contact details, details of your complaint, and any relevant evidence and/or correspondence.

Specifically in respect of data protection complaints, we will record the date of receipt and acknowledge receipt within 30 days. This acknowledgement will confirm that the complaint has been received, and set out the next steps, identify the contact point for any further communications, and request any further information reasonably required to understand the complaint, provided this is relevant and proportionate to the issues raised. At this stage we may, to the extent required, request additional identification verification to ensure that correspondence is undertaken with the correct person.

We will undertake appropriate investigation without undue delay. What is appropriate will depend on the nature, complexity and seriousness of the issues raised, including any risk of harm to the complainant. Investigative steps may include reviewing relevant systems and records, speaking to staff, checking decisions taken in relation to the complainant’s personal data, assessing whether any breach of law or internal policy has occurred, and considering whether urgent containment or remedial action is needed. We will keep the complainant informed of progress where the matter cannot be resolved quickly, including expected timeframes and reasons for any delay.

We will aim to resolve your complaint within 3 months of receipt, as required by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. If we require more time due to complexity, we will inform you in writing, explaining the reason/s and the expected timeframe.

We will inform you of the outcome of the complaint without undue delay once our investigation is complete. The outcome will explain our decision in clear language and where relevant set out any action taken or to be taken. This may include correction or deletion of personal data, restriction on processing, improving processes, further explanation, offering an apology, training or other appropriate action. If the complaint is not upheld we will explain why.

You have a right, if not satisfied with the response, to contact the ICO to make a complaint. You can do so by telephone on +44 303 123 1114 or via https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

We will keep an internal record of data protection complaints, including date of receipt, issues raised, key actions taken, date of acknowledgment, correspondence, outcome and any follow-up actions. Records will be retained for at least three years in accordance with the requirements of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, and will be used to identify trends and improve processes.