FREDERICKS SHAW LTD
COMPLAINTS HANDLING POLICY
Policy
Fredericks Shaw Ltd is committed to providing a high-quality service to all its clients. When something goes wrong, Fredericks Shaw Ltd needs you to tell the Director, Hannah Jameel about it. This will help us to improve standards and ensure that Fredericks Shaw Ltd provides you with the service to which you are entitled.
Who to contact
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service which you have received or the costs which you have been charged it is often best to raise your concerns immediately with the Director. Fredericks Shaw Ltd would like to be made aware of any issues as :-
• Most concerns may be resolved
• Fredericks Shaw Ltd aims to learn and improve its services from every situation
The complaints procedure can be found in your retainer, which contains your client care letter/ terms and conditions. A further copy of the complaints procedure maybe provided on request.
What will happen next?
Fredericks Shaw Ltd will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint letter within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
Responsibility for investigating your complaint will be assigned to the Director of the firm, Hannah Jameel to carry out the investigation. She will normally review the file and speak to those who carried out the work.
If appropriate you may be invited to a meeting to discuss, and hopefully resolve, your complaint. If Fredericks Shaw Ltd propose a meeting you will be contacted within 14 days of the sending of the acknowledgement letter.
If a meeting takes place Fredericks Shaw Ltd will write to you within 3 days after it takes place confirming what took place and setting out any solutions which were agreed with you.
If a meeting is not possible, or you do not want to meet, Fredericks Shaw Ltd will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint setting out any suggestions for resolving the matter. Fredericks Shaw Ltd would normally expect to send this reply within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. If Fredericks Shaw Ltd is not able to send you a full reply within that period Fredericks Shaw Ltd will update you and tell you when Fredericks Shaw Ltd expects to be able to write to you again.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd will write to you within 21 days of receiving your request for a review confirming its final decision on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
You may have a right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. You cannot normally refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman unless 8 weeks have passed since your complaint to us, but you may do so earlier if Fredericks Shaw Ltd have notified you of it’s final decision and you remain dissatisfied. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted via their website www.legalombudsman.org.uk, or by telephone 0300 555 0333 or write to: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from Fredericks Shaw Ltd about your complaint or within one year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside of this period, within one year of when you should reasonably have been aware of it).
You may have a right to refer your complaint to the Bar Standards Board. The Bar Standards Board can be contacted via their website https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/ or by telephone 020 7611 1444 or write to: Bar Standards Board, 289-293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ, DX: 240 LDE.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd
Privacy Notice
This privacy notice contains information about how Fredericks Shaw Ltd collects, stores and otherwise processes information about you and the reasons for that processing.
It also tells you who Fredericks Shaw Ltd shares this information with, the security mechanisms Fredericks Shaw Ltd have put in place to protect your data and how to contact Fredericks Shaw Ltd in the event you need further information.
How does Fredericks Shaw Ltd collect Information?
Information collected
When carrying out business Fredericks Shaw Ltd may collect some or all of the following personal information:
1) Personal details
2) Family details
3) Lifestyle and social circumstances
4) Goods and services
5) Financial details
6) Education, training and employment details
7) Physical or mental health details
8) Racial or ethnic origin
9) Political opinions
10) Religious, philosophical or other beliefs
11) Trade union membership
12) Sex life or sexual orientation
13) Genetic data
14) Biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
15) Criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences, and related security measures
16) Other personal data relevant to instructions to provide legal services, including data specific to the instructions in question.
Information collected from other sources
The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as other legal professionals or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, investigators, government departments, regulators, and public records and registers.
How Fredericks Shaw Ltd uses your personal information: Purposes
Fredericks Shaw Ltd may use your personal information for the following purposes:
- a) To provide legal services, including the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations;
b) To keep accounting records and carry out office administration;
c) To take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien;
d) To respond to potential complaints or make complaints;
e) To check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases;
f) To promote and market its services, but where this is done you will be anonymised where appropriate;
g) To carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks;
h) To respond to requests for references;
i) To publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals;
j) As required or permitted by law.
k) As required under the Legal Aid contract and applicable regulations.
Whether information has to be provided by you, and why
If Fredericks Shaw Ltd have been instructed by you on a case, your personal information has to be provided, to enable us to provide you with advice or representation, and to enable us to comply with our professional obligations, legal obligations and to keep accounting records.
The legal basis for processing your personal information
Fredericks Shaw Ltd rely on the following as the lawful bases on which Fredericks Shaw Ltd collect and use your personal information:-If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then Fredericks Shaw Ltd may process your information for the Purposes set out above to the extent to which you have consented to us doing so.
-If you are a client, processing is necessary for the performance of a contract for legal services or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
-In relation to information which is in categories (7) to (15) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information and which include information about criminal convictions or proceedings) Fredericks Shaw Ltd rely on your consent for any processing for the purposes set out in purposes (b), (d), (f), (h) and (k) above. Fredericks Shaw Ltd need your consent to carry out processing of this data for these purposes. However, if you do not consent to processing for purposes (d) and (h) (responding to potential complaints and providing a reference) Fredericks Shaw Ltd will be unable to take your case. This is because Fredericks Shaw Ltd needs to be able to retain all the material about your case until there is no prospect of a complaint and to provide an informed and complete reference.
-In relation to information in categories (7) to (15) above (these being categories which are considered to be particularly sensitive information and include information about criminal convictions or proceedings), Fredericks Shaw Ltd is entitled by law to process the information where the processing is necessary for legal proceedings, legal advice, or otherwise for establishing, exercising or defending legal rights
-In relation to information which is not in categories (7) to (15) above, Fredericks Shaw Ltd relies on its legitimate interest and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the Purposes set out above
-In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that Fredericks Shaw Ltd can comply with a legal obligation to which Fredericks Shaw Ltd is subject (including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks)
-The processing is necessary to publish judgments or other decisions of courts or tribunals.
Who will Fredericks Shaw Ltd share your personal information with?
If you are a client, some of the information you provide will be protected by Legal Professional Privilege unless and until the information becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise. Fredericks Shaw Ltd has an obligation to keep your information confidential, except where it otherwise becomes public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings.
It may be necessary to share your information with the following:
-data processors, such as IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers;
-other legal professionals
-experts and other witnesses
-prosecution authorities
-courts and tribunals
-any staff retained by Fredericks Shaw Ltd;
-lay clients;
-family and associates of the person whose personal information Fredericks Shaw Ltd is processing;
-in the event of complaints, the Director, the Bar Standards Board, and the Legal Ombudsman;
-other regulatory authorities;
-current, past or prospective employers;
-education and examining bodies;
-business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies;
-the intended recipient, where you have asked Fredericks Shaw Ltd to provide a reference.
-the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without our consent or yours, which includes privileged information.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.
The personal information Fredericks Shaw Ltd obtain may include information which has been obtained from:
-other legal professionals
-experts and other witnesses
-prosecution authorities
-courts and tribunals
-any staff retained by Fredericks Shaw Ltd;
-lay clients
-family and associates of the person whose personal information Fredericks Shaw Ltd is processing
-in the event of complaints, the Bar Standards Board, and the Legal Ombudsman
-other regulatory authorities
-current, past or prospective employers
-education and examining bodies
-business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies
-the intended recipient, where you have asked me to provide a reference.
-the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals
-data processors, such as IT support, email providers, data storage providers
-public sources, such as the press, public registers and law reports.
-Cloud data storage services based in the USA who have agreed to comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, in order to enable storage of your data and/or backup copies of your data so that it can be accessed when required. The USA does not have the same data protection laws as the EU but the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection. To obtain further details of that protection see https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/eu-us-privacy-shield_en.
If you would like any further information, please use the contact details at the end of this document.
How long will Fredericks Shaw Ltd store your personal data?
Fredericks Shaw Ltd will normally store all your information:
-Until at least 1 year after the expiry of any relevant limitation period (which will usually be 6 years, but may be 12 years, or longer where the case includes information relating to a minor), from the date of the last item of work carried out, the date of the last payment received or the date on which all outstanding payments is written off, whichever is the latest. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further period. The latter retention period is likely to occur only where the information is likely to be needed for legal proceedings, regulatory matters or active complaints. Deletion will be carried out (without further notice to you) as soon as reasonably practicable after the data is marked for deletion
-Circumstances in which data is likely to be retained beyond 1 year after the expiry of the relevant limitation period include where a lengthy sentence has been imposed and an appeal against sentence or conviction, or a complaint, remain possible. In such a case your information will be retained until such an appeal or complaint is no longer a realistic possibility
-Fredericks Shaw Ltd will store some of your information for which Fredericks Shaw Ltd needs to carry out conflict checks permanently. However, this is likely to be limited to your name and contact details or the name of the case. This will not include any information within categories (7) to (15) above
-Information related to anti-money laundering checks will be retained until five years after the completion of the transaction or the end of the business relationship, whichever is the later;
-Names and contact details held for marketing purposes will be stored indefinitely or until Fredericks Shaw Ltd become aware or is informed that the individual has ceased to be a potential client.
Consent
As explained above, Fredericks Shaw Ltd is relying on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (7) to (15) above. You provided this consent when you agreed to instruct Fredericks Shaw Ltd.
You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time, but this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity Fredericks Shaw Ltd has carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where Fredericks Shaw Ltd also rely on other bases for processing your information, you may not be able to prevent processing of your data. For example, if you have asked a barrister to work for you and the barrister has spent time on your case, you may owe money which Fredericks Shaw Ltd would be entitled to claim. The withdrawal of your consent will also not affect the lawful retention of your information for the purposes of a potential complaint or appeal, in accordance with Fredericks Shaw Ltd’s retention policy.
If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact Fredericks Shaw Ltd using the contact details below.
Your Rights
Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:
-Ask for access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
-Ask for correction of mistakes in your data or to complete missing information held on you;
-Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
-Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format;
-Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
-Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
-Restrict processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
-Request not to be the subject to automated decision-making which produces legal effects that concern you or affects you in a significant way.
If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.
If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:
-Use the contact details at the end of this document;
-Provide sufficient information so that you can be identified;
-Provide a contact address so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity;
-Provide proof of your identity and address;
-State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd will respond to you within one month from when Fredericks Shaw Ltd receive your request.
How to make a complaint?
The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners’ Office if you are in the UK, or with the supervisory authority of the Member State where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/.
Future Processing
Fredericks Shaw Ltd does not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on the website.
Who To Contact?
Any queries should be directed to the Director, Hannah Jameel who is the Data Protection Officer (DPO).
Changes to this privacy notice
This privacy notice was last updated on 25.03.2024.
Fredericks Shaw Ltd continually reviews its privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When it is done it will be placed on the website.