Complaints

Barristers in chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board. You can search the Barristers’ Register on the Bar Standards Board’s website:
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/for-the-public/search-a-barristers-record/the-barristers-register.html.

This shows whether a barrister has a current practising certificate, and whether a barrister has any disciplinary findings, which are published on the Bar Standards Board’s website in accordance with their policy. Alternatively, you can contact the Bar Standards Board on 020 7611 1444 to ask about this (or e-mail ContactUs@BarStandardsBoard.org.uk).

Our detailed complaints procedure is set out below or you can download a copy from the this link. This provides information about:

  • How to make a complaint ;
  • Any right you may have to complain to the Legal Ombudsman – the independent body which can help you if you have complained to your lawyer and are not happy with their response;
  • How to complain to Legal Ombudsman; and
  • Any time limits for making a complaint.

First-tier Complaints Policy

  1. Our aim is to give you a good service at all times. However, if you have a complaint 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 should you wish.

  2. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman, the independent complaints body for service complaints about lawyers, has time limits in which a complaint must be raised with them. The time limits are:

    • The act or omission, or when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint, must have been after 5 October 2010; and
    • The complainant must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than one year from the problem happening, or one year from when you found out about it if it took place more than a year ago; and
    • The complainant must also refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the complaint receiving a final response from their lawyer, if that response complies with the requirements in rule 4.4 of the Scheme Rules (which requires the response to include prominently an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman was available if the complainant remained dissatisfied, and the provision of full contact details for the Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to them within six months).

  3. Chambers will have regard to that timeframe when deciding whether they are able to investigate your complaint. Chambers will not usually deal with complaints that fall outside of the Legal Ombudsman’s time limits. The Ombudsman can extend the time limit in exceptional circumstances.

  4. The 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 the Chambers’ investigation should contact the BSB rather than the Legal Ombudsman.

  5. 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 BSB. Therefore, chambers will make an initial assessment of the complaint and if they feel that the issues raised cannot be satisfactorily resolved through the chambers’ complaints process, they will refer you to the BSB.

Complaints made by telephone

  1. You may wish to make a complaint in writing and, if so, please follow the procedure in paragraph 8 below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint, then please telephone the individual nominated under the chambers complaints procedure to deal with complaints, Mrs Usha Sood, or (if the complaint is about Mrs Sood) Mr Amjad Hussain.

  2. 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.

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

Complaints Made in Writing

  1. Please give the following details:

    • Your name and address;
    • Which member(s) of chambers you are complaining about;
    • The detail of the complaint; and
    • What you would like done about it.

  2. Please address your letter to Mrs Usha Sood, Trent Chambers, Nottingham NG1 5BS.
    We will, where possible, acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and provide you with details of how your complaint will be dealt with.

  3. 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 14 days. If they find later that they are not going to be able to reply within 14 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; and
    • If they find that you are justified in your complaint, their proposals for resolving the complaint.

Confidentiality

  1. 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 made to the Head of Chambers, members of our management committee, and to the barrister member or member of staff about whom the complaint is made. Disclosure may also be made to others where this is necessary to investigation of the complaint, or to comply with our regulatory obligations. The BSB is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its monitoring functions, but does not require disclosure of internal documents relating to our handling of the complaint.

Our policy

  1. As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint for a period of six years. Our management committee inspects an anonymised record regularly with a view to improving services.

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman/alternative dispute resolution

  1. If the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks of you making a first-tier complaint, and you fall within their jurisdiction, you may have a right to take up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman, the independent body for complaints about lawyers. The Ombudsman is not able to consider your complaint until it has first been investigated by chambers. Please note the timeframe for referral of complaints to the Ombudsman as set out at paragraph 2 above. Those clients who are able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:

    • Individuals;
    • 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);
    • Charities with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million;
    • 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;
    • Trustees of trusts with an asset value of less than £1 million; and
    • Personal representatives or beneficiaries of the estates of persons who, before they died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

    You can write to the Legal Ombudsman at:

    Legal Ombudsman
    PO Box 6167
    Slough
    SL1 0EH

    Telephone number: 0300 555 0333 (open Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm)

    Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

    More information about the Legal Ombudsman is available on their website:
    http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/how-to-complain/

    If you are unhappy with the outcome of the investigation, alternative complaints bodies (such as Small Claims Mediation, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/smallclaims-mediation-service) 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 Small Claims Mediation, please contact us to discuss this.

    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).

  2. If you are not the barrister’s 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 number: 0207 6111 444

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

Reviewed and updated June 2026 (with reference to updated BSB Handbook in force from 15.06.2026).
Next review due: December 2026>