Our Compliance Policy

Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP: Terms of Business 

Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership incorporated and registered in England and Wales under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 with registered number OC433560 and as an Alternative Business Structure with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) with registration number 810601 and they regulate our legal work. The professional rules of the SRA are available at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations. Our VAT registration number is 235 5911 61. 

Our registered office and principal place of business is 5th Floor (South-West), Cottons Centre, Hays Lane, London Bridge City, London SE1 2QG. Our other office is at The Beehive Coffee Tavern, 496 Streatham High Road, London SW16 3QB. 

Our normal office hours are 9.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday but we will always try to support clients with appointments outside those hours and meetings in other locations as necessary. 

More information about the Firm, details of our Lexcel and BS76000 accreditation, a list of our partners and other legal staff, and our full contact details are available at www.anthonygold.co.uk. 

Any reference in these terms of business to ‘We’, ‘Our’, ‘Us’, the ‘LLP’ or the ‘Firm’ is a reference to Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP and includes any form of entity adopted by the Firm whether as a Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership or Limited Company. 

Because the business of Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP was previously carried on through a traditional partnership, we refer to its members as partners, even though in law they are members and not partners. A list of the names of the partners is available at the registered office. A limited liability partnership has a legal identity separate from that of its members, partners, consultants and employees, all of whom act as its agents. 

Insurance and Liability 

We must hold professional indemnity insurance for the work we do in England & Wales. Our primary insurance is held with Endurance Worldwide Insurance Limited and Axis Specialty Europe SE. 

Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP has legal responsibility for all work that its members, partners, consultants and employees carry out on its behalf. No individual member, partner, consultant or employee of the LLP contracts with you personally or assumes legal responsibility to you personally in respect of the work properly performed on behalf of the LLP. All communications sent to you during the course of our work (whether signed by a member, partner, consultant or employee) are to be treated as sent on behalf the LLP. 

You agree that you shall not make any claim (whether in contract, tort, under statute or otherwise) against any individual member, partner, consultant or employee of the LLP personally. The members, partners, consultants and employees of the LLP shall be entitled to rely on these terms insofar as they limit their personal liability, but otherwise the provisions of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 are excluded. 

Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP shall not be liable to you for (1) any loss or damage that arises from any breach by you of your agreement with us or for any failure to follow our advice; (2) any act or omission of, or advice or opinion that is given to you by, any third party even if that third party was nominated, recommended or instructed by us; (3) any indirect, consequential, special or exemplary loss or damage (including lost profits or opportunities) arising in any circumstances whatsoever (including but not limited to our own negligence or non-performance). 

The aggregate liability of Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP, and all of its members, partners, consultants and employees, for any loss or damage arising from or in connection with any service we have provided or failed to provide under these terms whether in contract, tort, statute or otherwise and however caused (including but not limited to our own negligence or non-performance) shall be limited to £30 million. Nothing in these terms will apply to the extent that the law or our professional rules prohibit us from excluding or limiting our liability to you in respect of a particular matter, and nothing in these terms exempts us from or limits our liability for, fraud, reckless disregard of our professional duties or for our own negligence which results in death or personal injury. 

Service Standards 

We aim to provide you with high standards of service at all times. We will: 

•  keep you updated in writing of progress with your matter; 

• communicate with you in plain language; 

• explain to you in writing the legal work required as your matter progresses; 

• keep you updated of the cost of your matter as needed; 

• keep you updated with the likely timetable for each stage 

• regularly consider alternative funding for your matter, where suitable; 

• respond to your calls and other communications within 2 to 5 business days. 

Responsibilities 

To achieve the best possible result in your case, we need to work with you. We will: 

• review your matter regularly; 

• advise you on the law; 

• follow your instructions provided that we consider them to be lawful and reasonable and that they do not conflict with a duty we owe to another party such as the Court; 

• update you on whether the likely results still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances. 

 You agree to: 

• provide us with clear, timely, reasonable, and accurate instructions; 

• provide us with full details of your matter; 

• provide us promptly with the information and documents needed to deal with your matter; 

• keep safe documents the Court, or any other party involved in your matter may reasonably require. 

We are not liable for a breach of our responsibilities where this results from a breach of your responsibilities. 

Anti-money laundering obligations 

We must get evidence of your identity and, in some matters, people related to you or your case because criminals often use solicitors to launder money. Therefore, we need to get evidence of your identity quickly before we can carry out any significant work on your matter. To collect this evidence, our practice is to use a secure online identity checking service to confirm your identity. By instructing us you consent to us sending your personal information to this service. 

Confidentiality 

We must keep your personal information and details of your matter confidential except in certain circumstances. We will only use your personal information or supply details about your case to other organisations for purposes not directly connected with the progress of your case in the following circumstances: 

• To carry out an identity check to satisfy our legal obligations. This will involve us passing of your data to GB Group Plc. We will not undertake work if you refuse consent for this data transfer; 

• To enable our internal marketing team to supply you with information about other legal services we offer which may be of interest to you. We will not give your information to any other organisation for marketing purposes; 

• To satisfy our legal duty to make a report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) where we know or reasonably suspect that a transaction on your behalf may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. Please note that we cannot tell you that we have made a report; 

• To deal with questions from the SRA or Legal Ombudsman or an auditor or investigator acting for them; 

• Where we act for you but are also acting for another party on the same matter we must disclose information to them. 

These circumstances will include: 

• where we act for you in a conveyancing transaction where we are also acting for your intended mortgage lender; 

• where we act for you in a litigation matter and someone else is providing funding or protection against legal costs; 

• where we are acting for several clients as part of the same matter. 

We will tell these other parties about information we find which differs from the information they have received from you. We will also give them full details on the progress of the matter and our assessment of how it will continue. This may include us telling a mortgagee or litigation funder that they should not give or continue to give you funding or protection. If you refuse us permission to do this then we will not continue to act for you.  

In some matters we must consider mediation or alternative dispute resolution before starting Court proceedings. This may involve us giving an independent mediator your details and those of the other side to satisfy the Court that you are aware of mediation. We will discuss with you whether your case is suitable for mediation before providing your information to any mediator; 

• To deal with questions form our insurers; 

• To satisfy our duties to the Court by obeying Court Orders and not misleading the Court; 

• Where we are being audited for a practice management standard. We require auditors to keep any information they access confidential; 

• Where we are using a service provider which we need to run our business. We will only give providers information they need and will require them to treat it as carefully as we would. 

If you do not wish us to use or disclose your information in one of the above circumstances you should tell us immediately. Please note we may then refuse to act for you. 

You can see our policy on the security and privacy of your data on our website at www.anthonygold.co.uk/compliance. If you require a print copy please ask the fee earner dealing with your matter. If you wish to see what information we are holding about you then you should make a request in writing to the fee earner dealing with your case. 

Payments and Receipts 

We will not accept more than £500 in cash. If you deposit cash over this sum with our bank, we may charge you for any extra checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of the funds. To comply with our regulatory requirements, we can only accept payment of our fees from you directly. In very limited circumstances we can agree to accept funds form a friend of family member, but this has to be pre-agreed in line with our strict compliance procedures. We do not accept payments from personal companies in any circumstances. When we pay money to you, it will be by cheque or bank transfer in your own name. We will only pay cash or make a cheque payable to a third party in exceptional circumstances. If you ask us to pay you in cash we may limit the amounts, times, and places at which we pay you and may carry out extra identity checks which we can charge you for. If you want us to pay you in cash or make a cheque payable to someone else then you should tell us promptly. 

Where we have reasonable cause to believe that your transactions are suspicious we may refuse to pay or transfer your money while we make obtain consent from the NCA to proceed. 

Client Money 

We will hold your money in a client account which we hold with National Westminster Bank Plc, Metro Bank or Lloyds Banking Group Plc. We reserve the right to change our banking arrangements at any time. We will tell you in writing if we move client money we hold for you to any other bank. 

When we hold your money in our client account we do so as your agents and accept no responsibility for loss if the bank holding our client account fails to repay money. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme offers protection up to a maximum of £85,000 for each individual. So, if you hold other money in that same bank or another bank in the same trading group, the total compensation available to you will not exceed the limit however many accounts you hold. 

Interest 

We will account to you for a fair sum of interest on any client money held by us on your behalf. The prevailing financial/economic climate will determine our assessment of what is fair in this context. When the financial/economic climate is poor, we will not pay any interest. If you are due interest but the amount is less than £50, then we will not pay you any interest as the cost of doing so would be disproportionate. In certain, limited circumstances we might be able to come to a different arrangement with you for payment of interest but this has to be separately agreed in writing at the outset, before we start providing legal services. If you wish to waive your entitlement to interest for religious or other reasons we can make a written agreement for this and you should discuss this with the person handling your matter. The period we pay interest for will normally be from the date we receive cleared funds. 

How we calculate charges 

We will tell you of the fee structure that we are applying to your matter at the start. We record all time spent on a matter and, where we have not agreed another fee structure with you, we will charge you on an hourly basis using this record to calculate your fees. Time spent on a matter includes:  

• attending meetings, negotiations, and Court hearing plus travel time; 

• reading, writing and working on documents; 

• making and responding to telephone calls, emails, faxes and letters; 

• preparation of fees estimates, schedules and bills. 

We review the rates at which each person charges their time on a yearly basis. If we change the rates applying to your matter we will tell you about the change, and the new rate, in writing. The new rate applies from the date of that letter. If your instructions mean we have to work outside normal office hours, we may increase our rates. We will tell you in writing of any increases. 

If we have agreed a fixed fee then this will be for specific items of work as set out in our letters. If we have to do work outside our agreement or the work needed by your case changes we will charge for our time in doing extra work at the rates we have told you of. 

You may have to pay other charges in addition to our professional fees. These might include court fees; fees for barristers, experts, surveyors, or other professionals; or Land Registry charges. We do not control these fees and while we will try to give you an indication of the amount we are not liable for those estimates being exceeded by third parties. We will normally ask for a payment on account of these charges from you in advance and will pay these on your behalf provided we have funds available to do so. We may also ask you to pay monies on account in advance of our expected fees. The sum we ask you for on account is not an estimate of the total expected cost of your work. 

If you wish to pay us money on account by credit card then we will make a charge of 2% of the sum paid to cover the charges made by credit card If we are jointly instructed by more than one client then all clients are responsible jointly for our fees and charges. 

We will not make a charge for a payment on account made by debit card. 

We will give you an estimate of the fees you can expect to pay where possible. We will advise you in writing of any changes to the fees estimate promptly. An estimate of our fees is a best guess at what the matter will cost you based on a brief review of your situation and our experience. If something unexpected happens or your matter is more complex than was obvious on an initial review then our fees may exceed the initial estimate. 

In certain cases someone else may pay our fees but you should be aware that you are always finally liable for our fees in performing your legal work. 

VAT will be charged at the rate which was in force at the time the fee or charge was incurred. For our professional fees this will be the date that our invoice is sent. 

You may have to pay the fees of another party if you have agreed or the Court has ordered you to do so. If this possibility arises then we will make this clear to you in writing. We will advise you if your funding method protects you against the payment of fees to another party. We will not pay these fees on your behalf unless you have provided us with the funds to do so. Failure to provide these funds promptly may lead to the Court dismissing your case or us refusing to do further work for you. 

Where someone else is ordered by the Court to pay your legal costs you may become entitled to receive an extra sum equivalent to 10% of your costs. You agree that we will be entitled to retain this sum in addition to any other costs awarded.  

Bills 

In cases where we are expecting our bills to be settled by another party then we will not send you bills unless you ask us to do so. We reserve the right to submit invoices to you at regular intervals (usually monthly) or at appropriate stages in the conduct of the matter. We are willing to discuss with you the most appropriate accounting procedures for any particular matter. All invoices are final for the period covered unless otherwise stated. We reserve the right to request payments in advance on account of fees, expenses and disbursements. We require payment of our bills within 14 days of sending them to you. We may charge you simple interest on unpaid bills at a rate of 8% per year, from one month after the delivery of our bill. We calculate the interest daily from the date the invoice was due until the date you pay it. If you do not pay our invoices on time we may refuse to continue working for you until you pay any outstanding sums. If you end your relationship with us, we may refuse to release your file or other papers to you until you pay our outstanding invoices. If we are holding any money in our client account that is owed to you then we may use this money to pay any of our outstanding invoices. We may do this even if we hold that money for a different matter. 

Insurance advice 

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, we are included on the register maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance distribution activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by SRA. The register can be accessed via the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk/register. 

Equality and diversity 

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of our dealings with clients, third parties and employees. You can see our policy on equality and diversity on our website at www.anthonygold.co.uk/compliance. If you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy then please ask the fee earner dealing with your case. 

Storage of papers 

We will keep our file (except any of your papers which you ask us to return) for not less than 12 months. We keep it on the basis that we may destroy it six years after the date of the final bill we send to you for this matter. We will not destroy documents you ask us to keep in safe keeping. In that case we will advise you of what documents we are storing, where they are stored, how you can retrieve them, and our charges for storage or retrieval. 

We may store your files or documents in a secure location remote from our offices or in an electronic format. If we retrieve papers or documents from storage for continuing or new instructions to act for you, we may charge the costs we incur in arranging such retrieval. We may also charge you for: 

• time spent producing the stored papers requested; and 

• reading, letters or other communication, or other work necessary to comply with your instructions about the retrieved papers 

Applicable law 

Any dispute or legal issue arising from these terms of business will be dealt with under English law and under the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. 

Any proceedings issued in relation to these terms of business will be properly served if issued in English only and sent to: 

• our principal place of business if you are issuing proceedings; or 

• the contact address that you have given to us if we are issuing proceedings; 

• by the ordinary first class post or its international equivalent. 

Ending our services 

Our instructions will end automatically once we have completed the work we originally agreed to do for you. You may also end your instructions to us in writing at any time. We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason and must tell you that we are doing so. These situations might include: 

• if you do not pay an interim bill or provide funds on account when requested; 

• you are abusive to our staff, 

• there is a breakdown of trust between you and us; or 

• you do not give us reasonable, clear, or proper instructions or those instructions prove to be untrue or misleading; or 

• there is a conflict of interest between the Firm, one of our staff members, or another one of our clients and you. 

If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, we will require you to pay expenses we have already paid on your behalf and our reasonable fees for the work we have done. If we decide to stop acting for you we may agree to carry out a further specific piece of work, particularly where there is an urgent court deadline to meet. In this case our instructions will end automatically once the further agreed work has been completed. 

If we or you terminate instructions and either (a) you do not agree to us coming off the Court record for you or (b) the Rules require us to come off the Court record, then we will make an application to do so and you will be liable to us for the reasonable costs in making such an application including the costs of notifying all relevant parties of our removal from the Court record. Once any such application has been determined and we have been removed from the Court record our instructions will terminate automatically. 

Complaints 

We are committed to providing high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about your bill contact the person we have told you will deal with complaints in your initial client care letter. We have procedures detailing how we handle complaints and this is available on our website at www.anthonygold.co.uk/compliance. It is also available in writing on request. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we are not able to resolve your complaint internally we are members of an independent alternative dispute resolution scheme, ProMediate (UK) Limited, which is certified under the Alternative Dispute Service for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. ProMediate’s details are as follows: 

ProMediate (UK) Limited 

The Legal Complaints Service  

Brow Farm, Top Road, Frodsham WA6 6SP  

Telephone: 01928 734630 

Email: enquiries@promediate.co.uk 

Website: www.legalcomplaintsservice.com 

We are willing to use ProMediate’s independent mediation service to try to resolve your complaint. ProMediate’s mediation service is free for consumers. 

You also have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. If you are unhappy with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. You can contact them at www.legalombudsman.co.uk or by telephone on 0300 555 0333. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint and within one year of realising there was a concern.  

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

Rights in advice 

Where we provide you with advice or documents you may use or copy that advice or those documents for the purpose which we created them. All intellectual property in the documents and the ideas created by us remain ours unless we explicitly assign those rights to you in writing. No assignment of rights will be effective unless signed by a partner of the Firm. 

We may use documents or ideas provided to you to give advice to or create documents for other clients as long as we do not breach our duty of confidentiality to you. 

Rights of Third Parties 

This agreement is not enforceable by anyone other than you unless we have agreed to this in writing. 

Variation and Acceptance of Terms 

These terms of business will apply to this work and any future work we do for you and supersede and replace any previous terms we may have sent you. We may change these terms of business at any time as long as we tell you about the change and give you an opportunity to transfer your work elsewhere. Your continued instruction of us represents your acceptance of these terms of business and of any replacement terms of business we tell you about. 

Legal Disclaimer 

The materials appearing on this website do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only. 

No warranty, whether express or implied is given in relation to such materials. We shall not be liable for any technical, editorial, typographical or other errors or omissions within the information provided on this website, nor shall we be responsible for the content of any web images or information linked to this website. 

Client Care Policy 

The person with overall responsibility for the Client Care Policy is the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP). 

Anthony Gold is committed to delivering excellent client service and client care.  Our Client Care Policy describes what this commitment means in practice and what our clients can expect from us.  We will endeavour to adhere to the principle of putting our clients first, thereby ensuring that service excellence is an integral part of the planning and delivery of all services to our clients. 

In order to achieve client service excellence, Anthony Gold aims at all times to: 

• Provide clients with a high quality, professional and consistent service. 

• Act in accordance with the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2011 and other relevant regulatory requirements. 

• Act in a respectful and courteous manner in all dealings with clients. 

• Represent our clients’ best interest. 

• Ensure all our staff fully understand and are committed to client care in all their interactions with clients. 

• Ensure we communicate effectively with our clients and with an agreed mode of communication upon request. 

• Give clear legal advice. 

At Anthony Gold, we make sure that our clients receive a client care letter that fully explains the level of service they will receive.  In addition, we will name the person responsible for individual matters, their position in the practice and their qualifications.  The client care letter will give the name of the supervisor responsible for each matter, and the name of the person who is responsible for dealing with any complaints. 

In order that we can continually improve our service, we actively encourage feedback from our clients.  We will use various methods to elicit feedback, including client satisfaction surveys and post-matter questionnaires.  In addition, we monitor and evaluate client complaints to identify and address shortcomings and failing in our standard of service. Such feedback is essential to help continually gauge client perceptions of our service. 

Anthony Gold has the above measures in place to ensure we achieve our goal of providing a quality service. 

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) 

Conversion to LLP – Anthony Gold converted from a traditional partnership to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) on 30 November 2020. An LLP is a legal entity registered at Companies House as a corporate body and consequently it has many of the features of a company, including that of limited liability. 

Following the firm’s conversion, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) continue to regulate us and we continue to hold professional indemnity insurance. The only difference is that the LLP is now solely liable, in place of the previous partnership and any individual partner or employee, for the work we carry out. 

Conversion to LLP – Frequently asked questions  

What is an “LLP”? 

A Limited Liability Partnership or “LLP” is a business structure governed by The Limited Liability Partnership Act 2000 and used by the majority of the Top 200 UK law firms. It is essentially an extension of the traditional partnership but with a corporate element. Internally, an LLP has the flexibility of a traditional partnership but, externally, it is a separate legal entity and is subject to Company and not Partnership law. An LLP has Members, rather than Partners or Shareholders, and is itself liable for any debts of the business, rather than the individual Members (or Partners) of the firm. 

Why have you made this change? 

This was a progressive step in developing the firm. It is our objective to continue to grow our business for the benefit both of our clients and our staff and, as we grow, an LLP offers a more corporate structure which will assist us in managing our business effectively and investing in it in a structured way. An LLP will allow us to continue to develop the range of services we provide to clients and we believe this modern structure will enable us to continue to motivate and attract high quality lawyers to the business. 

Was this change prompted by the pandemic? 

Not at all. We actually started the process at the start of the 2020, but paused the project when the virus hit. As the impact of the virus continued, we decided to press ahead with our plans to convert for the reasons stated above. 

Has the firm’s name changed? 

We are still known as “Anthony Gold” but, from 30 November 2020, we began trading as Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP, a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales. 

Does the firm still have Partners? 

An LLP does not have Partners or Shareholders, only Members. From 30 November 2020, the Partners of Anthony Gold Solicitors became the Members of Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP. However, we will continue to describe them as Partners as this is better understood and reflects the continuing partnership ethos of the firm. 

Does this affect me as a client? 

No. There will be no interruption to our service to you, or changes to the staff who deal with your affairs, as a result of the firm’s conversion to LLP. We shall continue to provide the same high quality, personal service to all our clients. The Partner(s) and/or solicitors dealing with your case will remain the same. It is very much business as usual and no internal restructuring has taken place. If the firm holds money, deeds or other documents on your behalf, these will be transferred to Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP and held exactly as the Partnership did formerly. We will continue to be subject to same rules; the LLP will assume all the rights and obligations of a data controller under the Data Protection Act with effect from 30 November 2020. 

Have your Terms of Business changed? 

Other than incorporating our new LLP title and reflecting the regulatory requirements of our LLP status, there is no other changes to our Terms of Business. The LLP will still be regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). 

Do you still have Professional Indemnity Insurance cover? 

Yes. Conversion to an LLP will not affect our level of professional indemnity insurance cover, which will remain the same. 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 

We believe that excellence will be achieved through recognising the value of every individual. We aim to create an environment that respects the diversity of staff, enabling them to achieve their full potential, contribute fully and derive maximum benefit and enjoyment from working at the firm. 

Learn more about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Anthony Gold Solicitors. 

Mediation Complaints 

We are committed to providing a high-quality mediation service. When something goes wrong we want you to let us know – please feel free to contact us by telephone or by email if you want to discuss any aspect of our service. 

We follow the complaints process set out by the mediator’s overall governing body, the Family Mediation Council (FMC).   Our complaints policy, covering these terms are as follows: 

• a client, a former client or a qualifying third party may make a complaint that relates to breaches of the FMC’s Codes of Practice or Standards Framework that occurred within the last three months. For avoidance of doubt, complaints that relate to the way a mediation was conducted as a whole, the date the three months runs from is the last mediation session. Complaints that appear to be vexatious or of a purely personal nature do not have to be investigated.  Both documents can be found here. 

• all complaints will be acknowledged within 10 working days of receipt and will be investigated and responded to within 30 working days of receipt. If there are any exceptional reasons to extend this time, such as the absence of the mediator concerned, then we may specify that further time may be required.  We shall ensure that we would notify you of this in writing. 

• There may be occasion when the complaint can be dealt with by the mediator directly connected with your matter.  Otherwise, it will be dealt with by our Head of Department, Kim Beatson.  If your mediator is Kim Beatson, then she will refer this matter to David Emmerson. 

• If matters do not resolve at that point, we would discuss the possibility of taking this issue to mediation, if both you and the mediator wish this to proceed. 

• If the responses from these routes are not accepted, then in certain circumstances, you can appeal to the Family Mediation Standards Board, run by FMC, providing certain criteria are met. The criteria are as follows, with more detail here. 

If a complainant is not satisfied with the mediator’s response, they may make a complaint to the FMSB if:  

• the mediator complained about is an FMC Registered mediator; and 

• they are a client or former client or the FMC Registered Mediator, they are an FMC Registered Mediator themselves, or the FMSB determines they are a qualifying third party; and 

• the mediator’s complaints process has been exhausted within the last three months and 

• the complaint alleges breach of the FMC professional standards (e.g. Code of Practice, PPC Code of Practice, FMC Standards Framework); and 

• the mediator’s own complaints process has been exhausted or is otherwise not engaging with the complaint. 

Using our complaints process does not prejudice your right to apply to the courts for civil redress. What we hope to achieve is an outcome to the complaint that we all feel is constructive and proportionate, and to avoid any unnecessary escalation of problems. 

Privacy Policy 

Your privacy is important to us. By providing personal information such as your name and e-mail address via the forms on this website, you agree to us contacting you with regard to the information you request. 

Information you provide to us 

Some forms on our website also include a check box asking you for permission for us to add you to our mailing list. This is an opt-in mailing list and your personal information will be used solely by us. Under no circumstances will your personal information be sold or used by any other organisation. 

From time to time, we may include links in our e-mails to other web sites which we think may be of interest to you. Each email communication you receive from us will have the option to remove your e-mail address from our list. 

Information we collect about you 

The information we collect may include your personal information, such as your name, contact information, IP addresses, Live Chat Messages, telephone conversations, product and service selections and orders or other things that identify you individually. Generally, we may collect information about you in the following manner: 

• you may provide your personal information to us via chat, email or other written correspondence, telephone calls, web based forms, or other means; 

• we use automated technical means to collect information about all website visitors for example by use of cookies. 

Information we monitor about visitors 

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. Please note that the information related to your use of our website is different from the personal information that you share with us via email, contact us forms, etc. Your personal information will never be shared with external or third-party organisations. 

We ask our website visitors for their explicit consent before we start tracking their cookies. There are four types of cookies that we track for every visitor, which include: 

1. Necessary Cookies: Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. Strictly necessary cookies do not collect personal information and do not require user consent under privacy laws such as the GDPR. 
2. Preference Cookies: Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. 
3. Statistic Cookies: Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously. 
4. Marketing Cookies: Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers. 

You have the option to select which cookies do you want us to track, Preference, Statistic and Marketing cookies. However, denying consent may limit and hinder the website’s performance and offer sub-optimal user experience. You may also not be able to access all or parts of the Website. 

Changing your Cookie Consent 

You can change your cookie consent whenever you want. Click on the pin icon in the bottom left corner of your screen and follow the instructions. 

IP addresses 

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information for internal purposes only. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual. 

Where we store your personal data 

All information you provide to us is stored on our highly secure servers that are managed 24/7 and is not transferred outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). 

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet can never be completely secure. Although we will use reasonable endeavours to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. 

Access to information 

The Data Protection Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. 

Changes to our privacy policy 

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. 

Complaints Procedure 

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. 

Our complaints policy 

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. 

We want you to tell us if you feel this hasn’t been achieved. 

We pride ourselves on our reputation for delivering excellent client service, but we also recognise that mistakes can and do happen and that, occasionally, our people may not establish or effectively meet client expectations. 

Where this is the case, we will work with you to try to resolve the matter quickly and fairly. 

This will help us to improve our standards. 

Our complaints procedure 

The lawyer dealing with your case should be able to answer your immediate queries but, if this not the case, you should follow our complaints procedure. 

If you have a complaint, please contact our  complaints partner at Anthony Gold, The Cottons Centre 5th Floor, South-West Hay’s Lane London SE1 2QG or at complaints@anthonygold.co.uk 

If you feel unable to write a detailed letter or email, we will be happy to arrange a telephone call for you to tell us about the issue. 

What will happen next? 

Please note: The timescales for dealing with your complaint will vary depending on the complexity of the matter. The timescales stated below show our target length of time you will be expected to wait for a response. 

1. We will send you a letter or email acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.  You can expect to receive our letter or email within three working days of us receiving your complaint. 

1. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this within a day of receiving your complaint. 

1. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps: 

• We may ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within 14 days of receiving your complaint. 

• The partner in charge of the department will reply to your complaint within 14 days of receiving your complaint. 

• We will invite you to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.  If you want to arrange a meeting, we will do this. 

• If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint.  This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter.  This will happen within 14 days of receiving your complaint. 

1. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied please let us know. We will arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways: 

• The partner in charge of the department will review his/her own decision within seven days. 

• We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it. They will do this within 14 days. 

• Our complaints partner will review your complaint within 14 days. 

• We will ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint.  We will let you know how long this process will take. 

• We will invite you to agree to independent mediation.  We will let you know how long this process will take. 

1. We will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At this time, we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. 

Our Client Services Manager may then contact you within 7 days to check you are satisfied with our response. Your feedback will be used to inform our ongoing training and development for our lawyers and staff.  Our Client Services Manager is not a Complaints Partner. 

1. The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you and within one year of you realising there was a concern If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them. 

Contact details  

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk 

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00. 

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk 

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

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour. 

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. 

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. 

1. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.