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Issue Date: 1/4/2014 Author: Val Antoff Review Date: 1/4/2017 Approved by: Val Antoff

Policy and Procedure for Client Redress

LAW 9000 – Best Legal Practice

1. Purpose

This procedure establishes guidelines for a client redress in case of a complaint.

2. Scope

The procedure starts from the time of receiving a complaint through review to reporting back to

clients.

3. Persons affected

All professional and support staff.

4. Policy

The policy of [Practice Name] is to ensure that:

(a) an attempt is made to resolve all client complaints.

(b) all client complaints are handled in a quick and professional manner.

(c) clients are provided with a detailed response to their complaint.

5. Guiding principles of effective complaint handling

The [Practice Name] aims as far as possible to align the principles of this policy and procedure with

the guiding principles of the Australian Standard: Customer satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints

handling in organisations (AS ISO 10002 – 2006). These principles are: visibility, accessibility,

responsiveness, objectivity, confidentiality, a customer-focussed approach, accountability, and

continual improvement.

6. Definitions

A complaint is an “expression of dissatisfaction made to an organisation, related to its products, or the

complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected”

(as defined by the Australian Standard: Customer satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints handling in

organisations (AS ISO 10002 – 2006)).

7. Responsibilities

(a) all lawyers are responsible for ensuring compliance to this procedure.

(b) all lawyers are expected to adhere to the guidelines of this procedure when a client files a

complaint.

(c) all professional and support staff accept responsibility for effective complaints handling.

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Issue Date: 1/4/2014 Author: Val Antoff Review Date: 1/4/2017 Approved by: Val Antoff

8. Procedure

(a) A complaint by a client in relation to the handling of a matter can be received by the person

handling the matter, their supervisor or by the principal.

(b) Every client has the right to make a complaint.

(c) A lawyer who receives an oral complaint must record the details of the complaint on a file

note and attach it to the client’s file. Details should include:

i) the date of the complaint

ii) the nature of the complaint

iii) client’s expectations for resolving the issue.

d) A complaint can also be received by letter, email or fax.

e) The lawyer should acknowledge the complaint immediately upon receipt.

f) The lawyer should record the complaint in the complaint register. Personally identifiable

information concerning the complainant must be protected.

g) It is the principal’s responsibility to allocate responsibility for handling the complaint to a

person with the requisite skills, expertise and communication skills.

h) The lawyer who has been allocated responsibility should investigate and respond to the

complaint as soon as possible and not later than 14 days after the date of the complaint.

i) The lawyer investigating the complaint must record on the file note what action he/she has

taken or proposes to take in response to the complaint. The investigation should be done in

an equitable, objective and unbiased manner through the complaints handling process.

j) The lawyer must inform the client of the action taken or proposed to be taken in writing, but

not before such an action has been discussed and approved by the principal.

k) Complaints should be handled courteously and as quickly as possible. If it is likely to take

longer than 2 weeks to investigate a complaint, then the lawyer should advise the

complainant of the reasons for the delay and indicate when he/she expects to be in a position

to complete the review of the complaint.

l) The response to the client must address all issues raised by the complaint.

m) Adequate redress should be provided if appropriate.

n) If redress is not possible the client must be informed of the reasons why and also of what

other actions are available to address the issues.

o) If the complaint is not resolved and there is the likelihood of a lawsuit the principal and Law

Mutual (Indemnity Insurer) must be informed.

p) The acting lawyer should identify the causes that have led to the filing of the complaint and

identify the procedure that should have prevented the issues in the complaint from arising

and amend it appropriately. If such a procedure does not exist the lawyer should initiate the

process for creating one by completing a Corrective Action Form.

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Issue Date: 1/4/2014 Author: Val Antoff Review Date: 1/4/2017 Approved by: Val Antoff

9. Essential controls

a) The quality systems manager/principal will analyse all complaints quarterly for

identification of systematic or recurring problems. If such problems are identified the

[Practice Name] will consider what actions it needs to take to address these problems to

prevent re-occurrence.

b) The client redress process will be reviewed by the management team annually at our

quality management system annual review meeting. Any deficiencies identified will be

addressed.