Handling Complaint Form
Use this form for
complaints about the
way



the Law Society of
Scotland, or
The Faculty of
Advocates
The Association of
Commercial
Attorneys
dealt with your
complaint
Please use BLOCK CAPITALS if writing by hand.
Boxes will expand as you type.
Contact us if you have problems either
 filling in this form, or
 putting your complaint in writing.
Please let us know if you have any difficulties with written or verbal
communication so we can adapt to your needs where possible.
Phone 0131 201 2130
Fax
0131 201 2131
Email [email protected]
www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk
See “Guidance for completing the Handling Complaint form” for
assistance.
Section 1 – About you
This section must be completed by the person making the complaint.
Title
Name(s)
Address
Postcode
Daytime phone
Mobile
Email
Please indicate your preferred method(s) of communication
by ticking the appropriate boxes.
Are you complaining
on behalf of someone
else?
2013.04.16
Yes
No
(tick box)
If yes, please also complete Section 3.
Page 1 of 10
Section 2 – About your complaint
Which professional
organisation are you
complaining about?
□ Law Society of Scotland
□ The Faculty of Advocates
□ The Association of Commercial Attorneys
If you know it, please
give the reference
number the
professional
organisation used
when dealing with
your complaint.
Has the professional
organisation
completed its
investigation of the
conduct complaint?
Yes
No
(If yes, please complete the box below.)
What is the date of the
professional
organisation’s final
decision letter?
It is helpful if you send a copy of the final decision letter with this form.
IMPORTANT If the professional organisation has already completed its
investigation of your complaint, you must send your completed Handling
Complaint Form to us within 6 months of the date of the final decision
letter. Otherwise we cannot consider your complaint.
If the professional organisation has not yet started its investigation, or if
you have concerns about the way the investigation is progressing, you
should send this form to us as soon as possible.
What is the name of
the practitioner
(solicitor, advocate or
attorney) who you
complained about
originally?
Name of practitioner
Name of firm (if applicable)
This section continues on the next page.
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Page 2 of 10
Please use this section to tell us as much as you can about your complaint.
If your complaint is
about how the
professional
organisation handled
your complaint,
describe what you
think went wrong.
For example – delay, failure
to understand your
complaint, failure to take into
account all the evidence,
poor communication.
Continue on a separate
sheet if necessary.
How has this affected
you?
Continue on a separate
sheet if necessary.
What would help to
resolve the
problem(s)?
Tell us how you would like
your complaint to be
resolved and why.
(The SLCC might make
recommendations to the
professional organisation to
pay you compensation, to
investigate your complaint
further, or to reconsider your
complaint.)
Continue on a separate
sheet if necessary.
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Section 3 – Complaining on behalf of someone else
ONLY complete this section if you are making the complaint on behalf of someone else.
I am making this complaint on behalf of
Title
Name(s)
Address
Postcode
Daytime phone
Mobile
Email
What is your
relationship to the
person(s) on whose
behalf you are
complaining?
Why is the person(s)
not making the
complaint?
Please ask the person(s) on whose behalf you are complaining to sign this form.
Signature
Date
If they cannot sign, please explain why.
If you have been granted Power of Attorney, or are an Executor, please send us the evidence of this
(e.g. Grant of Power of Attorney, Grant of Confirmation, copy of the will)
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Section 4 – Declaration
We CANNOT investigate your complaint if you do not sign and date this form.
Do you consent to this form and any enclosures being copied to the professional organisation and to
the practitioner originally complained about?
Yes
No
Do you authorise any person or body to provide and deliver information, documents, files or related
papers required by the SLCC in order to investigate this complaint?
Yes
No
Do you authorise the SLCC to disclose information, documents, files or related papers in order to
investigate this complaint?
Yes
No
PLEASE NOTE
If you are unwilling to let us disclose information or obtain information, the extent of our actions will be
limited. This means we may not be able to deal with your complaint.
If you are unwilling to let us obtain documents, we may not be able to deal with your complaint.


If your complaint is not pursued for these or any other reasons, the SLCC will still notify the
professional organisation and the practitioner concerned of its receipt and the subject of
your complaint.
If the SLCC accepts your complaint agreeing not to disclose information, we will still notify
the professional organisation and the practitioner concerned of its receipt, the subject of
your complaint and the outcome of the investigation.
Your signature
Date
Please send this form and documents to
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
By post
The Stamp Office
10 – 14 Waterloo Place
Edinburgh EH1 3EG
Email:
[email protected]
If you are sending this form by email, please ensure your signature is scanned on to the
form itself. We cannot accept electronic signatures.
Fax:
0131 201 2131
Check that you have included everything you want to tell us about this complaint and have
attached any relevant copy correspondence or documents. Do not send original documents
as we do not normally return them and may destroy them 14 months after your complaint
file is closed.
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Blank page to allow Equal Opportunities form to be retained separately.
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Equal Opportunities (detachable part of form)
The information given on this form will help us monitor who uses our services and to ensure we reach the
widest possible audience. The information is confidential and will be kept separate from your complaint
form.
It will not affect the way your complaint is handled.
Please tell us about yourself by ticking the appropriate boxes. In the case of a joint complaint, the lead
complainer should fill out the form.
1. Ethnic background
White
Scottish
Other British
Irish
Any other white background
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British
Indian
Pakistani
4. Age
Under 16
16 – 18
19 – 24
25 – 34
35 – 49
50 – 64
65 and over
Bangladeshi
Chinese
Any other Asian background
5. Do you have a disability?
Yes – please give details
Black, Black Scottish or Black British
Caribbean
African
Any other black background
Mixed
Any mixed background – please give details
No
6. How did you find out about the SLCC?
(Tick all that apply)
From the organisation complained about
Citizens Advice Bureau
Directory enquiries
Internet search
Friend or relative
2. Residence
Are you ordinarily resident in Scotland?
Yes
No
Library
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP)
Member of Parliament (MP)
Newspaper
Phone book
3. Gender
Female
Radio or television
SLCC website
Male
Law Society of Scotland
The Faculty of Advocates
Other – please give details
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Blank page to allow Guidance for completing the Handling Complaint form to
be retained separately.
2013.04.16
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Guidance for completing the Handling Complaint form
Section 1 - About you
This must be completed by the person making the handling complaint. You should give relevant contact
details including contact telephone number(s) and your preferred method of contact, e.g. by post, email, fax
or phone.
If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, you should tick the box in this section and also complete
Section 3.
Section 2 - About your complaint
Who are you complaining about?
In this section we are looking for details about the professional organisation you are making a handling
complaint about. You should provide the professional organisation’s reference number if you know it. We
can then link your original complaint to this complaint.
It is important that we know whether the professional organisation has completed its investigation of your
conduct complaint, or whether the investigation is still in progress (or has not yet started). You will know if
the investigation has completed, because you will have received a final decision letter.
If the professional organisation has completed its investigation, so we can be satisfied that your handling
complaint has been brought within the six month time limit, we ask you to provide the date of the final
decision letter. We also ask for a copy of the decision letter. If you do not have the decision letter, do not
worry. The SLCC can obtain a copy from the professional organisation.
If the investigation of the conduct complaint has not yet started or is still in progress, please provide copies of
any correspondence you have had with the professional organisation about your concerns about the conduct
investigation.
We also need details of the practitioner who you complained about originally, as details of your handling
complaint will be sent to this practitioner and they will be involved in the handling investigation process.
What are you complaining about?
We are looking for details of where you think the professional organisation’s investigation of the conduct
complaint went wrong.
If there are several issues, try to summarise them as separate points. You may wish to send us copies of
letters or documents you think will help us to understand your handling complaint properly. Remember, this
is your complaint about how the professional organisation investigated your conduct complaint. You should
not include details about your original conduct complaint, as the SLCC cannot investigate conduct
complaints.
How has this affected you?
Please tell us about how you feel about what went wrong in the investigation and about any costs or losses
you may have incurred. If you had to pay for things as a result of the professional organisation’s actions, tell
us how much you had to pay and where you have receipts, send us copies.
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What would help to resolve the problem/s?
Tell us how you would like your handling complaint to be resolved and in what way. This may include, for
example, an apology, compensation, reinvestigation of the complaint by the professional organisation or
reconsideration of a decision. The SLCC may not be able to direct a professional organisation to do all of
things that you would like.
Section 3 - Complaining on behalf of someone else
This section is ONLY to be completed if you are complaining on behalf of someone else. We may contact
them to confirm their agreement to you pursuing the handling complaint on their behalf. If possible, they
should sign the form, but this is not essential. If they cannot, we ask you to explain why.
Section 4 – Declaration
Signing the form
We cannot investigate your handling complaint until we receive a signed and dated Handling Complaint form.
If you are submitting the form electronically, you can either print, sign and send the form to us, or send us a
scanned copy of the declaration page.
Consent
We also ask in this section whether you consent to the form being copied to the professional organisation
and the practitioner originally complained about. This will give the professional organisation and the
practitioner the opportunity to comment on your handling complaint. We usually send copies of the form and
supporting documentation to them.
The SLCC may also need to make enquiries of other persons or bodies in order to investigate your handling
complaint. We ask you to consent to the SLCC contacting such persons or bodies if we consider it
necessary to do so to carry out our investigation.
The SLCC may also need to disclose information which we have received from you to other persons or
bodies during the course of the investigation of your handling complaint.
If you don’t let us obtain or disclose information or documents, the extent of our actions will be
limited and we may not be able to deal with your handling complaint. If we are unable to investigate
for these or any other reasons, we will still notify the professional organisation and the practitioner
that we have received a handling complaint from you and the subject of that complaint.
If we accept your handling complaint and agree not to disclose any information or documentation
during the investigation, we will still notify the professional organisation and the practitioner that we
have received a handling complaint from you, the subject of that complaint and the outcome of the
investigation.
Equal Opportunities (detachable part of the form)
The SLCC wish to ensure that we reach the widest possible audience and is keen to use the information in
this part of the form, anonymously, to improve our service. We appreciate your assistance in completing this
section.
2013.04.16
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