Deloitte Legal notices

Deloitte Legal means the legal practices of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited member firms or their affiliates that provide legal services. For legal, regulatory and other reasons, not all member firms provide legal services.

Deloitte LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to provide certain legal services under SRA number 646135. Services provided by Deloitte LLP under the Deloitte Legal brand may therefore include SRA regulated services (e.g. legal advisory) and non-SRA regulated services (e.g. legal consulting, legal managed services and certain company secretarial and entity management services).

Interest policy
If Deloitte LLP is providing SRA regulated legal services and holds client money on your behalf in a general client account in relation to those services, a sum in lieu of interest may be paid in accordance with our interest policy.

A sum in lieu of interest will be paid if both of the following criteria are met:

• the sum in lieu of interest is more than £75, and;   
• the client money has been held by us for more than one week (7 calendar days).
  

Details of our full interest policy can be provided on request.

Complaints procedure

The following information summarises how we handle client complaints relating to services we provide, and activities we undertake, which are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’).

Which services and activities are regulated by the SRA?
Deloitte LLP is a multi-disciplinary practice authorised and regulated by the SRA. A multi-disciplinary practice is a body licensed by the SRA which provides a range of different services. Only certain legal advisory services we provide are regulated by the SRA.

Where we deliver legal services to a client which are regulated by the SRA, we will inform that client in writing identifying which legal services are subject to regulation by the SRA and the implications of such regulation. More information about the SRA’s policy on multi-disciplinary practice and what constitutes an SRA regulated service can be found here.

SRA regulation also applies to the activities of certain individuals including any solicitor who provides services to you, and other people who have been involved in the provision of SRA regulated services.

Information on the regulations of the SRA and the SRA’s Code of Conduct can be found at www.sra.org.uk.

Who to contact if you have a complaint or concern
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service you have received then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance you can raise the matter with the practising solicitor, lawyer or other person responsible for supervising the service. If you would like to raise a formal complaint you can do so by contacting the practising solicitor, lawyer or other person responsible for supervising the service or by contacting our Compliance Officer Roger Wightman for Legal Practice. Raising concerns or making a complaint will not adversely affect how we handle your matter.

Investigating a complaint
We aim to deal with complaints promptly, fairly, and openly to determine whether a remedy is appropriate. We shall seek to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity with the aim of doing so within 8 weeks of receipt. We will aim to acknowledge your complaint promptly (generally within 5 business days) in writing.

Within 8 weeks of receipt of a complaint, we will either:

(i) send a final response which upholds the complaint and, where appropriate, offers redress;

(ii) send a final response which reject the complaint and gives reasons for doing so;

(iii) respond explaining that we are not in a position to make a final response, giving reasons for the delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a final response.

Our response will inform you that, if you are still not satisfied, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman. We will provide full contact details for the Legal Ombudsman and a warning that the complaint must be referred to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of our final written response.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
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 receiving our final response to your complaint; 

and

• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
  
• No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.
  

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them using the following methods:

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 and 17.00.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Contact: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Concerns about our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our professional conduct or behaviour. This could be for things like treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic, losing money, or not acting honestly.

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

We are also regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (the "ICAEW"). An explanation of the mechanisms that operate in respect of a complaint to the ICAEW may be obtained at www.icaew.co.uk or by writing to the ICAEW. To contact the ICAEW write to The Professional Standards Office, Level 1, Metropolitan House, 321 Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 2FZ.

You also have certain rights of appeal to the UK courts in relation to our fees under the Solicitors Act 1974. You should note that if all or part of a bill remains unpaid we may be entitled to charge interest.

A written version of this complaints procedure is available on request.

Diversity Data 2023
Deloitte regularly monitors its diversity data. For Deloitte Legal this also includes complying with the regulations set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by whom we are regulated. Download our report which captures our 2023 diversity data as per our submission to the SRA.