We can investigate complaints about the conduct of individuals and firms that we regulate. If you think anyone regulated by us has not complied with the Code of Conduct you should let us know.
Often complaints about lawyers are about poor service. If you have this type of complaint you should firstly complain to the firm and if they do not resolve your complaint, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.
We look at all information sent to us and make decisions by thinking about the risk to the public.
How to complain
If you wish to make a complaint about the misconduct of a person or firm we regulate, please fill in our complaints form.
Filling in the complaints form
You can download our complaints form and complete it online by clicking the link in the panel on the left-hand side of this page. Please send us your completed complaints form by email, as an attachment, to info@cilexregulation.org.uk. If you need help filling in the form or have problems opening, completing or emailing it, then please call us on +44 (0)1234 845770 or email us.
We have guidance about how we deal with the complaints we receive.
We aim to deal with reports of misconduct as soon as possible. It can take several months to investigate depending on how complex the case is. Sometimes we receive information from different people and organisations which we need to investigate. We will let you know that we have received your complaint. We aim to do this as soon as we can, and this is usually within ten working days. Sometimes we contact you to ask for further information we need.
How we deal with complaints
Types of complaints we investigate
We can investigate complaints about the conduct or wrongdoing of the people and firms that we regulate. We will decide if they have behaved in such a way that they have failed to fulfil the standards in the CILEx Code of Conduct.
Rules for investigation
We follow the CILEx Regulation Enforcement Rules when we investigate any complaints. There is also an Enforcement Handbook that helps explain these rules. You can read both of these by clicking the links in the panel on the left-hand side of this page.
The investigation
When we receive a complaint against an individual or firm that we regulate, we may carry out an investigation to find out whether there is evidence of a breach of the CILEx Code of Conduct. After we have finished our investigation, we may either make a decision ourselves or refer the issues to one of our disciplinary panels for consideration.
