Complaints Procedure

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Complaints Procedure

Last updated: 01.12.2025

JSH Law Ltd aims to provide a professional, fair, clear, and practical service. If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, fees, conduct, communications, court attendance, documents, or administration, please tell us as soon as possible so that we can consider the issue properly.

This Complaints Procedure should be read alongside our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Safeguarding Statement, and any Client Agreement, matter description, task confirmation, invoice, or written terms agreed with you.

Important status notice

JSH Law Ltd provides litigation support and McKenzie Friend services to litigants in person. We are not a firm of solicitors and we are not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board, CILEx Regulation, or any other approved legal services regulator.

Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, we do not conduct litigation, do not carry out reserved legal activities, do not go on the court record as your legal representative, and do not have an automatic right of audience before any court or tribunal.

Any permission for us to attend court with you, sit with you, assist you, take notes, quietly advise you, or address the court is entirely a matter for the judge in the individual case or hearing.

Purpose of this procedure

This procedure explains how we will deal with complaints about our service. It is intended to provide a fair process for raising and reviewing concerns.

It does not replace any rights you may have under a client agreement, consumer law, contract law, data protection law, safeguarding processes, or court procedure.

Raising a complaint does not automatically suspend your obligation to pay for work already requested, carried out, delivered, reserved, or used.

What you can complain about

You may complain about issues including:

  • the quality of service provided;
  • communication or delay;
  • fees, invoices, or billing records;
  • the scope of work agreed;
  • documents, drafts, or materials prepared by us;
  • court attendance or McKenzie Friend support;
  • professional boundaries or conduct;
  • confidentiality, data protection, or safeguarding concerns;
  • any other concern about the way JSH Law Ltd has dealt with your matter.

What this procedure does not cover

We cannot treat an unfavourable court outcome, judicial decision, order, delay, listing issue, opponent conduct, professional report, local authority action, Cafcass position, police delay, litigation result, or court refusal to permit McKenzie Friend participation as proof of poor service by JSH Law Ltd.

Litigation is uncertain and controlled by the court. We do not guarantee outcomes, orders, findings, court timetables, settlement, costs recovery, enforcement, or any particular level of participation at court.

We are also not responsible for advice, comments, criticism, interference, pressure, disagreement, or confusion caused by third parties, including friends, family members, campaigners, online groups, McKenzie Friends, solicitors, barristers, advisers, or social media commentators.

How to make a complaint

Please send your complaint in writing by email or post to:

Complaints Manager
JSH Law Ltd
c/o Mayes Business Partnership
Red Rose Court
Accrington
United Kingdom
BB5 5JR

Email: jessica.hill@jshlaw.co.uk

If your complaint is urgent because it involves safeguarding, risk of harm, or a time-sensitive court deadline, please make that clear in the subject line and at the start of your message.

What to include

Please include:

  • your full name and contact details;
  • the name or reference of your matter;
  • what you say has gone wrong;
  • the date or period when the issue occurred;
  • the specific service, communication, document, invoice, time entry, hearing, or task you are complaining about;
  • copies of relevant emails, messages, documents, invoices, screenshots, payment records, or other materials;
  • what outcome you are seeking.

Please be as specific as possible. General dissatisfaction without details may make it difficult for us to investigate fairly.

If your complaint concerns an invoice, please identify the invoice number, the item or time entry disputed, and why you dispute it.

Our complaints process

We will usually:

  • acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receipt;
  • review the file, invoice history, correspondence, instructions, task confirmations, attendance notes, drafts, payment records, and relevant materials;
  • ask you for clarification or further documents if needed;
  • provide a substantive written response within 21 days of acknowledgement where reasonably possible.

If we need longer because of absence, file volume, complexity, court commitments, illness, safeguarding issues, third-party involvement, or the nature of the complaint, we will tell you and provide a revised timescale.

What our response may include

Our written response may include:

  • a summary of the complaint;
  • the relevant background and documents considered;
  • the scope of work agreed or requested;
  • the work carried out and records reviewed;
  • our findings;
  • whether the complaint is upheld, partly upheld, or not upheld;
  • any proposed remedy, correction, explanation, apology, fee adjustment, or next step where appropriate.

Fee complaints and unpaid invoices

If your complaint concerns an invoice, you must identify the invoice number, the item or time entry disputed, and the reason for the dispute. You remain responsible for any undisputed sums.

Raising a complaint does not automatically suspend payment obligations, debt recovery steps, interest, recovery costs, or our right to stop, pause, or decline further work for non-payment.

We will not treat a complaint as validly made merely because a client refuses to pay an invoice without identifying a genuine service, scope, delivery, or billing issue.

A general complaint, later dissatisfaction with the outcome of the case, criticism by a third party, or a change of mind about litigation strategy does not of itself amount to a valid dispute about fees for work requested, reserved, carried out, delivered, or used.

Where an invoice remains unpaid, we may rely on our records, attendance notes, invoices, correspondence, Clio records, payment records, WhatsApp messages, emails, drafts, task confirmations, and other communications as evidence of instructions given, work carried out, delivery of work, payment terms, and sums due.

Complaints involving court attendance

Any court attendance by JSH Law Ltd is subject to availability, prior agreement, prior payment, practical arrangements, and the court’s permission where required.

The court may restrict, refuse, or end the involvement of a McKenzie Friend. The court may refuse permission for us to sit with you, assist you, speak for you, address the court, take part in a hearing, or remain in the courtroom.

Any such decision is entirely a matter for the court and does not, by itself, mean that our preparation, travel, waiting time, attendance, or support was defective, unnecessary, or not chargeable.

Complaints involving documents or drafts

Draft documents, suggested wording, templates, chronologies, notes, schedules, and other materials prepared by us are prepared for your review and approval. Draft documents are not court-ready until you have reviewed them, approved them, checked the facts, inserted any missing information, and confirmed that they are accurate and complete.

You remain responsible for deciding whether to use, amend, reject, file, serve, send, sign, or rely on any draft, note, document, suggestion, or procedural option discussed with you.

If a document was used without checking, amended after delivery, used outside the intended matter, used after a change of circumstances, or affected by late or incomplete instructions, we will take that into account when reviewing any complaint.

Complaints involving third parties

You are free to seek independent legal advice or other support at any time. However, you remain responsible for the instructions you give to us, the decisions you make, and the documents you approve, use, file, serve, send, sign, or rely on.

We are not responsible for advice, comments, criticism, interference, delay, confusion, disagreement, or pressure caused by third parties, including friends, family members, campaigners, online groups, McKenzie Friends, solicitors, barristers, advisers, or social media commentators.

A later change of mind, later criticism by a third party, later disagreement with the approach taken, or later decision to take a different approach does not invalidate work already requested, carried out, delivered, reserved, or invoiced.

Abusive, improper, or malicious complaints

We will consider complaints fairly. However, we may decline to engage with communications that are abusive, threatening, discriminatory, harassing, excessive, repetitive, malicious, defamatory, misleading, or plainly improper.

Where necessary, we may restrict communications to writing, require communication through email or Clio, pause work, terminate the working relationship, preserve evidence, or take steps to protect our staff, contractors, business, reputation, and legal position.

Nothing in this section prevents you from making a genuine complaint, seeking independent legal advice, complying with a court order, exercising statutory rights, making a lawful disclosure to an appropriate authority, or giving truthful evidence where lawfully required.

Safeguarding and urgent risk

We are not an emergency service. If you or someone else is at immediate risk of harm, call 999.

If you are concerned about a child or adult at risk, contact the appropriate local authority safeguarding team, police, NHS service, GP, mental health crisis service, domestic abuse service, or emergency support service.

If a complaint or communication raises safeguarding concerns, risk of serious harm, risk to a child, risk to a vulnerable adult, or another serious safety issue, confidentiality may be overridden where disclosure is necessary or justified for safeguarding, prevention of serious harm, legal compliance, court order, protection of vital interests, or another lawful reason.

Data protection complaints

If your complaint concerns personal data, privacy, subject access, data retention, data correction, data erasure, or another data protection issue, please tell us clearly.

We may need to verify your identity and clarify the scope of your request. Some data protection rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions, particularly in legal, litigation, safeguarding, complaint, debt recovery, confidentiality, third-party rights, and dispute contexts.

You may also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if your complaint concerns personal data or data protection.

If you remain dissatisfied

If you remain dissatisfied after our final response, you may seek independent legal advice about your rights and options.

Because JSH Law Ltd is not an authorised or regulated law firm, external legal-services complaints schemes may not have jurisdiction over our work.

If your complaint concerns personal data, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. If your complaint concerns a safeguarding issue, you may contact the relevant local authority safeguarding team, police, emergency services, court, or other appropriate agency.

Records

We may keep records of complaints, correspondence, file reviews, decisions, outcomes, attendance notes, invoices, payment history, internal notes, and related materials for quality assurance, legal compliance, insurance, accounting, debt recovery, safeguarding, and dispute resolution purposes.

We may retain complaint records for as long as reasonably necessary for legal, contractual, tax, insurance, complaints, safeguarding, debt recovery, and legitimate business purposes. After that period, records may be securely deleted or destroyed.

Contact

For complaints, please contact:

Complaints Manager
JSH Law Ltd
c/o Mayes Business Partnership
Red Rose Court
Accrington
United Kingdom
BB5 5JR

Email: jessica.hill@jshlaw.co.uk