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Legal & regulatory

Clarke Willmott’s legal & regulatory information

Regulatory

Clarke Willmott LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registration number OC344818. We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number: 510689), whose rules can be found at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations.

Clarke Willmott’s SRA ID numbers:

  • Birmingham – 510689
  • Bristol – 512912
  • Cardiff – 622166
  • London – 534170
  • Manchester – 553382
  • Southampton – 512913
  • Taunton – 512914

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at register.fca.org.uk.

Our registered office is Burlington House, Botleigh Grange Business Park, Hedge End, Southampton SO30 2AF.

Any reference to a ‘partner’ is to a member of Clarke Willmott LLP or an employee or consultant who is a lawyer with equivalent standing and qualifications and is not a reference to a partner in a partnership.

“Clarke Willmott” is the trading name of Clarke Willmott LLP

Terms & conditions

Your access to this website is subject to these terms and conditions. By using this website you agree to be bound by these terms. We may change these terms and conditions at any time, and by continuing to use the website, you agree to these changes.

The material contained in this site is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice.

Clarke Willmott LLP is providing this site on an ‘as is’ basis and makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this site or its contents and disclaims all such representations and warranties. In addition, Clarke Willmott LLP makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the information and related graphics published in this site. The information contained in this site may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. All liability of Clarke Willmott howsoever arising for any such inaccuracies or errors is expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Neither Clarke Willmott LLP nor any of its employees or other representatives will be liable for loss or damage arising out of or in connection with the use of this site and we hereby expressly exclude all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.

We also expressly exclude any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user of our site or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of our site, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including (without limitation):

  • loss of income or revenue;
  • loss of business;
  • loss of profits;
  • loss or corruption of data; and
  • loss of goodwill

whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, none of the exclusions and limitations in the clause are intended to limit any rights you may have as a consumer under local law or other statutory rights which may not be excluded nor in any way to exclude or limit Clarke Willmott from liability to you for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or that of our employees or agents.

Although we use anti-virus software to protect the website content, we cannot guarantee that the downloads are free from viruses and advise you to take your own virus precautions.

You agree not to post or transfer to our website, any material which is obscene, misleading, inaccurate, defamatory or in breach of any copyright or intellectual property rights or that will cause any damage to data, software or the performance of any computer system.

Although we have given you links to other websites, we are not responsible for any information they contain. Clarke Willmott LLP makes no representations as to the security, quality or property of any website which may be accessed through this website.

The content of these web pages is © Clarke Willmott LLP 2009 except where otherwise stated. Unless we agree otherwise you may only print or copy items for your personal, non-business use.

Use of this website is subject to English and Welsh law.

How we handle money we hold on your behalf

We hold monies on your behalf in accordance with the SRA’s Account Rules with the following banks:

  • Allied Irish Bank (GB)
  • Arbuthnot Latham and Co LTD
  • Barclays Bank PLC
  • Handelsbanken AB
  • HSBC Bank PLC
  • Lloyds Bank PLC
  • Metro Bank PLC
  • National Westminster Bank PLC (Part of RBS)
  • Santander UK PLC
  • Britannia (Part of Co-Operative Bank)
  • Cater Allen LTD (Part of Santander Group)
  • Close Brothers
  • Coutts & Co (Part of RBS)
  • Halifax (Part of Bank of Scotland, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group)
  • Hodge Bank (Independent)
  • Investec Bank
  • National Savings and Investments (NS&I)
  • Scottish Widows Bank
  • The Post Office
  • Yorkshire Bank
  • Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group)
  • Co-operative Bank PLC
  • Nationwide Building Society

In the unlikely event of the failure of a bank which holds client monies it is unlikely that we will be liable to you for any monies lost. You may in these circumstances be entitled to compensation under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

We will, subject to prior consent, give certain client information to the FSCS to help them deal with such claims.

The FSCS limit on claims (currently £85,000) applies to the total amount held by each individual within any one financial institution, no matter which account the money is held in. So, if you hold other personal money in the same bank where we hold your client account, the limit will still be £85,000. Some financial institutions trade under different names but are still treated as the same bank for FSCS purposes.

You may also be protected by the FSCS temporary high-balance protection scheme. This applies to money we hold in our client account for up to six months as a result of certain events, including property transactions, inheritances, marriage, divorce or ending a civil partnership, unfair dismissal, redundancy, personal injury claims or winding up an estate when someone dies. If you qualify for this scheme, it will provide up to £1million of protection (unlimited for personal injury claims) if the financial institution which is holding your money fails.

Complaints

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

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case and we will not charge you for investigating or responding to your complaint.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. You can find details on how to do this on the SRA website: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/ 

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled 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 a final response to your complaint

and

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

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

www.legalombudsman.org.uk

0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

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