Client Information Leaflet

How to make the best out of your solicitor

How the Office Works
The Office has two partners; Charles Williams and Cheryl Headford

The Office is divided in to five departments.

Property Services – this deals with buying and selling houses, flats etc; leases; re mortgages and anything to do with private property. The Head of this Department is Bernice Thomas and her extension number is 1007
Private Client – this deals with matters affecting the every day lives of individuals such as personal injury, wills, probate, mental capacity, Powers of Attorney, Issues regarding the Elderly, Divorce, Separation, Children Matters, Pre Nuptial and Cohabitation agreements etc. The Head of this Department is Cheryl Headford and her extension number is 1009
Business Services – this deals with matters of concern to our business clients such as commercial conveyancing, company incorporation, intellectual property, trade marks, debt collection, employment law etc. The Head of this Department is Charles Williams and his extension number is 1001
Administration – this supports the other departments and is in charge of things such as ordering stationery, the post, reception etc. The Head of this Department is Hilary Rees our office manager and her extension number is 1006.
Accounts – this department is in charge of our financial procedures, credit control etc. The head of this department is Sandra Flanagan and her extension number is 1015

Post

Our post is dealt with by the receptionist who is responsible for opening the post and distributing it to the various departments, also for logging into a book all post going out. If you want to check if a letter has been sent and you are not able to speak to the person who is dealing with your file the receptionist may be able to tell you.

The receptionist also puts our post into envelopes and sends it out at the end of the day.

All post is reviewed by a partner before it is distributed

Telephone

We are very committed to good customer care and we appreciate that whatever the reason you have instructed us this is likely to be an anxious time for you. One of the things that our clients have brought to our attention in the past is that the telephone is not answered quickly and / or that telephone calls are not returned promptly. We hope that this might help you to understand why this might be and how to help ensure that this does not happen.

We have five lines coming in and one receptionist to answer them. Our receptionist is highly trained but only has one pair of hands. It is therefore likely that you will, at some time be introduced to the beautiful Scottish tones of Sandra Flanagan who will helpfully provide you with a number of choices. All our fee earners put their extension numbers on letters and you should therefore have the four digit number for the person you want to speak to. If in doubt use the extension number for the Head of Department listed above and they will be able to put you through to the correct person. If the person whose number you have dialled is not available to take your call you will be put through to their voice mail. If you leave a short message including your telephone number and the person you want to speak to then that person will telephone you back as soon as they can

Please note that the following people work family friendly hours and are normally their office on the following days – messages can of course be left and on urgent matters please speak to someone else within the department.

Cheryl Headford Ext 1009 Monday Wednesday and Friday
Catherine Dunn Ext 1004 Tuesday Wednesday afternoon and Thursday
Hilary Rees Ext 1006 Monday Tuesday Wednesday

It would also be worth considering alternative methods of contacting us. If the matter is not urgent drop in a note and we will respond to it as soon as we are able.

Or send us an email. If you know the name of the person you wish to contact then you simply send an email to (person’s first name only all lower case)@fwdlaw.com, for example charles@fwdlaw,com. If you do not know their name then you can send an email to the head of the relevant department or to info@fwdlaw.com

Keeping in touch

We try to make sure that our clients are kept fully informed of the progress of their case. However, we are also very much committed to keeping costs as low as possible. We have therefore taken the view that a balance should be struck in that we keep clients informed of progress but do not contact clients unnecessarily. There are inevitably times in every case when nothing much is happening. We may be waiting for something from the other side, or be in waiting period, for example in a Divorce between Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute. You can be sure that we will be ensuring that anything we are waiting for will be chased regularly but it seems to us to be a complete waste of your money to be writing to you simply to tell you that there is nothing to report.

By all means, if you are anxious telephone to check on progress but, as a general rule of thumb you can assume that if we are not talking to you it is because we have nothing, at this time to say and that as soon as something happens you will know about it.

Billing

We have a policy of providing bills to our clients on at least a three monthly basis. All of our bills are payable within 30 days and interest will begin to apply after 30 days unless we have reached an agreement to the contrary.

We have a range of options available for payment of your fees which can be discussed with the person in charge of your file. This will vary from department to department.

We have a strict policy of credit control and if our bills are not paid we will refer the matter to the Court. We HATE doing this as we value our relationship with our clients very highly. However we are a business and are entitled to charge for the work we do. We felt that our charges are very competitive and that our staff are of the highest quality and we do not therefore tolerate non payment of fees,

However, we are sympathetic to your position and we are more than happy to discuss options which are suitable and achievable to you.

The magic formula is: If you are having trouble TELL US. We will be happy to come to a suitable arrangement if we know what is going on. Provided you are prepared to show commitment we are prepared to be patient and reasonable with you.

Solicitors Regulations You Should be Aware Of

If the other party to your matter has a solicitor acting for them we are not allowed to contact the person directly but MUST speak only through their solicitor.
We are obliged to keep in contact with our clients and we therefore have to write to you fairly regularly even if there is nothing happening. Therefore if we are waiting for you we will be chasing you regularly and this will be costing you money. Therefore if you have been asked for something such as an appointment or documents or information or further instructions and you are not able or prepared to deal with it immediately TELL US and we will not be constantly chasing you and charging you for it
There are certain circumstances where we might not be able to act for you as we have already acted for the other person and there may be a CONFLICT OF INTEREST. This is a strict regulation which we will not be prepared to ignore
• We HAVE TO obtain certain information / documents from you BEFORE we can act for you. This includes you date of birth and national insurance number and two forms of identification.

Quality Processes

We try to provide a quality service in all areas of our work. We work to the Lexcel standard – the Legal quality mark. As is always true in life there may be an occasion when you are unhappy in some way with out service and we would ask that you tell us when this occurs. This could simply be the result of a lack of communication, on either of our parts, or something more serious but we are keen to know so that we can improve our service to you and generally. Please in the first instance raise any concerns with the person dealing with the matter. In the unlikely event that they are unable to help, or it concerns them, then please refer the matter to the department head. Full details of these procedures are in the terms and conditions which have been supplied to you.