Free Legal Ombudsman Complaint Template

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to complain to the Legal Ombudsman about the poor service I received from a solicitor / law firm, Mordant and Hale Solicitors. I have used the firm's own complaints procedure and remain dissatisfied. I ask the Legal Ombudsman to investigate my complaint under the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules and the Legal Services Act 2007, and to direct an appropriate remedy.

This complaint concerns the legal service provider identified below.

The poor service I am complaining about is as follows:

I instructed Mordant and Hale to act for me on a contested boundary dispute with my neighbour, with an agreed fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT. Over fourteen months the firm: (1) failed to reply to my emails and calls for weeks at a time; (2) missed the court-directed deadline for filing my witness statement, which I only discovered when the court wrote to me directly; (3) failed to warn me that an extension application would be needed, which cost an additional £650 in court fees and the other side's costs; and (4) billed me £6,900 — almost double the fixed fee — without ever explaining why the fixed fee no longer applied. The combination of the missed deadline and the poor communication caused me real worry and a worse position in the litigation.

The firm gave its final written response on 12 March 2026. A complaint must reach the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the firm's final response, and within 1 year of the act or omission (or of when I should reasonably have realised there was cause to complain). On that basis the 6-month deadline for this complaint is 12 September 2026, and this complaint is made within it.

The remedy I am seeking from the Legal Ombudsman is:

I am seeking: a refund of the fees charged above the agreed fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT; reimbursement of the £650 wasted on the avoidable extension application; and compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the missed deadline and the months of poor communication.

I enclose or can provide the following in support of this complaint:

Enclosure 1: the client care letter of 6 January 2025 recording the £3,500 fixed fee. Enclosure 2: the firm's bills totalling £6,900. Enclosure 3: the court letter notifying me directly of the missed witness-statement deadline. Enclosure 4: the extension application and the £650 fee receipt. Enclosure 5: my email chain showing the weeks of silence. Enclosure 6: the firm's final response of 12 March 2026.

A complaint about a legal service must go to the firm first. The firm must operate a complaints procedure and has 8 weeks to resolve the complaint and give a final response (section 126 of the Legal Services Act 2007 and the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules). You can come to the Legal Ombudsman if you are unhappy with the final response, or if 8 weeks have passed without one. The complaint must then reach the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the firm's final written response, and within 1 year of the act or omission (or of when you should reasonably have realised there was cause to complain). The Ombudsman can extend these limits in exceptional circumstances.

I have received the firm's final written response and remain dissatisfied, so I now bring the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

The firm's final response:
The firm's final response of 12 March 2026 accepted that there had been "some delay in correspondence" but denied the fixed fee applied, asserting the matter had "become more complex", and offered a goodwill reduction of £400. It did not address the missed court deadline or the avoidable extension costs. I do not accept that the response resolves the complaint.

My position on the time limits:
This complaint is brought within 6 months of the firm's final response of 12 March 2026, and within 1 year of the service failures, which continued until the bill was rendered in February 2026. It is therefore plainly in time under the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules.

The Legal Ombudsman resolves complaints about poor service — delay, poor communication, a failure to advise or to follow instructions, lost documents, or unclear or excessive costs — and can direct a remedy for you. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (or the relevant approved regulator) deals with conduct — dishonesty, breach of trust and other regulatory breaches — in the public interest, and does not award you compensation. The two bodies cross-refer.

This is a complaint about poor service — it is properly a matter for the Legal Ombudsman, which can direct a remedy for me.

The specific service failures:
Delay and non-communication (weeks of silence); a missed court-directed deadline; a failure to advise that an extension would be needed; and unclear and excessive costs (billing £6,900 against an agreed fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT, with no explanation of why the fixed fee no longer applied). These are classic service failures within the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules.

I ask the Legal Ombudsman to tell me if any part of this complaint is better directed to the regulator.

Under section 137 of the Legal Services Act 2007, the Legal Ombudsman can direct the firm to: apologise; pay compensation for loss, distress or inconvenience; limit or refund its fees; put right or complete the work; or take other corrective action. The maximum the Ombudsman can direct in compensation is £50,000 (section 138 of the Legal Services Act 2007). The Ombudsman's remedial jurisdiction is wide: in Layard Horsfall Ltd v Legal Ombudsman [2013] EWHC 4137 (QB) the court confirmed that a complaint that "relates to" the services has a wide ambit, that the Ombudsman can limit the fees charged, and that a decision properly made will withstand a judicial-review challenge.

The principal remedy I seek is a refund or reduction of the fees the firm has charged.

The financial loss caused:
Overcharge above the agreed fixed fee: £6,900 billed against £3,500 plus VAT agreed, an excess of approximately £2,700. Wasted extension costs caused by the missed deadline: £650. I also seek compensation for distress and inconvenience over the fourteen-month period.

The remedy in detail:
I ask the Legal Ombudsman to limit the firm's fees to the agreed fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT (directing a refund of the excess already paid), to direct reimbursement of the £650 wasted extension costs, and to award compensation for distress and inconvenience reflecting the missed court deadline and the sustained poor communication.

A service complaint is decided on the documents and the chronology. This bundle sets out the retainer and the costs information, a dated timeline of the delay or failure, and a numbered index of the correspondence and bills, mapped to the service failures relied on under the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules.

(A) Timeline.
6 January 2025 — client care letter, £3,500 fixed fee agreed. January-June 2025 — repeated unanswered emails and calls. 14 July 2025 — court-directed deadline for my witness statement (missed by the firm). 28 July 2025 — court writes to me directly; I learn of the missed deadline. August 2025 — firm makes an extension application, additional £650 in fees. February 2026 — firm bills £6,900. 18 February 2026 — I complain in writing to the firm. 12 March 2026 — firm's final response.

(B) Retainer and costs.
The retainer was a contested boundary dispute on an agreed fixed fee of £3,500 plus VAT, recorded in the client care letter. No variation of that fixed fee was ever agreed in writing. The firm rendered bills totalling £6,900, with no explanation of why the fixed fee ceased to apply.

(C) Evidence index. E1 client care letter (6 Jan 2025); E2 firm bills totalling £6,900; E3 court letter re missed deadline (28 Jul 2025); E4 extension application + £650 receipt; E5 email chain showing weeks of silence; E6 firm final response (12 Mar 2026).

I ask the Legal Ombudsman to: (a) accept this complaint as within jurisdiction and time; (b) investigate the service failures set out above; (c) direct a remedy under section 137 of the Legal Services Act 2007; and (d) refer any conduct concern to the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the relevant approved regulator.

The best way to contact me is at the address or email address at the head of this letter. I understand that the Legal Ombudsman will process the personal data in this complaint under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 for its functions, and will share the complaint with the firm so that it can respond.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,