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Bevan Brittan LLP – ownership and regulation
Bevan Brittan LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales (number OC309219). Our registered office is at Kings Orchard, 1 Queen Street Bristol BS2 0HQ, which is the firm’s Bristol office.
Bevan Brittan LLP is a ‘recognised body’ authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and practises in accordance with the SRA’s rules, regulations and codes of practice (http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page). Our SRA number is 406315.
A list of members (all of whom are solicitors of England & Wales) is available in our offices. We use the term 'partner' to refer to a member of the LLP, or an employee or consultant who is a lawyer with equivalent standing and qualifications.
Our VAT registration number is GB 840 7231 48. Further important information about billing is printed on our invoices. Your usual contact will be happy to discuss any requirements or concerns you may have about the way we bill the work we do for you.
Bevan Brittan LLP is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner under reference: Z9665446.
We have compulsory professional indemnity insurance of £3 million, each and every claim, in place and further details are available to clients from Duncan Weir, our Managing Partner. Our insurance runs from 01 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 and our policy number is APPUK2401455. It is underwritten by Qualifying Insurer Travelers Insurance Company Limited, 61-63 London Road Redhill Surrey RH1 1NA. The insurance covers work from offices in England & Wales but extends to acts or omissions wherever in the world they occur.
The board
Our board are responsible for the implementation of the firm’s strategy, financial performance, risk management and operational issues. This includes consistent governance and compliance around all key operating decisions and projects which are consistent with the firm's core values to ensure communicating and delivering excellent service to our clients and staff.
Duncan Weir – Managing Partner
Jodie Sinclair – Senior Partner and Head of Employment, Pensions & Immigration
Adam Kendall – Partner and Head of Litigation, Advisory & Regulatory
Rob Harrison – Partner and Head of Property
Tim Hodgetts – Partner and Head of Health & Care - Resolution & Regulatory
Jonathan Turner – Partner and Head of Commercial & Infrastructure
Virginia Cooper – Elected Board Partner
Judith Hopper – Head of Responsible Business Board Partner
Louise Robling – Elected Board Partner
Owen Bishop – Director of Transformation & Operations
Nick Hodgson – Director of Finance
Robert McNamara – Director of IT
Rachel Roberts – Director of Knowledge & Information
Peter Rogers – Director of Risk
Chris Rushworth – Director of Business Development & Marketing
Kathryn Sullivan – Director of Human Resources
Simon Friend – Non-Executive Director
Certifications
Complaints Procedure
What matters to you, matters to us
We always aim to provide the highest quality service to all our clients but recognise that problems can sometimes arise. When that happens we want to put these right where possible, and to take the opportunity to learn from them so we can improve the quality of our service.
If you have a concern
Please contact either the Bevan Brittan Partner advising on your matter or your Client Relationship Lead. You can find his/her contact details in the engagement letter which we have provided to you, but otherwise please speak to your normal Bevan Brittan contact. Please provide as much information as possible about the nature of your concerns and any documents or other information which
you want to rely on.
What happens next
We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and, if appropriate, check with you that we have properly understood the basis for your complaint.
We aim to resolve complaints within 8 weeks of receiving them, but this timetable may sometimes need to be extended, for example if we need to ask you for additional information or documents.
What we will do
This will depend on the nature of the problem, but if you are complaining about the quality of the work we have done for you, we would normally appoint an Investigating Partner to consider the grounds of your complaint.
The Investigating Partner will normally be independent (in other words, will not have had any prior involvement in the matter being complained about), and will have relevant expertise in the area of law involved with your work. If this is not possible we will let you know.
When handling complaints, we will normally provide written acknowledgements and responses by email or letter. If these methods of communication are not appropriate in your particular case, then please let us know and we will discuss a mutually acceptable way for us to communicate. At the conclusion of the investigation, we will provide you with a final response in writing. This will include an appropriate remedy if your complaint is upheld.
As you would expect, we will not charge you for the time spent in investigating or responding to your complaint.
What steps can you take if you are not happy with our response?
If you are not happy with the outcome you may be able to refer the matter to the independent Legal Ombudsman (LeO). You should do so as soon as possible and in any event within six months of our final communication to you about your complaint. The LeO’s website is www.legalombudsman.org.uk and contains useful information including the criteria for accepting a complaint (broadly, only from individuals and small businesses, charities and similar organisations) and time limits - LeO can accept a complaint one year from the date of the act or omission or one year from when you should have known about the complaint. The LeO’s postal address is: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH and the telephone number is 0300 555 0333. Email enquiries should be sent to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Read our complaints procedure here.
Cyber Fraud
Please be aware that fraudsters are targeting law firm clients. By hacking into clients' IT systems and using social engineering techniques, fraudsters can gain access to confidential e-mail correspondence and trick clients into sending funds to the wrong bank account.
Please be aware that fraudsters can intercept emails and provide alternative bank details in emails which are designed to look like they are from this firm. We will only ever send you our bank details once so if you subsequently receive any email (or hard copy letter) providing alternative bank details please assume this is fraudulent, do not send any money, and telephone your usual Bevan Brittan contact as soon as possible (using the phone number provided at the start of the matter – do not use the details on the suspicious email or letter).
As a further security measure, before sending us any funds we recommend that you telephone or video call to reconfirm bank details with us verbally.
In line with current regulatory guidance, our practice is to send bank details as near as possible to completion of the proposed transaction. We normally send details by way of a pdf attachment to an email (including in the body of the completion statement), but on request from you we will send the attachment with additional password protection. If you require password protection, please let us know as soon as possible.
Bevan Brittan will not accept responsibility if you send money to the wrong bank account.
Further information on cyber fraud can be found by visiting Get Safe Online, Cyber Streetwise or the National Cyber Crime Agency
Anti-bribery and corruption policy
Carbon Reduction Plan
The role we play in reducing our environmental footprint has never been more important. As an accredited carbon neutral law firm, we are continually striving to improve our sustainability credentials, building on the initiatives we already have in place.
After a detailed review, we have identified a range of operational activities that will help us reduce the impact we have on our planet and help us to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040.