How To Complain About A Court, Judge, Magistrate, Solicitor, Or Barrister
Please read the following note before you read this webpage.
NOTE – Once a judge or magistrate has made a decision, it will be written into a legally binding court order. This court order will be drafted by the court administration department or the judge may ask the barrister or solicitor of one of the parties to draft it and send it into the court administration department to have the court stamp and penal notices added which will make it legally binding. Occasionally, the court administration department or the barrister can make a mistake on the court order such as it could be labelled as a directions hearing, but was it is actually a final hearing.
If this happens to you then you can apply to the court to have the court order amended under something called the ‘slip rule’. This is the rule that is used where a judge can correct a court order or judgement because a mistake, omission, typing error or accidental slip has occurred. If one party to the proceedings has noticed a mistake in a court order they can make an application for correction without notice. Under this rule notice does not need to be given to the other side nor is there a requirement for a hearing so the correction can be made. The form used to make this application during child proceedings is form C2. The form used to make this application during financial proceedings is form D11.
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM C2
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D11
The write up for how to complain about a court, judge, magistrate, solicitor and barrister is below.
This Help Guide is all about what to do when you have a cause for concern, when things go wrong, when you get treated unprofessionally, or feel cheated.
If you want to complain about the courts, the judges, a magistrate, about a solicitor, or about a barrister you will find there is a completely different procedure for each one. And each of these complaint procedures has steps that you had to follow prior to the next one. What we have done here, is written an overview of the complaints procedure for each one to give you an idea of what to do.
THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPLANING ABOUT THE CONDUCT OF A COURT
WHAT CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT?
You can complain about the court amenities such as waiting area, parking area, and toilets. You can also complain about any mistakes made by the court administration that have caused delays in your case, any bad behaviour by court staff, and the level of court fees.
WHAT DETAILS SHOULD YOUR COMPLAINT CONTAIN?
Your complaint must cite the name and address of the court, the case reference number, what happened, how you feel about what happened, and how it has affected you and your family. You must also add if you sustained any injury, the name and address of any witnesses, if the police were called, and what you would like to happen to resolve the matter.
If the complaint is regarding an administration error or lost paperwork that has harmed your case, please state in detail how it has harmed your case and the repercussions for you and your family. Attach evidence if you can.
WHO DO YOU COMPLAIN TO?
You must complain to the court first. You can complain in person, by telephone, or by letter (posted signed for recorded delivery). The court must reply to you within 10 working days and outline how the complaint is being dealt with. After 10 days, either the court will dismiss your complaint by saying that there are no valid grounds for your complaint, the court may apologise to you, or the court will take disciplinary action against a member of staff.
If you are not satisfied with the courts response or the way your complaint was handled, you must request for a senior manager at the court to review your complaint and the court’s initial response to your complaint. The senior manager should normally reply within 10 working days. They will inform you of their review of your complaint, what the next steps are, and who to contact if you are still not happy.
At this stage if you are not happy with the decision made by the senior manager at the court you can ask the court to escalate your complaint to the HMCTS court customer investigations team to investigate how the court handled the complaint. They should reply within 10 working days. You can also do this via a government portal.
If you are still not satisfied, then the next and final stage of complaining is to contact the parliamentary and health service ombudsman (PHSO) who are independent from the court. The PHSO are a body that makes final decisions about complaints regarding a government organisation. You cannot contact them directly. Only your MP can forward your complaint to them.
You must contact your MP and explain what has happened and why you wish to complain to the PHSO. Your MP should help you do this.
PLEASE NOTE – At each stage of your complaint the letter you receive back from an organisation should inform you of the next step and where to complain to next if you are not happy with the response.
THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT A JUDGE
WHAT CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT?
You can complain about a judge’s language, conduct, and behaviour towards you.
Please note – you cannot complain about the judge’s case management i.e. decisions concerning your case. This has to be done through an appeals process. Please refer to the following links if this is the case –
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘HOW TO APPEAL A FAMILY COURT DECISION’
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘THE MAIN FORMS YOU WILL NEED TO APPEAL A FAMILY COURT DECISION’
WHO DO YOU COMPLAIN TO?
If you are complaining about a district, circuit, deputy district, or high court judge you must complain to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO). This is a government body.
You must give the JCIO a detailed account for them to investigate. Once they have your complaint, they will acknowledge your complaint within 2 days, allocate a case worker (who will aim to reply to you within 15 days), and then give you an update every 4 weeks unless they have resolved your complaint or closed it down. The JCIO will also explain to you if and why they cannot deal with your complaint.
If you are unhappy with the outcome or feel your case has been mishandled by the JCIO, you can contact the Judicial Appointments & Conduct Ombudsman (JACO) within 28 days of the JCIO final letter. They can either help you or forward you to another organisation who can help you.
The JACO can ask the JCIO to reopen your case or ask someone else to look at it.
PLEASE NOTE – At each stage of your complaint, the letter you receive back from an organisation should inform you of the next step and where to complain to next if you are not happy with the response.
IS THERE A TIME LIMIT TO COMPLAIN?
Yes there is – the time limit is 3 months from the court hearing date. After this time, you must have a valid reason for doing so.
THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT A MAGISTRATE
WHAT CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT?
You can complain about the language, conduct, and the behaviour of a magistrate.
Please note – you cannot complain about the magistrate’s case management i.e. decisions concerning your case. This has to be done through an appeals process. Please refer to the following links if this is the case –
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘HOW TO APPEAL A FAMILY COURT DECISION’
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR ‘THE MAIN FORMS YOU WILL NEED TO APPEAL A FAMILY COURT DECISION’
WHO DO I COMPLAIN TO?
You can complain to your local advisory committee who will investigate all serious complaints. The advisory committee may forward less serious complaints to a bench chairman, who is the leader of all the magistrates in an area. Once the bench chairman has dealt with your complaint, they will let you and the advisory committee know. If you are unhappy with how the advisory committee or the bench chairman handled your compliant, you can contact the Judicial Appointment and Contact Ombudsman (JACO) within 28 days of the advisory committee’s final reply.
LINK TO YOUR LOCAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
PLEASE NOTE – At each stage of your complaint the letter you receive back from an organisation should inform you of the next step and where to complain to next if you are not happy with the response.
IS THERE A TIME LIMIT TO COMPLAIN?
Yes there is – the time limit is 3 months from the court hearing date. After this time, you must have a valid reason for doing so.
THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT A SOLICITOR
WHAT CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT?
You can complain about how your solicitor handled your case, whether they lied or deceived you, poor service, or the fees they have charged you.
WHO DO YOU COMPLAIN TO?
In the first instance, you must complain to the solicitor’s firm directly. They will have an inhouse complaints procedure. Please look on their website or call them to find out who to write to. They will take about 8 weeks to reply. You can find a template for a complaint letter from the Legal Ombudsman Website.
LINK TO LEGAL OMBUDSMAN WEBSITE – SAMPLE TEMPLATE
If you are not happy with the response from your solicitor and their firm, you can report them to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
LINK TO SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY
If your issue has not been resolved once you have written to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, then you can contact the Legal Ombudsman.
PLEASE NOTE – At each stage of your complaint, the letter you receive back from an organisation should inform you of the next step and where to complain to next if you are not happy with the response.
IS THERE A TIME LIMIT TO COMPLAIN?
You can complain to the legal ombudsman if what you are complaining about happened within the last six years, and within three years from when you found out about it.
THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT A BARRISTER
WHAT CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT?
You can complain about the behaviour of a barrister towards you, whether they have lied to you, deceived you, or misled the court. You can complain about poor service and the fees they have charged you.
WHO DO YOU COMPLAIN TO?
If the barrister is representing you – You should first complain to their chambers – their office – if they have one. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can complain to the legal ombudsman. You can complain to the legal ombudsman if what you are complaining about happened within the last six years, and within three years from when you found out about it. You must contact the legal ombudsman within six months of the reply from the barrister or their chambers. Once your complaint is with the legal ombudsman any part of your complaint that is to do with the professional conduct of the barrister the legal ombudsman will refer these parts to the Bar Standards Board to investigate. If this happens the Bar Standards Board will inform you.
If the barrister is not representing you but representing the other party – You should first complain to their chambers/office if they have one. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can complain to the Bar Standards Board. You must contact the Bar Standards Board within 12 months of the issue. If your complaint is after this time period, you must have an important reason why you have complained after the 12 months for the Bar Standards Board to take the case on.
PLEASE NOTE – At each stage of your complaint the letter you receive back from an organisation should inform you of the next step and where to complain to next if you are not happy with the response.
IS THERE A TIME LIMIT TO COMPLAIN?
You can complain to the legal ombudsman if what you are complaining about happened within one year, or if you are within one year of you becoming aware of what you would like to make a complaint about.