Hear about best practice in chambers first tier complaints handling and responding to subject access requests
We have put together a virtual panel event to help improve barristers and chambers professionals handling of client complaints.
This seminar will help barristers, clerks and chambers’ management staff to gain a better understanding why clients complain, how to avoid them and how to manage them when they do arise.
Why attend
You'll:
- Gain insight into common service complaints about barristers received by chambers and the Legal Ombudsman and how to avoid them
- Receive practical advice on how to support clients and barristers through the complaints process
- Learn about managing subject access requests
Programme
Updates from the Legal Ombudsman on complaints at the Bar
Jason Chapman, an Ombudsman at the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), will explain the LeO’s scope role, the way it deals with complaints against barristers and common areas for complaint against barristers. He will also talk about forthcoming plans by LeO to develop complaints standardisation guidance for legal service providers.
Handling complaints from the chambers management perspective
Nicky Leighton, Customer Insights Manager, the Barrister Group, and member of the Bar Council’s Bar Representation Committee, will discuss her chamber’s approach to complaints handling. She will cover how they assess what is within scope and how to communicate effectively with the complainant as well as supporting the respondee. She will share some examples of complaints that have been fully and partially upheld as well as not upheld.
Understanding subject access requests
Felicity McMahon, a barrister at 5RB and member of the Bar Council’s IT Panel, will focus on subject access requests (SAR). Felicity will cover how to identify and process a SAR, exemptions, and the relationship between SARs and complaints to chambers.
Following the presentations from our three panel members, they will discuss the key challenges around complaints handling and will respond to questions from the audience.
Speakers
Chair: James Whiting, CEO of Doughty Street Chambers and Co-Chair of the Legal Practice Management Association (LPMA)
Doughty Street Chambers is a leading set promoting access to justice, civil liberties and human rights. James has been CEO here since 2022.
He is Co-Chair of the LPMA, a forum for chambers directors, as well as a board director of Travalyst, an organisation founded by the Duke of Sussex, bringing together the foremost global travel companies to deliver authoritative sustainability information for consumers.
James was a solicitor with Penningtons in the early 1990s before working on the international deinstitutionalisation of childcare at a start-up charity, Hope and Homes for Children. Thereafter he was a director at the New Economics Foundation, MD at Friends of the Earth, and CEO of Malaria No More UK.
Jason Chapman, Ombudsman at the Legal Ombudsman
Jason joined the Legal Ombudsman in 2011 as an investigator and was appointed as an Ombudsman in 2013, and then as Senior Ombudsman in 2021. Since then, he has determined more than 4,000 complaints.
Prior to joining the Legal Ombudsman Jason worked as a Commercial Manager in a number of sectors including consumer finance, leasing, travel and facilities management.
Nicky Leighton, Customer Insights Manager, the Barrister Group will also be speaking at this event.
Nicky has an extensive background in complaints handling in a variety of sectors, including the NHS and social housing and was drawn to the legal industry having recently completed her LLB degree.
Having joined The Barrister Group in March 2024, Nicky is employed as Professional Standards Manager and is responsible for handling formal complaints from both professional and lay clients. Her work with Barrister Connect, one of the largest direct access platforms in the UK, has positioned her as a specialist in public access complaints. She is passionate about using complaints as a source of learning to identify and deliver service improvements.
Felicity McMahon, 5RB Chambers
Felicity is a barrister practising at 5RB. She specialises in media law, including defamation, privacy, data protection, breach of confidence, harassment, copyright and injunctive relief. Her work on data protection includes both: advisory work relating to policies, procedures, subject access requests and data protection concerns; and work where litigation is contemplated or brought, whether alone or in conjunction with other causes of action.
Felicity is a member of the Bar Council IT Panel, whose work provides guidance to the Bar on data protection and cyber security matters, including the legal and regulatory issues which may arise.
Felicity is also:
- Editor of Defamation and Malicious Falsehood chapters of Clerk & Lindsell on Torts
- Co-editor of two chapters in Tugendhat and Christie on The Law of Privacy and the Media (chapter on Data Protection: Breach of Statutory Duty, and Privacy, the Internet and Social Media)
- Co-editor of Blackstone’s Guide to the Defamation Act 2013
Price
- Full price: £66 (plus VAT)
- Bar Representation Fee member price: £52 (plus VAT)
Before you book
Please read our terms and conditions and privacy statement before booking.
All Bar Council online training is held on the Zoom videoconferencing platform. Please ensure you read our Zoom statement before booking.
Due to changes in VAT regulations effective from 1 January 2025, we will no longer be offering online events to attendees based outside of the United Kingdom (UK). As a result, this event is only available to individuals and organisations that are based within the UK. By booking this online event you are confirming that you are based within the UK.
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