Legal, regulatory & cyber security information

This website contains general information based on English law. Although we aim to ensure that the content is accurate and up-to-date, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to its accuracy or completeness or appropriateness to particular circumstances. The information on this website should not therefore be relied on. Users should always seek appropriate legal advice from a suitably qualified lawyer before taking, or avoiding taking, any action. The contents of this website should not be construed as legal or other professional advice and Willans LLP will not accept liability for any loss, howsoever caused, arising directly or indirectly from reliance on the information on this website.

We use cookies on our site to enable Google Analytics, a web analytics tool that helps us understand how visitors engage with our website. We may collect information about your computer, such as your operating system and browser type, in order to create reports – please read our cookie policy if you’d like detailed information. Google Analytics collects statistical data anonymously, reporting website trends without identifying individual visitors. If you wish, you can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site. For advice on opting across all websites you use, visit this Google page. If you have any questions about the way in which Willans handles data collected from you on this website, please contact law@willans.co.uk.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. Our privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It applies to all clients, prospective clients and business contacts about whom we hold personal information. We may update this notice at any time.

We always aim to give our clients’ transparent and clear, upfront advice on the estimated cost of our advice. It isn’t always possible to give a fixed fee as there can be too many factors depending on the nature of the advice. Naturally, you’d like to know what the cost is likely to be for the advice that we give you and we will keep you abreast of our fee estimate as we go along so you won’t have any nasty surprises.

As an SRA authorised firm we are required to publish price information for certain services. This information can be found on the relevant service pages:

• Conveyancing (residential)
• Probate
• Employment tribunals (businesses or individuals)
• Debt recovery (businesses or individuals)

All material (including without limitation photographs) on this website is, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, the copyright of Willans LLP and may not be reproduced in any format or in any circumstances without the prior written consent of an authorised person within Willans LLP.

Users may access and download the contents of these pages and store a copy on a temporary basis for the sole purpose of viewing the pages. Permanent storage, copying or re-distribution of these pages is prohibited. We will consent to appropriate links to our website only with prior permission from the web administrator.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our services, please call us on 01242 514000 in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with how we handle your complaint, you may be entitled to ask the Legal Ombudsman (‘LeO’) to consider the matter (larger business clients do not have the right to have their complaint reviewed by LeO). If you are a consumer and we have made a contract with you by electronic means you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. Our full complaints procedure can be accessed here.

We are an equal opportunities employer and are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all our dealings with employees, clients and third parties.

A summary of the equality and diversity data relating to people working at Willans LLP, as required by and submitted to the SRA, is available to view here.

Our COVID statement can be read here but if you would like to view a copy of our internal risk assessment and safe working practices please click here. We review government guidance daily.

It is your responsibility to check with the lawyer acting for you (by phone or post) that you are using our correct bank details in order to avoid error, delay or fraud. We will not be held responsible for any ​liability arising out of funds being sent by any party to an incorrect bank account.

General hoax emails may suggest that you have been named as a beneficiary in someone’s will and that you must send your personal details in order to claim your ‘inheritance’. They may ask you to make contact via phone numbers, fax numbers or email addresses that are different from ours. You can check our contact details on our website.

What you are required to do

If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, please contact us with full details.

What we will do

• We will acknowledge your complaint in writing as soon as possible following its receipt by us when we will notify you of the name of the person who will deal with your complaint.
• We will record your complaint in our central register
• We will investigate your complaint as follows:

(a) The person dealing with the matter will investigate the circumstances of your complaint and we will write to you within 14 days. We would hope to resolve the matter at this stage.

(b) If we feel that it would help, we may invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter with a view to resolving the complaint. Even if we do not suggest a meeting you are entitled to ask for one yourself.

(c) If there has been a meeting we will write to you within 7 days to confirm what has taken place and any agreement reached.

We aim to conclude the procedure within 8 weeks from the date of your complaint. If we do not hear from you in response to our writing to you to answer your complaint, we shall assume at the end of that time that you are satisfied with our explanation or proposals to remedy your complaint.

• If you are not satisfied with our findings or the outcome of a meeting you can contact us again. We will arrange for a partner in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it. This will be done within 14 days.
• If we have to change any of the time scales above we will let you know and explain why.
• If you remain dissatisfied at the conclusion of the complaints procedure as detailed above, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman and ask them to review the matter.  The contact details of the Legal Ombudsman are: PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ, email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk tel: 0300 555 0333. If you wish to contact the Legal Ombudsman you must do so within 6 months of the end of our complaints procedure.
• Subject to paragraph 7 LeO will consider your complaint where the date of the act or omission which is the subject of your complaint (or the date when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint) is later than 5 October 2010 and you have referred the matter to LeO no later than 6 years from the act of omission, or 3 years from  when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
• The right to have your complaint considered by LeO does not apply to larger business clients.

If you are concerned that this firm, or an individual employee or representative of this firm, has acted in a way that is in breach of one or more of the SRA Principles, you should report the matter directly to our regulator, the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA). Details of the Principles and how to report to the SRA can be found here.