Our Service Standards
What you can expect from us
- A legal advisor and a member of support staff available to take any enquiries during the hours of 8.45-17.00, Monday-Friday (as a minimum)
- Legal Advisors with the necessary qualifications and / or experience to deal with your matter
- To attend any meetings on request, subject to sufficient notice and availability, either remotely or in person (having regard to travel time and distance, associated costs and what you consider would be most helpful)
- To attend evening meetings by agreement and all necessary Court or Tribunal hearings
- An automated response when you submit a request to legal@nwleicestershire.gov.uk
- An email within one working day informing you that either the matter has been allocated or it is pending allocation (where your initial request is received to the above email address by 10.00am)
- An acknowledgement confirming when the file has been set up and providing you with a file reference to use in future communications (unless your request only requires a quick response and can be saved on an ad hoc file for your service)
- A substantive response to your request within 20 working days unless an alternative timescale has been agreed with you
- Advice that is proportionate to the nature and level of information provided in the request for advice, risk to you as client and any financial consequences
- Effective identification and management of conflicts of interest
- Written advice that is concise, clear and uses “plain English”
- To be kept up-to-date on the progress of your matter
- To respond to any emails on your matter in a timely fashion, having regard to any relevant deadlines as well as other priorities
- To advise you if it’s likely that a timescale agreed with you is likely to not be met
- Confirm when a matter is completed and return any original documents or files you have provided to us
- Retain electronic files and documents in accordance with our Retention Policy (a copy is available upon request)
What we expect from you
- To provide as much information as possible about the advice you are seeking and the supporting documents you have
- To explain any urgency and deadlines clearly and with supporting reasons in order for it to be appropriately prioritised
- To provide any information or documents requested during the course of the matter
- To keep your legal advisor up to date with any additional information or changes relevant to your matter
- To refer any communications from a third party’s legal advisors to your legal advisor and not to correspond with that third party legal advisor directly
- To quote any file references on communications (where appropriate)
