Criminal Litigation Department

Sam Morton has been working as a Solicitor in Yeovil since 1997. He obtained Higher Rights of Audience in 2007 which allows representation of clients at the Crown Court. He is a Duty Solicitor on the Yeovil, South Somerset and Mendip Scheme and spends the majority of his time representing those appearing at Yeovil Magistrates Court.

Louise Eaves has been working as a Criminal Defence Lawyer in Yeovil for 17 years. She is a qualified Legal Executive Advocate and Accredited Police Station Representative. This allows Louise to represent clients throughout the Police Station and Magistrates Court procedure up to and including Appeals and Bail Applications to the Crown Court.

We want you to be completely satisfied with the work we do for you and the service we provide. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it so that we can put matters right. This will also help us to improve our standards.

Your complaint will be dealt with promptly (within 8 weeks), fairly, openly, free of charge, effectively, and based on a sufficient investigation of the circumstances.

How do I make a complaint?

You can make your complaint or expression of dissatisfaction about any aspect of our service in writing, by email, over the telephone or in person to Sam Morton:

- Morton Eaves, 32 Hendford, Yeovil BA20 1TG; sam.morton@mortoneaves.co.uk; 01935 310500.

Our procedure for handling complaints:

- Our complaints procedure is flexible to suit you and the circumstances and nature of your complaint. Normally however we:

- Read the file and speak with the advisor concerned about the complaint;

- Give a preliminary decision;

- Invite you to reply to the preliminary decision (which can either be a meeting or a written reply).

- At the end of the complaints procedure we will make a decision on your complaint and provide you with what we consider is the appropriate remedy.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome or have not received a decision within 8 weeks:

You have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body, established under the Legal Services Act 2007, that deals with legal services complaints.

You will have six months from the date our final letter in which to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. It must also be no more than 6 years since the reason for your complaint, and no more than 3 years since you became aware of that reason to complain.

Please note that this service is only available to consumers and very small businesses, charities and clubs. Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ Telephone: 0300 555 0333 enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: The Legal Ombudsman

Alternative complaints bodies such as Promediate www.promediate.co.uk exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.

We do not usually agree to use such a scheme because the Legal Ombudsman was established specifically to deal with legal services complaints and in any event will seek in the first instance to facilitate an informal resolution between the parties.

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

The SRA can help you 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.

Contact details are as follows:

Telephone: 0370 606 2555 Address: SRA Report The Cube 199 Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN report@sra.org.uk

Morton Eaves Associates are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.