• To create an environment in which individual differences and the contributions of all our staff are recognised and valued.
• Every employee is entitled to a working environment that promotes dignity and respect to all. No form of intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated.
• Training, development and progression opportunities are available to all staff.
• To promote equality in the workplace which we believe is good management practice and makes sound business sense.
• We will review all our employment practices and procedures to ensure fairness.
• Breaches of our equality policy will be regarded as misconduct and could lead to disciplinary proceedings.
• This policy is fully supported by the Directors.
• The policy will be monitored and reviewed annually

Responsibility for ensuring the effective implementation and operation of the arrangements will rest with the Practice Director who will ensure that staff operate within this policy and arrangements, and that all reasonable and practical steps are taken to avoid discrimination. 

The Practice Director will ensure that:

• all staff are aware of the policy and the arrangements, and the reasons for the policy;
• grievances concerning discrimination are dealt with properly, fairly and as quickly as possible;
• proper records are maintained.
• Relevant statutory, regulatory and professional frameworks in relation to equality and diversity are adhered too.

Responsibility for ensuring that there is no unlawful discrimination rests with all staff and the attitudes of staff are crucial to the successful operation of fair employment practices. In particular, all members of staff should:

comply with the policy and arrangements;

• not discriminate in their day to day activities or induce others to do so;
• not victimise, harass or intimidate other staff or groups who have, or are perceived to have one of the protected characteristics.
• ensure no individual is discriminated against or harassed because of their association with another individual who has a protected characteristic.
• inform the Practice Director if they become aware of any discriminatory practice.

Third-party harassment occurs where a Company employee is harassed, and the harassment is related to a protected characteristic, by third parties such as clients or customers. Complete Counsel will not tolerate such actions against it’s staff, and the employee concerned should inform the Practice Director at once that this has occurred. Complete Counsel will fully investigate and take all reasonable steps to ensure such harassment does not happen again.

All employment policies and arrangements have a bearing on equality of opportunity. Complete Counsel’s policies will be reviewed regularly and any discriminatory elements removed.

Our Barristers are authorised to practise by the Bar Standards Board. Our Barristers and Clerks will follow the Bar Code of Conduct when dealing with Professional and Lay clients.

All practising barristers at Complete Counsel have valid practising certificates and maintain (as a minimum) professional liability insurance provided by the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund, managed by the Bar Mutual Management Company, 90 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4ST.

All Barristers of Complete Counsel are data controllers and registered with the ICO.

On receipt of each case an acknowledgment letter will be sent with the required details including the payment basis to be adopted for that case

Our paperwork turnaround is 21 days however a faster turnaround (including overnight) can be requested.  Factors which may impact on turnaround time such as Barrister illness, annual leave or any unforeseeable external factors, will be communicated to you by the Clerks upon receipt of papers or booking.

The areas of Law which are members most commonly practice are:

• Personal Injury
• Clinical Negligence
• Industrial Disease
• Commercial and Group Actions
• Tax
• Costs
• Immigration
• Inquests

If you have a query or complaint arising out of the services of Complete Counsel please contact us either by calling 0844 225 4532 or by emailing support@completecounsel.co.uk.  You will receive a response within 48 hours.

This will be an initial response which will hopefully assist in rectifying the situation. However, if this does not resolve your complaint then you should put your complaint in writing to our Practice Director Claire Labio.  This written complaint will be acknowledged in writing or by email within 48 hours of receipt with a full response following within 14 days thereafter.  Should the complaint not be satisfied – the issue will be considered and reflected upon by our Board of Directors and a response given to you within 28 days of the date of receipt of a complaint to the Board.

As the Barristers who use this service are all sole practitioners you should at first attempt to resolve your complaint directly with them.  They are all regulated by the Bar Standards Board.  The Barristers Register can be checked here: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/for-the-public/search-a-barristers-record/the-barristers-register.html

If that fails and the clerking team are unable to help resolve your complaint, you should contact: www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

If you wish to complain about a Barristers behaviour you should contact:  https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/complaints-and-professional-conduct/

In accordance with the Legal Ombudsman any complaint must be raised within 12 months of the date of the act or omission that your complaint refers to.

As some of our Barristers conduct public access work we are obliged to provide a link to the Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients provided by the Bar Standards Board. https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/resources/public-access-guidance-for-lay-clients.html

We have a fact sheet showing further information including fees and what to expect from us. Please contact the Clerks who will be pleased to provide you with a copy either by post or email support@completecounsel.co.uk.

Our Barrister’s will consider fixed fees for this work. This would need to be discussed with the Clerking team. They will be able to gauge how long the Barrister might take on the work and take into account if any travel etc. is required for a Court hearing. Please contact us to discuss.

We currently have a few Barristers undertaking this work. Junior Barrister hourly rates (as at October 2022) start at £175 (plus vat) per hour through to Senior Barristers rates of circa £350 (plus vat) per hour. Fees will depend on the seniority of the Barrister, complexity of the case and the time likely to be spent

If your case relates to a Tax matter then Counsels hourly rate is £1000 per hour (plus vat).

Further guidance on Public Access can be found on the Bar Standards Board https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/resources/public-access-guidance-for-lay-clients.html

Our Standard Contractual Terms can be found here.

The Barristers of Complete Counsel will observe the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) Code of Conduct 

Employees of Complete Counsel are required to comply with this policy.

1. Complete Counsel recognises that discrimination and victimisation is unacceptable and that it is in the interests of Complete Counsel and its employees to utilise the skills of the total workforce. It is the aim of the Company to ensure that no employee or job applicant receives less favourable facilities or treatment (either directly or indirectly) in recruitment or employment on grounds of age, disability, gender / gender reassignment, marriage / civil partnership, pregnancy / maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation (the protected characteristics).
2. Our aim is that our employees and all who use our services feel respected and able to give of their best.
3. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination or victimisation. To that end the purpose of this policy is to provide equality and fairness for all in our employment.
4. All employees will be treated fairly and with respect. Selection for employment, training or any other benefit will be on the basis of aptitude and ability. All employees will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential and the talents and resources of the workforce will be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the organisation.
5. Our staff will not discriminate directly or indirectly, or harass customers or clients because of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation in the provision of the Company’s goods and services.
6. This policy and the associated arrangements shall operate in accordance with statutory requirements. In addition, full account will be taken of any guidance or Codes of Practice issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, any Government Departments, and any other statutory bodies.

Equality information is also included in induction programmes.

All managers who have an involvement in the recruitment and selection process will receive specialist training.

Complete Counsel attaches particular importance to the needs of disabled people.

Under the terms of this policy, the Practice Director is required to: 

• make reasonable adjustment to maintain the services of an employee who becomes disabled, for example, training, provision of special equipment, reduced working hours. (NB: seek advice on the availability of advice and guidance from external agencies to maintain disabled people in employment);
• include disabled people in training/development programmes;
• give full and proper consideration to disabled people who apply for jobs, having regard to making reasonable adjustments for their particular aptitudes and abilities to allow them to be able to do the job.

Complete Counsel supports Parental Leave and Flexible working in accordance with the Bar Standards Handbook rc110.3.(1) 

We have a flexible working policy which covers the right of a Barrister or Employee to take a career break, to work part-time, to work flexible hours or to work from home so as to enable them to manage their family responsibilities or disability without giving up work

Employees should review their contracts and staff policies for the provision that applies to them.

Barristers of Complete Counsel are self-employed and therefore determine their own working patterns, however, each Barrister shall devote such time to their practice as shall be reasonably necessary to ensure that they provide a proper professional service to lay and professional clients.

Employees and Barristers are encouraged to discuss their wishes and engage in discussions with their Practice Director about requests for parental leave and flexible working followed by a formal written request.

• Within the request for a flexible working pattern consideration and discussion should take place as to reasons why, commencement date, working hours and the effect on others, expectation to maintain and progress business and approach to professional clients.
• Barristers will be required to discuss any sabbatical or extended leave including maternity and paternity leave with Complete Counsel as that discussion may lead to a reduction of the barrister’s monthly percentage across that period or commencing at a certain point within that period of time.
• A date for review should be scheduled in to the diary between the Practice Director and Employee/Barrister.
• Upon an agreement being reached on Parental Leave by an Employee/Barrister then prior to the commencement of said Parental Leave they should discuss and make arrangements for being contacted, onward transmission of post, payments, and approach to professional clients. 

Complete Counsel deems it appropriate to state its intention not to discriminate and assumes that this will be translated into practice consistently across the Company. However, no monitoring is necessary at present due to limited staff.

There will also be regular assessments to measure the extent to which recruitment and access to training/development opportunities affect equal opportunities for all groups.

We will maintain information on staff who have been involved in certain key policies: Disciplinary, Grievance and Bullying & Harassment.

Employees have a right to pursue a complaint concerning discrimination or victimisation via the Company Grievance or Harassment Procedures.

Discrimination and victimisation will be treated as disciplinary offences and they will be dealt with under the Company Disciplinary Procedure

This Privacy Policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you visit this website.

Topics

What information is being collected?

We collect information about you when you register to our mailing list.  We also collect information when you voluntarily complete surveys or feedback links which we have sent to you or sign up to attend an event.  We may collect information from other sources, such as social media platforms that may share information about how you interact with our social media content.

How we will use the information?

We will use this information to notify you of any forthcoming events, recent articles drafted which we think may be of interest to you together with news about our day to day business.  We will also use it to respond to your inquiries, provide you with legal and other services that you request, submitting invoices and to help us understand how people use our Digital Services, including by generating and analyzing statistics.

We will never sell on our contact lists or your personal details to a third party.  We may disclose information we collect to third party service providers such as web hosting companies or event organizers assisting with one of our events.  If you decide you do not wish to hear our updates you can click on the unsubscribe link in the footer of the marketing email or, alternatively, email us at any point and we will remove you from our list.

Access to your information and Correction

You have a right to request sight of any information we hold about you.  You also have a right to request that this information be deleted from our records.  Please just email or telephone us and we can arrange this.

Other Websites

Our Website contains links occasionally to other websites.  This Privacy Policy only applies to this website, so when you link to other websites you should read their Privacy Policy.  No information system can be 100% secure so we cannot be held responsible for any information you send to us over an unsecured wireless network for example.

Cookie Notice

When someone visits our website we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If you wish to block cookies you may wish to update your browser settings.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We keep our Privacy Policy under review and any updates will be shown on this page.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our Privacy Policy either by email or by writing to Complete Counsel, The Plaza, 100 Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9QJ