London Office

Contact and other details

Slaughter and May
One Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YY

Tel: +44 (0)20 7600 1200
Fax: +44 (0)20 7090 5000
VAT number: 243 9429 47
Firm SRA number: 55388

Regulation

In London we practise through a partnership known as Slaughter and May, whose principal place of business is at One Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8YY. The partnership is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

All partners based in London are solicitors of England and Wales, and as such are also regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A copy of the SRA Standards and Regulations is available on the Solicitors Regulation Authority's website, www.sra.org.uk. This includes the SRA Principles, which embody the key ethical requirements on firms and individuals who are involved in the provision of legal services. If you think we have breached any of the SRA Principles, you can report the matter directly to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (see www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page).

Some partners and associates in our Competition Group are established in both our London and Brussels offices and are admitted to practise as lawyers in Belgium under the professional title “advocaat” or “avocat” and are registered on the Tableau (Brussels Bar A List) or are registered on the Brussels Bar EU List with either the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten te Brussel (the "NOAB") or the Ordre français des avocats du barreau de Bruxelles. Copies of the Orde van Vlaamse Balies (Order of Flemish Bars) and the NOAB rules of professional conduct are both available on the NOAB website, www.baliebrussel.be. The rules of professional ethics applicable to members of the Ordre français des avocats du barreau de Bruxelles are available on its website, www.barreaudebruxelles.info.

Cost transparency information

In accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Transparency Rules, we have published costs information regarding the services that Slaughter and May can provide in respect of representing employers in defending claims for unfair dismissal and/or wrongful dismissal cases before the UK Employment Tribunal. Slaughter and May does not provide the other specified legal services to which the Transparency Rules apply and accordingly has not published costs information in respect of such services.

Our terms and conditions

Advice is given and services are supplied by Slaughter and May on the basis of the firm's terms and conditions of business, which are available to clients by emailing terms@slaughterandmay.com. By instructing Slaughter and May, all clients of the firm agree to the firm's terms and conditions of business, subject to any amendments which the firm has expressly agreed.

No liability is accepted or responsibility assumed for advice given or services supplied to persons who are not clients of the firm, unless the firm expressly agrees otherwise.

Professional indemnity insurance

We take out and maintain professional indemnity insurance on a worldwide basis.

The primary layer of our worldwide professional indemnity insurance is with Lloyd’s Syndicate QBE 1886 (of 30 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 3BD), Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company (of One Creechurch Place, Creechurch Lane, London EC3A 5AF), Berkshire Hathaway European Insurance DAC (of 2nd Floor, 7 Grand Canal Street Lower, Dublin D02 KW81) and HDI Global Specialty SE, UK branch (of 20 Gracechurch Street London EC3V 0BG).

Client complaints procedure

At all times, we aim to provide our clients with a professional service of the highest quality.

Any client who is unhappy with any aspect of our service is entitled to complain. We treat all complaints seriously and are committed to investigating them promptly, fairly and free of charge.

If you have any complaint, including a complaint about your bill, you should raise it in the first instance with your relationship partner or the partner responsible for the relevant matter. If that is felt to be inappropriate, or if you feel that the response of the relationship partner or the partner responsible for the matter is inadequate, you can write to Julia Adams, our General Counsel, at One Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8YY or by using the queries@slaughterandmay.com email address.

We expect to resolve any problem to your satisfaction.

You may also be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman (“LeO”) to help you to resolve your complaint. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, LeO will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to LeO:

within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

You can contact LeO by telephone on 0300 555 0333, (and if you are based outside the UK you can telephone on +44 121 245 3050); by email at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; or by post at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

LeO will only consider your complaint if, at the time you raised your complaint with Slaughter and May, you were:

an individual;
a micro-enterprise;
a charity that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1,000,000 (one million pounds sterling);
a club, association or organisation whose affairs are managed by its members, a committee or a committee of its members that had an annual income of less than £1,000,000 (one million pounds sterling); or
a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1,000,000 (one million pounds sterling).

LeO may also consider complaints made by a personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of an individual who raised a complaint with us, but had not referred it to the LeO, before they died.

If your complaint concerns acts or omissions outside England and Wales, LeO may dismiss your complaint if the circumstances do not have sufficient connection with England and Wales.

If your complaint relates to your bill, you may also be able to apply to court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

Other complaints

If you are not a client but you nevertheless have a complaint in relation to our provision of legal services, please raise the matter with Julia Adams, our General Counsel. You can do this by writing to her at One Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8YY or by using the queries@slaughterandmay.com email address.

We will deal with any such complaint promptly, fairly and free of charge.

Client account and interest policy

Any money held on behalf of clients, or third parties transacting with our clients, by the London office is held in a general client account at National Westminster Bank Plc.

With the exception of money held for the payment of professional disbursements (such as the fees of counsel, other legal advisers or experts), any money held will accrue or be subject to interest at National Westminster Bank Plc’s rate from time to time. Any interest (whether positive or negative) will be credited or charged to the person for whom the money is held at the start of each month or, if sooner, on the date on which the amount is released from our client account, provided that the interest accrued or charged during the relevant period exceeds £20 (twenty pounds sterling).