Goldwaters are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales under membership number 48104.
Goldwaters office address is Broadgarth House, 27 Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DE. The firm’s VAT number is 455020971.
Reliance
The information contained on this website is for illustrative purposes and does not create a business or professional service relationship. The legal commentary and information contained within our website is not exhaustive and we do not attempt to address every issue relevant to any particular situation and therefore specific advice should be obtained from us before acting upon the information within the website.
Furthermore laws and regulations change from time to time. The published material is correct as at the date of first publication and is not updated. The material should not be taken as providing legal advice and should not be acted upon or relied upon as doing so. Any such reliance on the information contained within Goldwaters website is therefore solely at the users own risk.
Intellectual Property
Unless otherwise stated all rights in any content which appears on this website (including, without limitation, the publications displayed on the website, the screen displays, the text, graphics as well as the look and feel of the website) belong to Goldwaters.
You may download, temporarily store and print a copy of one or more pages of Goldwaters website for the purposes of viewing them provided that (1) any copy remains unamended and complete (2) has attached to it the relevant proprietary notices and terms and conditions (3) is for use only by you. You may also recopy or download extracts to others on an occasional basis provided that you do not do so for profit.
Investment Activity
Goldwaters is not authorised under Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to provide investment services but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services to clients because we are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We are able to provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide. We are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as an exempt professional firm under number LS48104.
Money Laundering
Following the introduction of the Terrorism Act 2000 (as amended), the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and the Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 we are now obliged to request evidence of your identity and undertake certain other procedures (including seeking bank account details in respect of any source of funds) to establish your credentials and the legitimacy of your instructions before acting upon them. These procedures may require us to take fuller instructions from you than previously, and may, in rare cases, introduce some small delays into your matter. We will in every case strive to keep these to a minimum. However, such is the strength of the obligation placed upon us that if satisfactory documentary evidence is not produced we may have to refuse to accept your instructions or decline to continue acting for you.
We may also have a legal obligation to report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) any information which comes to our attention concerning any matters covered by the money laundering legislation. If so, we may not be permitted to inform you or anyone else that we have done this. We may also be ordered by NCA to stop the work you have instructed us to carry out. If this occurs we will not be able to inform you or anyone else why we have stopped work.
In addition to the above our files are subject to quality control and inspection audits for compliance from any accountant or auditor duly appointed by us, the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority or other law enforcement/government authority.
Confidentiality
It remains our policy to keep all information about the personal and business affairs of our clients confidential and to complete your instructions with all due diligence and speed. Nevertheless, we cannot accept any liability or responsibility whatsoever for any losses, expenses, liabilities, or other detriment that you might suffer or incur as a result of our compliance with these obligations.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
Goldwaters have professional indemnity insurance with Endurance Worldwide Insurance Limited of First Floor, 2 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7BB under policy number PI21SOM0193.
Complaints Information
Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy including the firm’s bill, please raise your concern in the first place with the person dealing with your case. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
Our complaints policy
Goldwaters are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint or there is any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy please contact us with the details.
What will happen next?
A. Complaint
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within seven days of us receiving your complaint and pass it in the first instance to the person dealing with your case to address the complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register within seven days of receiving your complaint.
3. If the basis of the complaint is unclear the person dealing with your case will write to you within fourteen days from receiving your original complaint.
4. The conducting fee earner will then investigate your complaint.
5. Within twenty eight days of the original complaint the conducting fee earner:
(1) Will reply in writing to your complaint.
(2) If considered appropriate invite you to a meeting and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.
In these circumstances within forty nine days of the original complaint a letter will be written to confirm what took place and any solutions that have been agreed.
B. Review
6. If you remain dissatisfied please contact our office manager, Ms S Murad, in writing within fourteen days of the decision for review of the decision by the Principal, Mr A T Malik. If the complaint is against the Principal then another senior member of the firm will review the decision.
7. We will let you know the result of the review within thirty five days of the original decision. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman at P.O. Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ or by telephone on 0300 555 0333 to consider the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the act or omission about which you re concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.