We pride ourselves on providing an excellent service, but even in the best run businesses, mistakes, delays and misunderstandings can happen.
If something has gone wrong, please tell us about it so we can put things right and improve what we do in the future. Please tell us about any problems as soon as they arise, so we have the best chance of fixing them.
You should not feel obliged to use this formal complaints procedure – you may tell us about a problem informally and we will do our best to put things right – but if you do find yourself in the position of wishing to raise a formal complaint with us then please follow the steps below.
We will never charge you for the time it takes us to handle your complaint.
You can make a complaint either in writing or by telephone by contacting the following people:
Afqar Dean, telephone: 020 3633 6827,
In writing: Afqar Dean, 6 Bevis Marks, London EC3A 7BA, or
by email:
Please tell us who or what the complaint is about and when the problem happened or when the problem started if it is still ongoing, and how you would like us to communicate with you (by telephone, letter or email).
We will acknowledge your complaint in writing. We will try to do this within 14 business days.
We will look into the details of your complaint and consider what we need to do to put things right, which might include:
explaining what we think happened;
apologising to you;
repeating work, or parts of work, we did for you;
reviewing our procedures so we do not repeat a mistake;
reducing our fees;
compensating you for any loss we have caused you to suffer.
Once we have investigated your complaint we will reply to you. We will do this within eight weeks of when you first complained to us, though we will always try and respond to your complaint much sooner. If you have asked us to contact you by telephone we will do so but we will also write to you.
If we have been unable to put things right, or we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates problems about poor service from lawyers.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
no more than one year from the date of the act/omission giving rise to the complaint; or
no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted using the following details:
Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ Telephone: 03005550333
Email:
The majority of the individual Costs Lawyers who work for us are regulated by the CLSB and the CLSB can investigate complaints about those Costs Lawyers’ professional conduct. If you wish to complain about a Costs Lawyer’s conduct, you should contact the CLSB promptly.
The CLSB will consider complaints made within 12 months of the date on which the matters giving rise to the complaint occurred or the date on which the complainant first became aware that they had grounds for the complaint. This period can be extended in exceptional circumstances. The CLSB will usually expect you to give us a chance to resolve your complaint first.
The CLSB can be contacted using the following details:
Address: Centurion House, 129 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3WR Telephone: 01612147904
Email:
Website: www.clsb.info
Education/admissions
Afqar is involved in the firm's diversity initiatives and a keen advocate for social mobility and opportunities for all.
Afqar was amongst the first in our profession become a regulated Costs Lawyer. He enjoys rights of audience in relation all costs proceedings.
Afqar is also an accredited training provider.
Experience and notable cases
Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) –v- Iraqi Airways Company (IAC) – Following the longest running commercial case in the history of the English courts I prepared KAC’s massive costs claim, one the largest ever to reach the doors of the Senior Courts Costs Office. Legal costs claim of >£40M.
Pharma patent litigation – I was instructed by a leading global law firm on behalf of the successful parties in patent infringement and revocation proceedings involving some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Legal costs claim of >£5M.
Telecoms patent litigation – I was instructed by a top tier specialist firm of patent litigators to prepare various complex costs statements following trials and appeals involving some of the world’s largest technology corporations. Legal costs claim of >£10M.
High-profile costs claim following failed £100M civil recovery proceedings – instructed by a market leading international litigation team acting for a foreign citizen whose worldwide assets were subject of a civil recovery claim brought by the National Crime Agency (NCA). My team and I prepared a number of high value interrelated claims for costs on behalf of the successful party . Legal costs claim of >£5M.
Excalibur Ventures v Texas Keystone – The case generated several decisions of wider importance in the legal costs field (relating to security for costs, indemnity costs, and the availability of a non-party costs order against professional funders – a point on which the Association of Litigation Funders also intervened). I prepared the successful party's costs breakdowns and provided witness statements in support of its security for costs applications. Following the conclusion of the substantive litigation I prepared the defendant’s £20M> costs breakdown.
Challenge to remuneration and expenses of joint administrators – instructed by a market leading international litigation team: I was instructed to prepare a detailed challenge to the charges of a global financial consultancy and their advisers (including two high-profile international law firms), in connection with the administration of a UK energy supplier. The application for assessment of fees and expenses of >£5M under the Insolvency Act 1986 was the first significant challenge of its kind in 20 years.
Education
LLB (Hons) – University of London (1994)
LLM (Distinction) – University of East Anglia (2018)
PhD (law) - University of East Anglia (2024)
Professional and research interests: Costs law and practice, litigation funding, responsibility theory, vicarious liability, products liability, litigation practice, philosophical foundations of tort law. My doctoral thesis examined relationships between (pre-moral, pre-legal) outcome responsibility and strict tortious obligations of repair. Time permitting, future research output will address aspects of costs law and practice, third party litigation funding, as well as approaches to responsibility for harm caused by intelligent products (for ‘algorithmic accidents’).
