Someone makes a mistake that injures you. So you decide to take them to court. A year later, you've spent a large portion of the last months involved in your injury claim case.

You've been working with one of the personal law firms in the United Kingdom, and originally felt pretty confident in their capacity to attend to the personals of your case and to personalise your damages request to the maximum amount allowable by law.

But as the case wore on, you felt that certain actions your solicitor took or failed to take were injuring your chances of achieving your goals.

You suffered through the recovery required after your accident, and now you feel even more helpless because the one you trusted to be your adviser and guide has somehow let you down.

Injury law is a complicated subject. That very fact is why someone who has been injured will often seek out the services of personal injury firms. Yet there are times when the person or persons using these services are not satisfied with the result.

There may be a number of reasons for wanting to complain about your personal injuries law firm, but there is one question to ask yourself first. Are you certain that the complaint that you have is actually due to your solicitor or his or her personal injuries firm? For example, are you simply unhappy with the decision made in the case, or do you actually feel that there was something your solicitor did to injure or decrease your chances of having a positive outcome?

Before filing an official complaint, it may be wise to attempt to work out the situation with the solicitor. If the result of that talk is not satisfactory, then by law, each of Great Britain's injury law firms is required to have a written complaints procedure and the solicitor must provide you with a copy of that procedure upon request. However, you still may not be satisfied once you have followed the written procedure.

A possible next step is to contact the Consumer Complaints Service (CCS) in England and Wales. They provide a telephone help-line that is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. There you can get advice on whether or not you have sufficient grounds for a complaint and what steps you should take next. It is required that you contact CCS within six months of either the last correspondence you received from the solicitor or the last work that he or she performed on your behalf.

Once you have been advised that you have grounds for a complaint, you will need to fill out the required paperwork at their office. CCS will then review the complaint and the evidence provided and may proceed with disciplinary action against the solicitor. You can also find a great deal of information on their website at www.lawsociety.org.uk. For this specific issue, look for the leaflet entitled "What to Do if You Are Dissatisfied with Your Solicitor."

Useful Links:
The Law Society
0800 Compensation Claims Advice
Health & Safety Executive
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