Regulatory information

Regulatory information by country

United Kingdom

Gowling WLG (UK) LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with number OC304378. Gowling WLG (UK) LLP is regulated and authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and is subject to the SRA Code of Conduct. Its registered office address is 4 More London Riverside, London SE1 2AU.

VAT number: GB 858 6988 38.

Gowling WLG (UK) LLP is registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates as Gowling WLG (UK) LLP (Dubai Branch), a Recognised Limited Liability Partnership with Registered Number CL0457. Gowling WLG IP LLC, a wholly owned affiliated business of Gowling WLG (UK) LLP which operates outside of the DIFC, is engaged on a subcontract basis to provide support in Dubai on trade mark/patent searches, enforcements, registration and ancillary administrative support services which can only be undertaken by an onshore entity in the U.A.E. Gowling WLG IP LLC operates under Professional Licence Number 759390, and has a share capital of AED100,000.

Client account interest policy of Gowling WLG (UK) LLP for client monies held in UK client bank accounts

In this part of the Legal Notice, "we", "us" and "our" refer to Gowling WLG (UK) LLP.

Gowling WLG (UK) interest policy is available here.

Complaints Procedure

We aim to provide a high-quality service to all of our clients at all times and we wish you to be fully satisfied with all aspects of the service we provide to you.

If you have any concerns with our service, the level of our fees, or with the way in which we have dealt with any job, please first contact the person dealing with the matter. If you prefer, you can contact his or her supervising partner by telephone, email or post. Their details will appear on any Gowling WLG (UK) LLP correspondence you have received. You might alternatively contact your client partner.

We treat complaints very seriously and make every effort to deal with them effectively. We will investigate your complaint, and respond fully as soon as possible. Your complaint will be handled by the supervising partner or your client partner.

We aim to acknowledge your complaint within two working days from the date of receipt and send an initial response within 10 working days. Should a substantive response be required, we aim to send this to you within 20 working days. If, for any reason, we are unable to respond fully within 20 days we will tell you why, and when we expect to reply to you in full.

We aim to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and in any event within eight weeks from the date of receipt.

If we are unable to resolve your difficulty in this way, you will be offered the opportunity of an internal review. This will usually be handled by our General Counsel, Michael Luckman, our Chair, Emma Pioli or our Chief Executive, David Fennell.

If you do not believe that we have responded to your complaint within a reasonable time, or you are not satisfied with the response, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. The helpline number is +44 (0)300 555 0333, and the address is PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH. If you are calling from overseas, the contact telephone number is +44 (0)121 245 3050. You can email the Legal Ombudsman at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a 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.

Further information can be found on its website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

Please note that the service provided by the Legal Ombudsman is only available to certain types of clients/organisations. Further details of those eligible for the service can be found on the Legal Ombudsman's website. Alternatively, you should contact the Ombudsman on the helpline number given above. You may also complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Further information on how to do this can be found at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/.

The EU Regulation on Consumer Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) enables clients who have a complaint about a service that they bought online to submit a complaint to an ODR platform via an online form. Further information can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/index.cfm.

Non-client complaints

If you are not a client of the firm and wish to complain about the conduct of the firm or its employees, please write to our Compliance Team at Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, Two Snowhill, Birmingham B4 6WR, who will contact you and explain how they will deal with your complaint.

Insurance Distribution Activities

The scope of our engagement will not include advising you on the merits of entering into any transaction or investment, as our role is ordinarily limited to providing legal advice. However, we may carry out work in relation to regulated mortgage contracts and insurance distribution activity as an ancillary insurance intermediary.

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on insurance distribution activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.

The insurance providers with whom we currently do business are listed here.

France

Germany

Dubai

Abu Dhabi

Copyright

All material (including without limitation photographs) on this website is, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, subject to the copyright ownership of one or more Gowling WLG entities and may not be reproduced in any format and in any circumstances without the prior written consent of a person duly authorised on behalf of the owner(s).

Users may access and download the contents of these pages and store a copy on a temporary basis for the sole purpose of viewing the pages. Permanent storage, copying or re-distribution of these pages is prohibited. Gowling WLG encourages appropriate links to its website with prior permission from the web manager.

Gowling WLG is a registered trade mark owned by Gowling WLG International Limited.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the European Framework Services Directive 2006, and as implemented by local law, Gowling WLG (UK) LLP and its affiliates have the benefit of professional indemnity insurance in excess of the minimum level required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales and, if any, by the bar authority, or equivalent, in every other jurisdiction in which Gowling WLG (UK) LLP and any of its affiliates practices.

Gowling WLG (UK) LLP maintains professional indemnity insurance cover in accordance with the Solicitors' Indemnity Insurance Rules 2013, as set out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Minimum mandatory cover is provided by a consortium of Underwriters at Lloyd's arranged by QBE Insurance (Europe) Limited. Its professional indemnity insurance covers appropriate territories.

Brexit and Data Protection - EEA Data Transfers

As a member state of the European Union, personal information was able to flow freely between organisations in the UK and EEA without any specific measures. The transitional period ended on 31 December 2020 and a withdrawal agreement reached which provided for the continued two-way free flow of personal data.

In June 2021, the European Commission adopted adequacy decisions for transfers of personal data to the UK so recognised that the UK is providing adequate protection in respect of personal data.

What other safeguards are in place?

As a global law firm we have a data sharing protocol in place which permits us to transfer data between our offices. In general terms, if you are based in France or Germany, you are likely to deal directly with our Paris or Germany offices and share data with that office. Any subsequent transfer of that data to our Birmingham or London offices is covered by our data sharing protocol and no further action is required to safeguard that data.

If you are an EU based client and are dealing directly with our offices in London or Birmingham, we think it is likely you will be sharing your data either pursuant to a contract (because we need the data in order to provide you with legal services) or because it is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. There is an exemption in the GDPR Article 49 which provides derogations for specific situations. In the absence of an adequacy decision or of appropriate safeguards, transfers of personal data to a third country can take place in these circumstances and no further steps or safeguards are required. However there is currently a UK adequacy decision in place.

However, if your instructions involve data that does not fall within these circumstances, we may need to take steps to put alternative safeguards in place. The EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for the transfer of personal data from the Community to third countries (controller to controller transfers) are appropriate safeguards because we are both separate controllers of the data you provide to us.

Should you have any queries, please contact data.enquiry@gowlingwlg.com

September 2021