Legal and Regulatory Information
Phi Finney McDonald UK Ltd (“PFM UK”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a limited company registered in England, with registered number 12245900, and which practices from 25 Southampton Buildings, Holborn, London, WC2A 1AL. A list of directors is available for inspection at that address.
The word “partner” denotes a director of PFM UK or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications.
PFM UK is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England (“SRA”) with the SRA number 669330. The SRA Standards & Regulations 2019 set out our professional and ethical rules and obligations (including the SRA Codes of Conduct and SRA Accounts Rules), and you can view them at www.sra.org.uk.
Our VAT number is 348492858.
Our worldwide professional indemnity insurer is Travelers Insurance Company Ltd of 61-63 London Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1NA.
Anti-money laundering
We may require clients to provide documents and information concerning the contracting client entity and related persons, entities or affiliates, to comply with relevant anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We may be prevented from carrying out your instructions if our requirements are not met, which often include verifying the identities of your ultimate beneficial owners.
Where we have reasonable evidence to suspect that a transaction involves criminal proceeds, we may be required by law to disclose otherwise confidential information to the National Crime Agency. We may not be able to inform you that we have made the disclosure or the reasons for it. We may have to cease acting for you. We will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what actions we may need to take where the law permits us to do so. We will have no liability to you for complying with our duties and such legislation.
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
Some investment-related activities (including insurance distribution activities) of PFM UK are regulated by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 of the United Kingdom (“FSMA”).
Like most law firms, we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) under the FSMA. Instead, we are authorised and regulated by the SRA. The Law Society is a designated professional body under the FSMA, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The SRA is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about lawyers registered in England and Wales. We can provide investment-related services (including insurance distribution activities, which broadly are advising on, selling and the administration of insurance contracts) if they are an incidental part of the professional services we are engaged to provide, if they can reasonably be regarded as a necessary part of our professional services, or if we are otherwise permitted to provide them under the FSMA. We are included on a register maintained by the FCA and we are permitted by the FCA to carry on insurance distribution activities. You can access the register via the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk/register.
Managing complaints
If you wish to make a complaint, please contact the person with whom you are working or corresponding to set out your concerns. We will do our best to resolve any issues and, if applicable, will confirm our complaints handling procedure in writing (which is available to clients on request).
If you are not satisfied with our attempt to resolve matters, you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the issue – write to:
- PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ; or
- email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; or
- phone: 0300 555 0333.
If you wish to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, it should be done within six months of our final response to your complaint and within six years of the act or omission that caused the complaint or, if outside this period, within three years of when you should reasonably have known about the relevant act or omission.
The Legal Ombudsman may refer your complaint to the SRA if they are not the correct body to consider the matter. The Legal Ombudsman’s services are only available for certain types of complaints and complainants. You can find further details on the Legal Ombudsman’s website and the SRA’s website.
If you are a client and your complaint is about our invoices, you may also apply to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors’ Act 1974. If all or part of any bill remains unpaid after it is due, we may charge interest.