Respectful Engagement with Our People

Purpose

This policy sets out Thackray Williams’ approach to ‘managing unreasonable behaviour, towards its people.

This policy exists to ensure that the firm continues to meet its legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations and applies a consistent and proportionate approach, providing clear direction in challenging situations.

Scope

Thackray Williams’ approach to a positive workplace

The firm is incredibly proud of the people who make up Thackray Williams, and to ensure they can show up for you every day, with energy and focus, we’re committed to maintaining a workplace that’s based on mutual kindness and respect.

This policy applies to any member of the public, including our clients and third parties who choose to engage with Thackray Williams.

Thoughtful communication: we know business and personal matters can prove stressful, but we ask that all conversations with our people, remain calm and professional. Patience goes a long way in helping us navigate challenges effectively.

However, we cannot, and will not, tolerate aggressive language, personal insults, or discriminatory behaviour towards anyone in our team. This includes our front of house personnel and those handling incoming calls to the business.

Communication challenges: if, as a client or contact, you have communication challenges, driven by ill health or medical condition, please make this known to your lawyer or our front of house team, so we can adapt our support accordingly.

Work-life balance: to keep our teams refreshed, and ready to help you, we do observe an ‘unplugged’ policy after 18:00. If you have a late-night question or idea, do feel free to send that over, but please appreciate that your communication will not be looked at until the morning.

Of course, some of our employees go above and beyond and will keep a ‘watchful eye’ during out of hours, but this will be the exception to the rule, and we ask that you do not expect a response.

Using the right channels: we also fully understand that communication can take the form of many different channels, but we would request that correspondence outside of meetings and telephone calls are directed, where possible, through formal email channels, rather than personal text messages or WhatsApp. Whilst the latter may often feel more convenient, formal emails will ensure that the wider team (where appropriate) have visibility of, and can address your incoming needs, with appropriate action(s), in the absence of your lawyer.

Definitions

What we define as unreasonable behaviour towards our people

Decisions regarding unacceptable behaviour are made on an individual basis, taking all circumstances into account. The examples provided in this policy are non-exhaustive.

To help our people identify when this threshold has been crossed, we’ve grouped behaviour into distinct categories:

Abusive & intimidating conduct: screaming, swearing, offensive or discriminatory remarks or behaviour based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other protected characteristics, explicit or implicit threats of violence, physical posturing, or harassment toward any of our people. As defined by The Equality Act 2010.

Unreasonable demands & pressure: requesting responses to unreasonable timescales, insisting on speaking with certain employees, or adopting a 'capture-all' approach by contacting many staff members and third parties.

Unreasonable persistence & over-communication: to help us manage your matter effectively and avoid unnecessary costs, we ask that our clients refrain from excessive or repetitive contact regarding the same query: continually contacting us while we are in the process of looking at a matter; making a number of approaches about the same matter without raising new issues, refuse to accept a decision made where explanations for the decision have been given, continue to pursue complaints/issues which have no substance, continue to pursue complaints/issues which have already been investigated and determined, or continue to raise unfounded or new complaints arising from the same set of facts.

We aim to use our people’s time and resources where they deliver the most value for our clients. Consequently, if addressing a specific issue requires a disproportionate amount of time, we may need to tailor our response to ensure our firm's resources remain focused and effective.

To deliver the best service to everyone, we ask for your patience, as we cannot guarantee immediate responses. Please note that persistent or repetitive contact following a request to wait, may be formally classified as unreasonable behaviour.

How we apply this policy fairly to individuals with disabilities or mental health challenges

The firm is committed to considering individual needs. Where a client has a disability or mental health challenges, we will evaluate whether their behaviour is related to that condition and ensure any restrictions do not place them at a unique disadvantage. For example, we would carefully consider the impact before removing telephone access for a client with a visual impairment who finds written correspondence challenging.

Online conduct and social media interaction

We are committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and professional environment for both our team, our clients, and others we interact with both in person and online. While we welcome open communication, we expect all interactions across digital channels, including social media, review platforms, and online communication portals, to adhere to reasonable standards of conduct.

To protect confidentiality, legal privilege, and the integrity of your matter, clients should refrain from posting details, documentation, or correspondence relating to active cases on social media or online public forums. If we consider these to be unacceptable, and we reserve the right to hide or delete posts.

Publicly naming, tagging, or targeting individual members of our team on personal or professional social media accounts in a hostile or derogatory manner will not be tolerated.

Consequences of non-compliance

Online abuse, defamation, or conduct that severely compromises our ability to represent you professionally may result in the immediate and formal review of our relationship, up to and including the termination of our engagement and our Terms of Business.

Management of unreasonable behaviour / immediate de-escalation

It is important to note that our people have explicit management support to protect themselves, in the moment, and without fear of internal repercussions.

Please be aware that the firm operates a zero-tolerance policy towards unreasonable behaviour (as set out above) directed at our team, and any such behaviour may be reported to the police. Any decision to involve external agencies will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

The firm will restrict communication with you after we have notified you that your behaviour is unreasonable and requested that you modify it to no avail.

We will clearly explain the consequences of ignoring this, should the behaviour persist, and we will take formal steps to limit future contact.

If a restriction is deemed necessary, the firm will select the option that best fits the situation. Any restrictions applied, will be fair and proportionate, and will take into account the nature, extent, and impact of behaviour towards our people and any impact on our operational capacity.

We will remain transparent throughout this process, informing you of the specific restrictions imposed, and how long they will remain in effect.

If the firm has previously made any reasonable adjustments for you, these will be fully considered when determining the appropriate action.

Right to terminate calls and/or meetings: if an unreasonable behaviour situation presents, our people may give one clear forewarning e.g. “I want to help you, but I will have to end this call / meeting if you continue to raise your voice”. If the behaviour continues, our people are fully authorised to end the call/meeting and request the client leave the premises.

Incident logging: our people will notify their Head of Department and/or the Head of Risk & Compliance within 24 hours of any such incident(s) occurring, detailing the date, time, channel, context, exact language used (or as close to), and any names of witnesses / third parties present.

Emergency and/or physical risk: if physical safety is threatened or one of our people feels unsafe in the office, they will immediately notify their Head of Department / Partner / Head of Risk & Compliance / Head of People & Wellbeing and, if necessary, the Police may be called.

If you continue to behave unreasonably after we have asked you to modify your behaviour, the firm will consider:

Requiring you to contact a named employee only.
Restriction of telephone calls to specified days and times, which will be agreed with you.
Termination of telephone calls if you persistently raise issues which we have already responded to in full. We will, at all times, politely explain that we are unable to comment further on the matter and will ask if there are any other issues you wish to raise. If no new issues are raised and you persist in raising issues, which we have already addressed, we will tell you so before ending the call.
Limiting future communication to written communication only
The termination of all telephone calls, if you are aggressive, abusive, or offensive. We will politely ask you to modify your behaviour, but if the behaviour continues, we will tell you that your behaviour is unacceptable and we will end the call.

We will consider restricting the issues we will correspond on, if:

You send us a large volume of irrelevant documentation; we may return these documents to you. In extreme cases, we will advise you that further irrelevant documents will be destroyed.
Where a final decision has been explained and the review process exhausted, the firm will decline to engage in further correspondence regarding the matter unless new issues are raised. Any incoming correspondence will be reviewed and filed, but no response will be provided unless significant new evidence or information is supplied.
The firm will consider blocking your emails if the number and length of emails sent causes operational difficulties or impacts our ability to handle client work efficiently.
We will not respond to correspondence which is abusive or offensive, and we will consider blocking emails that are abusive or offensive.
In cases where multiple inquiries or complaints are considered to be unfounded, we may require any subsequent matters to be corroborated by an independent third party (e.g. the Legal Ombudsman) to protect our team's operational capacity.

How to appeal our decision

If you wish to appeal our decision to restrict contact, you are invited to contact our Head of Risk & Compliance within 10 working days of receiving our decision – amy.hine@thackraywilliams.com
T Bromley
15-17 London Road
Bromley BR1 1DE

You can submit your appeal in writing, by email, or by telephone, depending on the restrictions currently in place. For example, if telephone contact has been restricted, you will need to appeal via email or post. The restricted contact arrangements will remain active while your appeal is being reviewed.

How we process appeals

We aim to consider your appeal and notify you of the outcome within 10 working days of receipt of your request. If we require more time to review your case, we will contact you to explain the delay and provide an updated response date. The outcome will confirm if the original restriction stands, or if an alternative has been agreed.

Reviews of restrictions

Most restrictions will be lifted once the timeframe in the original communication letter has elapsed. If an ongoing risk of inappropriate behaviour is identified, the restriction may be extended; we will notify you in writing of the reasons for any extension.

Monitoring, review & policy governance

Our management team will regularly review all reports of unacceptable client behaviour to protect our people’s well-being and to maintain SRA compliance.

Incidents recorded will be held in a central Register to track trends, evaluate de-escalation measures, and ensure consistency of approach.

All data will be reviewed regularly by our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) and the Management Board.

To ensure our safety protocols remain effective and up to date, this policy will undergo a formal review, annually.

Thank you for your understanding and collaboration, to make our partnership a success.