Customer Charter

The Chief State Solicitor's Office is a component part of the Office of the Attorney General and is the principal provider of solicitor services to the Attorney General and to Government Departments and Offices. The Office also provides solicitor services to certain other State Agencies and to Tribunals of Inquiry, but does not act for members of the public.

Our mission as set out in the Statement of Strategy of the Office of the Attorney General is to provide the highest standard of professional legal services to Government, Departments and Offices.

We are committed to:

• providing an ethical and confidential legal service
• delivering a high quality legal service with efficiency and with a minimum of delay
• establishing excellent working relationships with our customers
• having regular interaction with our customers
• ensuring that customers' priorities are paramount when delivering a legal service to them
• identifying customer requirements for specialist legal service and developing our legal capacity in the light of such requirements
• making the maximum use of information technology in the delivery of our service
• service standards

We have set the following service standards:

• Customers will be treated with respect and courtesy
• Telephone calls will be answered promptly
• Members of staff will use answering machines on their telephones and telephone messages will be returned where possible, within 24 hours
• When a member of staff is out of the Office, a message to that effect will be left on his/her telephone answering machine together with an "out of office" response to incoming e-mails
• When a new matter is referred to the Office, a new file will be opened, registered and assigned to a staff member within 3 working days
• Incoming letters and e-mails will be acknowledged within 7 working days
• All correspondence coming from the Office will contain the name of the officer dealing with the matter and his/her telephone extension and e-mail address
• When a different member of staff is assigned to deal with a file, a letter to that effect will issue to the customer as soon as possible
• Documentation produced by the Office will be technically sound, reflect customer instructions, use accurate but plain language and be professional in layout and appearance
• Customers will be given as much advance notice as possible of consultations and court hearings
• Customers will be kept up to date of developments in their cases on an ongoing basis
• Meetings will be held with principal customers on a regular basis ranging from monthly to four monthly intervals depending on customer requirements
• The Office will use up to date technology to enhance the choice and quality of service to our customers
• A current organisation chart will be maintained on the Office website so that customers can ascertain the Section and Division within which any matter is being dealt with

The Office will make every effort to facilitate customers who wish to conduct business through the Irish language. In particular we will:

• Reply in Irish to correspondence received in Irish
• Support and encourage participation in Civil Service Irish language training initiatives
• Liaise with the Office of the Attorney General in briefing and working with Irish speaking Counsel in appropriate cases
• Publish our Statement of Strategy and our Annual Report simultaneously in both Irish and English
• Meet our commitments under the Official Languages Act 2003

We are committed in the provision of our service to the principles of equality as enshrined in equality legislation. We will raise staff awareness on equality and diversity issues.

We are committed to keeping our Office clean, safe and accessible to customers with disabilities.

We consider that feedback is an essential element in understanding the requirements of our customers. In order to evaluate our performance we would welcome any feedback or suggestions that you might have or if indeed our service has exceeded your expectations we would like to hear about it so that we can continue to provide you with a high quality service.

To assist us in reaching our service standards, we would be grateful if you would quote our reference number in all communications with us.

If you have a complaint about the standard of service provided by us and are unable to resolve the matter with the officer concerned in this Office or his/her immediate superior, you may refer the complaint to the Head of Corporate Services, Chief State Solicitor's Office at the address set out below.

All complaints will be dealt with promptly, fairly and impartially.