About us
About us
Colman Coyle is a well known Central London firm of solicitors widely respected for our straight talking and forward thinking legal advice.
Established in 1984 by Howard Colman and Robert Coyle, we have an experienced team of lawyers based in our central offices in Islington, London.
For over thirty years we have provided a practical and commercially grounded law service to a broad client base, including many small and medium sized businesses, as well as large and global organisations. Whatever the size of your business operation, we pride ourselves on being extremely client focused and believe in building long lasting relationships with you.
We understand the pressures on all our clients today and therefore ensure we meet their business requirements quickly and at a realistic cost.
Colman Coyle aims to provide high quality legal services with integrity, professionalism and respect for all our clients. We endeavour to meet and exceed the expectations of our clients by providing timely, effective and efficient legal solutions every time.
Partner Led Teams
Whilst each client has a team of lawyers working for them; we know that there is no substitute for experience. As such, all client work is partner led with any work completed for you under the supervision of a partner. Our partners are always at hand to provide guidance and advice not only to you but also to the rest of your Colman Coyle team. In addition, if we believe a transaction should be solely done by a partner – this is what will happen.
Professional and Friendly
We believe it is possible to act in a professional manner, whilst being friendly at the same time. As a client you can be assured that every decision we make has your best interest at heart. You can also be assured that we will make every effort to form a close and responsive partnership with you. Experience has taught us that it is this combination which ultimately leads to long-lasting, enduring relationships.
Client Led Service
We believe that there is no point in being commercially astute, technically proficient and hardworking, if the client is not always at the front of your mind. Here at Colman Coyle we are all of the above; however we also make a real effort to step inside your shoes. Gaining a real and genuine understanding of your business helps us to anticipate your needs and offer you pragmatic legal solutions. We have put into place a programme of continual improvement, meaning that as a client you can expect a call from us asking you to take part in our client surveys. All of this is based on a spirit of trust, mutual respect, openness and integrity.
Colman Coyle, both as a firm and as individuals, are committed to supporting charitable and community causes.
As a significant local business in Islington we are keen to support the community through our involvement in local charities and projects. We also undertake various CSR volunteer projects to utilise our skills to give back to the wider community.
Islington Boat Club
Colman Coyle are delighted to support the Islington Boat Club (IBC) which provides sailing, boating and all types of water and land based activities to young people who live in Islington – particularly those suffering from disadvantage and disability.
The Islington Boat Club works tirelessly with young people of Islington, its schools, pupil referral units, community groups and Youth Offending Teams.
Angel AIM Business Improvement District
Colman Coyle support the Angel AIM Business Improvement District which works to make the local area a safer, cleaner and brighter environment for local business and traders. Colman Coyle’s involvement in Angel AIM is through Partner Robert Coyle, who is a member of the board. Angel AIM works closely with public bodies responsible for the Angel, such as Islington Council, Islington Borough Police and Transport for London but all the schemes and initiatives delivered by Angel AIM are in addition to the services already provided by these bodies. Recent initiatives aimed at sustaining and attracting new business to Islington include Stopwatch, additional police support and recycling as well as regular local area information services.
Recycling
We are pro-active in our recycling efforts to limit our office waste. We also support local recycling projects such as ‘The Business Give or Take Day’ organised with the Forest Recycling Project.
Colman Coyle is ranked as a Leading Firm in the 2022 edition of the Legal 500.
Colman Coyle has achieved The Law Society’s law management quality mark, Lexcel. Lexcel is developed specifically for the legal profession and is a recognised accreditation scheme for law firms which gives assurance that a practice meets high client care and business management standards. To retain Lexcel accreditation, a practice must undergo a rigorous annual assessment.
In addition, individual solicitors and departments have received recognition within their specific practice areas for their high standards and client care. For example, the residential conveyancing department is accredited by the Law Society Conveyancing Quality scheme (CQS) and the wills, trust and probate department is accredited by STEP.
We are very much a ‘peoples firm’, with our culture being that we provide you with all the tools and support necessary to help you achieve your full potential. This ethos is applied to all our people regardless of whether you are applying to join in a legal or administration role.
Solicitors
Colman Coyle is currently expanding and is keen to hear from solicitors in any discipline who have an established client following.
Professional Support Roles
Colman Coyle realise that without a fully resourced non-legal team, the function of the firm will come to a literal stand still. With the firm continually growing, we are constantly on the look out for individuals to fill any professional support vacancies who will become part of the reason why we keep going from strength to strength.
Paralegals
The firm has a history of employing ambitious paralegals who want to become part of a firm which offers a first class service to its clients. You will also want a long-term future with us.
Clients demand more than just pure legal advice, they require a genuine understanding of their objectives. As such it is our job to provide them with practical solution – success in providing this depends on the quality of our team. We are always on the look out for paralegals who
- Have achieved a high standard of education
- Show a willingness to take responsibility
- Respond and adapt to challenges
- Seek fulfilment and recognition in their chosen profession.
If our paralegals show that they are all of the above and they have completed their LPC they may be considered for a training contract.
Training Contracts
Due to the size of Colman Coyle our trainees become part of the team from day one. All of our trainees are closely supervised by a partner in their particular seat. Our strategy is to shape trainees into commercially astute lawyers; as such you will be drafting agreements and attending meetings with clients and counsel straight away. All this will be done under the guidance and support of your supervising partner.
Practical Training
You will use your initiative to contribute your ideas and insights. At Colman Coyle you really do receive “on the job training”, which means you will constantly be learning and adding to your skill set.
Formal Training
This includes in-house seminars, courses and both formal and informal reviews. As a trainee we will also pay your PSC fees.
Minimum Criteria
Colman Coyle only recruits high calibre trainees who will hopefully become the future of the firm. As such you will need to have a 2.1 degree or higher from a leading university.
Our current vacancies
Associates and Partners
Colman Coyle is currently expanding and is keen to hear from solicitors at all levels who have an established client following in any discipline. For further information please email vacancies@colmancoyle.com
COLMAN COYLE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Please download a copy of our complaints procedure here
Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our Complaints Procedure
You can contact us in writing (by letter or email) or by speaking with Howard Colman whose contact details are Howard Colman, Wells House, 80 Upper Street, London, N1 0NU or howard.colman@colmancoyle.com or 020 7354 3000. Please include your name and contact details, your reference number (if you have one), details of your complaint and what you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint.
What will happen next?
Once we receive a complaint from you we will send you a letter of acknowledgement and if at that stage we require any further explanation or details we will ask you for them. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with the complaint. You can expect to receive our letter of acknowledgement within five working days of receipt of your complaint.
We will record your complaint in our central register.
We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:
(1) Howard Colman will either ask the member of staff to reply to you directly or, if he feels it more appropriate, ask the member of staff to prepare a report to enable him to reply to you. The reply will be sent to you within ten working days.
(2) Howard Colman may, as an alternative, invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint and if so that invitation will be sent within the ten working day period.
(3) If you do not wish to attend a meeting or it is not possible for you to do so Howard Colman will then send you a reply to your complaint within ten working days.
(4) If you accept the invitation to attend a meeting then, within five working days of the meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solution agreed with you.
(5) If you are still not satisfied you may contact us again and ask us to arrange a review of any decision reached. If so Howard Colman will refer the matter to another Partner in the firm who will review the decision within ten working days and we will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At that time we will write confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
(6) If we need to change any of the timescales set out above we will write to you explaining why and informing you of any revised timescale required.
(7) We are committed to trying to resolve any dispute in an amicable and sensible way and believe that this can be achieved through a properly conducted dialogue along the lines described above. However, if you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted by post at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, by phone on 0300 555 0333 or by email to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk (the website is at www.legalombudsman.org.uk).
You should complain to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the end of our complaints process.
From 1 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:
- one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
- one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to apply Rule 4.7, which allows an Ombudsman to exercise discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so.