Terms of Business

  1. Introduction

These terms of business should be read with and subject to the attached letter and together they form the entire agreement between us. Should you instruct us in respect of other matters now or in the future, a separate letter of appointment may be issued but until then these terms and conditions shall apply in respect of those other matters.

  1. Our hours of business

The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.30 a.m. and 5.15 p.m. on weekdays. Messages can be left on the answer phone outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

  1. Charges and expenses

Time

  • Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent in respect of any work that is done on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others, reading and working on papers, correspondence (including emails) both in and out, preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary.
  • Time is recorded in units of six minutes.

Hourly Rates

  • The hourly rates for the persons dealing or assisting with your matter are set out in the accompanying letter. The hourly rate is currently exclusive of VAT but this is currently the subject of review. At present, VAT is 20 per cent.

Other Factors

  • In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors, including: any need to carry out work outside our normal office hours; the complexity of the issues; the importance of the matter to you; the speed at which action has to be taken; and any particularly specialist expertise that the case may demand. In particular, in property transactions, in the administration of estates and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge reflecting, for example, the price of the property, the size of the estate, or the value of the financial benefit may be considered. Where a charge reflecting any value element is to be added we will explain this to you.

Disbursements

  • Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients ranging from Land or Probate Registry fees, court fees, barristers fees, experts’ fees, non routine photocopying and so on. We have no obligation to make such payments unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose. VAT is payable on certain expenses. We refer to such payments generally as ‘disbursements’.

Non-Completed Matters

  • If, for any reason, this matter does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses incurred.

Estimates

  • We will always attempt to give you estimates as to the likely overall charges for either the whole of the matter or part of it. However there are times when it is difficult to do so due to circumstances beyond our control and, for similar reasons, there are times when our original estimates may have to be altered. As a result, any estimates we give you must be taken as a general guide only and not as a firm quote. Where our estimates do change then we will notify you in writing.

Services Provided by Others

  • If we engage the services of others on your behalf (for example accountants or other professionals) then we do so as your agent. When instructing these others we will do so with care but we are not responsible for any act or omission on their part.

Money Laundering (See also section 10 below)

  • Any costs that we incur complying with Money Laundering Legislation will form part of our charges to you.
  • Because of Money Laundering Regulations we do not accept funds or payments from or on behalf of Clients in cash sums exceeding £500.

Bills and Payment arrangements

Payment Dates

  • All bills are due for payment by 28 days from the date of their issue.

Interest

  • Interest will be charged on a daily basis at 4 per cent over Barclays Bank Plc’s base rate from time to time from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within the 28-day period.

Payments on Account

  • It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses, which are expected in the following weeks or months, and we reserve the right to do so. We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses, which are being incurred. If such requests are not met with prompt payment, delay in the progress of a case may result. Where these payments on account are made then we reserve the right to apply them immediately to reduce our charges and expenses.

Interim Bills

  • As another way of helping you to monitor and budget for our charges we shall deliver to you regular bills, normally on a monthly basis.

Other parties’ charges and expenses

  • In some cases and transactions a client may be entitled to payment of costs by some other person. It is important that you understand that in such circumstances, the other person may not be required to pay all the charges and expenses, which you incur with us. You have to pay our charges and expenses in the first place and any amounts that can be recovered will be a contribution towards them. If the other party is in receipt of legal aid no costs are likely to be recovered.
  • If you are successful and a court orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, interest can be claimed on them from the other party from the date of the court order. We will account to you for such interest to the extent that you have paid our charges or expenses on account, but we are entitled to the rest of that interest.
  • You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs that the court orders the other party to pay to you.
  • A client who is unsuccessful in a court case may be ordered to pay the other party’s legal charges and expenses. That money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses. Arrangements can be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. Please discuss this with us if you are interested in this possibility.
  1. Storage of papers and documents
  • We are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. Subject to that we will return to you, if you request, any documents provided to us.
  • Our working papers, draft documents, and copies of letters sent by us will remain our property.
  • We do not undertake to retain files or your papers and documents for any particular period of time and reserve the right to destroy files if in our opinion they are no longer required. If we do decide to store them then that storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it after such period, as we consider reasonable or to make a charge for storage if we ask you to collect your papers and you fail to do so. We will not of course destroy any documents such as wills, deeds, and other securities, which you ask us to hold in safe custody. No charge will be made to you for such storage unless prior notice in writing is given to you of a charge to be made from a future date, which may be specified in that notice.
  • If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents to you or another at your request. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.
  1. Copyright and Disclosure
  • Copyright in any document created by us is and will be vested in us and will not be transferred to you. We reserve the right to be identified as the author of such document.
  • If we are required by a lawful authority to disclose information or documents about you or your affairs then we reserve the right to comply with that request and to charge you for the cost of doing so in accordance with the hourly rates and other relevant provisions of these terms and conditions.
  • In the event that the information or documents attract or may attract legal professional privilege then we will notify you of that right and ask you if you wish to waive that privilege; if you do not then waive privilege we will be entitled to charge you for the cost of asserting or preserving privilege in accordance with the hourly rates and other relevant provisions of these terms and conditions.
  1. Money Laundering
  • You will probably be aware that under UK laws brought in following the European Money Laundering Directive, we are required to satisfy ourselves as to the identity of all our clients. We are sorry to trouble you with this but if we fail to comply with these laws we may commit a criminal offence.
  • We are under a duty to you to keep all information relating to your affairs completely confidential unless authorised by you to disclose information to someone else.
  • However we may sometimes have other duties and obligations which affect our obligations to you, for example we are obliged to disclose to the National Criminal Intelligence Service any suspicions we may have regarding money laundering or terrorist activities and this will override our duty of confidentiality to you.
  • Because of Money Laundering Regulations we do not accept funds or payments from or on behalf of Clients in cash sums exceeding £500.
  • Any costs that we incur complying with Money Laundering Legislation will form part of our charges to you.
  1. Termination of this agreement

By you

  • You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. If at any stage you do not wish us to continue doing work and/or incurring charges and expenses on your behalf, you must tell us this clearly in writing.

By us

We may terminate this agreement by reasonable notice provided there is good reason to do so; such reason would include

  1. A failure by you to pay any outstanding bill
  2. refusal or failure by you to make a payment on account
  3. A refusal to accept our advice
  4. Where you have requested that we act in a way that we believe would be unlawful or would be in breach of a professional rule or guide
  5. Where there is in our opinion a conflict of interest
  6. Where we believe that your interests would best be served by us ceasing to act on your behalf
  7. Where there has been a breakdown of trust and confidence

In the event of termination for whatever reason, you agree to pay to us our charges for

  1. Transferring our file to yourself or to others acting for you
  2. Coming off the court record unless within 7 days of a request from us you file a notice of intention to act in person or new solicitors file notice of change.
  1. Limited companies
  • When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a director and/or controlling shareholder to sign

a form of personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this firm.

  • If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.
  1. Client Care and Complaints
  • Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times and we hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you.
  • However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy, or any query with regard to the bill then please raise your concern in the first place with the person having day to day control of your file; in the event that he or she is unable to resolve your query please feel free to speak to either the named supervisor or the Head of Department
  • If you are still not satisfied then you are more than welcome to contact Lucy Gonzalez who is the solicitor and partner in overall charge of Client Care and Complaints
  • A copy of our Client Care and Complaints Procedure is available on request
  • If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.

10A. Client Care Complaints regarding Bills

Should you have any concerns with regard to the bill you are entitled to complain about the bill and raise your complaints with us if you are dissatisfied. We will attempt to clarify any matters and resolve any issues you may have about the bill.

Should your complaint not be resolved please note that you may also have the right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and/or by applying to the court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

If all or part of the bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.

  1. Communication between you and us

Confidentiality

  • Information or documents that are confidential will be kept as such by us (subject to any legal obligation). Where we are working on your matter

with others we will assume, unless you instruct us to the contrary, that we are permitted to disclose confidential information or documents to them.

Methods of communication

  • We will aim to communicate with you by such a method as you may request. We may need to virus-check disks or e-mail. Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate by e-mail or fax but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by e-mail or fax.

Data Protection

  • The Data Protection Act requires us to advise you that your particulars are held on our database. We may, from time to time, use these details to send you information, which we think, might be of interest to you.
  1. Terms and conditions of business
  • Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of the current hourly rates, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.
  • Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business.