These are our standard
terms, and will apply to all instructions
which we receive, unless we have written
to agree specific variations to them.
CALCULATION OF OUR CHARGES
Our Engagement Letter sets out how
we calculate our charges.
In some cases we may be able to agree
a fixed or scale charge with you.
In other cases, the amount of time
spent in dealing with each matter
is central to the amount of the charge.
This is so even if a matter does not
progress to a successful conclusion.
When we have given an estimate of
our charges, it is always on the basis
that we will encounter no difficulties
or unexpected delays. We may charge
for extra work arising out of such
complications, but we will inform
you if our estimate may be significantly
exceeded.
A careful record will be kept of the
amount of time spent by everyone who
deals with any aspect of a matter.
Routine letters and phone calls are
charged at a minimum of 6 minutes
each unless a greater time is actually
spent. Every person has a basic hourly
charging rate, which will be increased
in line with the Retail Price Index
in July of each year, unless we notify
you of a different increase. The more
senior the person, the higher the
rate will be.
If you wish, you may stipulate a limit
to the amount of charges incurred,
by writing to us to fix a sum. Once
that limit is reached, we will advise
you, and we will not take any further
action, nor incur further charges,
without your agreement.
In some cases the final charge will
reflect only the value of time spent,
at the hourly charging rates of those
who have carried out the work. In
others, factors such as value, speed,
importance, difficulty, novelty, complexity,
urgency, or any unusual feature, may
also be relevant – if so, they
may enhance the final charge.
We can supply more information about
the hourly charging rates of anyone
dealing with your matter, or about
how a charge has been calculated,
if you ask us. Basic details are in
our Engagement Letter.
DISBURSEMENTS
When we have incurred expense on your
behalf, we are entitled to recover
that cost from you, in the same way
that we can recover charges. Disbursements
may include court or search fees,
fees for experts or barristers, travelling
expenses, preparation of detailed
costs calculations etc. The term "fees"
includes our charges and any disbursement.
CLIENT CARE COMMITMENT
We will tell you who will have the
day to day responsibility for each
matter, and his or her position within
the Department handling it. That person
will inform you of progress and of
any problems or delays. You should
direct routine enquiries to that person.
We will also tell you who is to supervise
that person.
We aim to satisfy all of our clients.
If there is any aspect of our service
which you wish to discuss, and upon
which the person dealing with the
matter has not been able to satisfy
you, please raise your particular
concern with the Head of the Department
doing the work for you. The sooner
you do this, the better.
The Head of the Department will look
into your enquiry, and respond promptly
to you, but our Senior Complaints
Partner is also available, if the
investigation of the Head of Department
has not, in your view, dealt adequately
with the point you raised.
LEGAL SERVICES
COMMISSION
If you qualify for funding from the
Legal Services Commission, then our
fees are paid under the terms of your
certificate. Work which we do before
funding from the Commission starts,
or after it has finished, or which
is outside its scope, is charged to
you in accordance with these terms.
If you think you may qualify for funding
from the Legal Services Commission,
it is in your interests to ask us
about it. We will tell you, if we
think you may qualify for this funding.
RECOVERY OF COSTS
AND FEES
In some matters, you may be able to
recover some or all of our fees from
a third party, e.g. an insurer. If
you so instruct us, we will take reasonable
steps to assist in recovering that
money for you. However, you remain
liable to pay our fees, until recovery.
It is important to draw to your attention
that in many court cases: -
- if you succeed, you may be able
to recover some fees from your opponent,
though the amount will depend upon
the circumstances. You will be responsible
to us for all the fees in the first
instance. Remember, there is no
guarantee that your opponent will
have the means to pay, even if ordered
to do so.
- if you do not succeed, you may have
to pay your opponent's legal costs.
Funding from the Legal Services
Commission will not cover these.
We urge you to obtain insurance
against such a risk, and may be
able to arrange such cover for you,
but we do not advise about the best
policy in any particular case.
- if your opponent is, or becomes,
entitled to funding from the Legal
Services Commission, it is unlikely
that you will recover your legal
costs, even if you succeed.
We will retain any interest on costs
awarded in your favour.
If you are VAT registered and we
recover fees from a third party,
you may still have to pay the VAT
element to us.
PAYMENT OF OUR
FEES
You will usually receive the final
bill when we conclude the matter.
Before that we may ask you to make
payments on account, i.e. advance
payments to cover fees.
We may also submit interim bills
when a matter is partly concluded,
especially in long-running matters.
In the case of instructions received
from a limited company, we may ask
for a written guarantee for payment
of our fees from one or more directors
or shareholders, and may suspend
work until these have been completed
to our satisfaction. If this requirement
is set out in our Engagement Letter,
we will not undertake substantial
work until a signed copy of the
Letter has been returned to us.
Any bill submitted must be paid
within four weeks. Unless you tell
us otherwise in writing, we may
apply any of your money we hold
on our Client Account to payment
of any bill due to us, 2 weeks after
the bill has been delivered to you.
On overdue accounts, we have the
right to charge interest from the
date of the bill - in the case of
non-contentious work at the Law
Society's rate, and in the case
of contentious work at the Judgment
Debt rate.
We may immediately suspend all work
on your behalf, if you do not make
a payment on account when requested,
or if payment of any bill is overdue.
We reserve the right not to complete
a property transaction if all sums
due have not been paid in full.
In the case of court proceedings,
we reserve the right to take no
further steps save to apply to come
off the court record (which we will
do at your expense). In any such
case, we will do our best to notify
you immediately.
VAT is chargeable on our fees, and
(unless stated in writing) is not
included in any estimate given.
Our VAT Registration number is - 119242681.
OTHER POINTS TO
NOTE
- Unless we have written to you accepting
responsibility to advise on the
tax implications of any transaction,
we have no such liability or responsibility.
- Data Protection Act – this requires
us to advise you that we hold your
details on our database and that we
may use this, from time to time, to
send you information which we think
will be of interest.
- Money Laundering Regulations –
under these regulations we may need
to ask you to provide details of identity
and address, and it is a condition
of accepting instructions that you
will do so.
- We do not offer, or hold ourselves
out as offering investment business
advice. If you require such advice
we will put you into contact with
an independent financial adviser.
- Unless the right of enforcement is
expressly granted, it is not intended
that a third party should have the
right to enforce a provision of this
agreement under the Contracts (Rights
of Third Parties) Act 1999.
MONEY LAUNDERING
REGULATIONS
Since the implementation of these
rules, we have a duty to report
certain matters to the relevant
authorities. If we do so in your
case, and have acted in good faith,
we will not be liable to you for
any loss you suffer as a result
of that.
We may refuse to accept payment
of sums in cash.
If we act on instructions from SOCA
or other relevant authority not
to complete or progress a transaction
then we will not be liable to you
for any loss which occurs as a result
of that instruction.
LIMITATION OF
LIABILITY
We will maintain Professional Indemnity
insurance for an amount of no less
than £12,500,000.00. In the
event that there is a claim of any
sort against us by you, our liability
to you will in any case be limited
to this amount, or a higher sum
not exceeding the upper limit of
our Professional Indemnity insurance
for the time being. This is agreed
as being a reasonable restriction
on our liability, unless you have
agreed a different arrangement with
us
FILE AND STRONGROOM
STORAGE
When we conclude your matter your
file (or a copy) will be retained
for a period of twelve years unless
we agree a longer period with you.
We may dispose of the file after
that time. We presently make no
charge for storing your file, but
we may charge you for the time we
spend, if you request its withdrawal
from storage.
Documents we hold in strongroom storage
will be retained in safe-keeping for
as long as you wish. We make no charge
for this service.
We are a firm of Solicitors in England and Wales regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (www.sra.org.uk) - Head Office Number - 00513398 |
