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TERMS OF BUSINESS
PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY
1.
DEFINITIONS
The following definitions apply in all cases:
· “Terms”
shall mean these Terms of Business;
· “us”
or “we” or “our” or “firm” shall mean the law firm of Simcox
Associates Solicitors;
· “you”
or “your” shall mean our client;
· “Contract”
shall mean the agreement between us and you relating to the provision of our
services;
· “covering
letter” shall mean our letter referring these Terms to you and setting out any
other special terms including the work you have asked us to do and the
individuals who will handle it at our firm. Any conflict between the covering
letter and these Terms shall be read in favour of the latter;
· “Regulations”
shall mean the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.
· “Disbursements”,
shall mean any costs or payments that we incur on your behalf in connection with
providing our services, e.g. Counsel, agents’ fees, couriers etc;
· “Estimate”
shall mean a provisional estimate of our fees, which is not intended to be
legally binding;
·
“Quotation”
shall mean a firm indication of what our costs shall be for acting for you.
2.
THE CONTRACT BETWEEN US
The covering letter (which in the event of any
inconsistency prevails), these Terms, and any written amendments that we agree
with you shall form the Contract. This Contract will be concluded:
· When
you confirm that the provisions of the covering letter are agreed; or
· When
you give us any specific instructions to act on your behalf, request advice from
us, or after you have received the covering letter and you have raised no
objections to their provisions.
3.
CONSUMER COOLING OFF RIGHTS
For consumer matters where you entered into the
Contract without someone from the firm being physically present, the Regulations
may apply, giving you the statutory rights:
·
To
terminate the Contract within a cooling off period of seven working days
beginning with the day after the Contract was concluded.
Where you have this right, and decide to use it, you can do so by sending
a written notice of cancellation addressed to the lawyer in charge of your case
within the cooling off period. However, you will lose your statutory right to
cancel if we commence working for you, either at your request or if we consider
it appropriate, before the cooling off period expires. If you wish us to wait
until the cooling off period has expired before starting our work, please advise
us in writing immediately;
·
To
request we complete our work within 30 days of the day after you asked us to
work for you, unless otherwise agreed. In this respect, subject to any contrary
term in the covering letter, our agreement with you is on the basis that we
shall not be required to meet any such 30 day deadline, given our services
generally require more time to complete.
4.
WORK THAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Subject to the covering letter, or unless otherwise
agreed to the contrary in writing, our advice shall not include advice on
matters relating to:
· The
laws of any jurisdiction other than England and Wales; or
· Taxes
or duties (other than Stamp Duty); or
· Financial
planning; or
· Accounting.
5.
INSTRUCTIONS AND AUTHORITY
If you are a company, partnership or other
organisation, we may accept instructions from anyone within your organisation
unless you have written to us identifying which individuals we are to take
instructions from.
When our Contract is with more than one person, unless
otherwise agreed in writing, we may:
· Accept
instructions from any one of those persons on behalf of all; and
· Correspond
with any one of those persons on behalf of all.
6.
EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY AND OUR RIGHT TO CANCEL
We may ask you to provide evidence of your identity
and/or authority to instruct us. If
you cannot satisfy these requests promptly, we have the right to cancel the
Contract on giving immediate written notice to you.
7.
DELEGATION OF WORK
The individual named in the covering client care letter
shall have primary responsibility for your work, but may delegate appropriate
parts of the work to our junior lawyers acting under proper supervision. The
individual with overall responsibility for your work is the Supervisor
responsible for the department in which your work is being conducted. If there
is any aspect of our service that you are unhappy with, you should discuss the
matter with your advisor or the named Supervisor and finally, if there is a
problem that cannot be resolved, you should raise the matter with the Principal.
If you instruct us in relation to issues that fall
outside the range of work that is normally done by the named individuals in the
covering letter, we may refer you to other lawyers within the firm who can
assist you, subject to your agreement.
8.
FEES 
The amount of time taken is generally valued at an hourly
rate for the individual concerned. Our current hourly cost rates are set out below.
We may increase our hourly cost rates in the course of any matter on which we are
working on for you and we shall notify you if this should be the case. We
generally review our rates once each year.
| Solicitor with over eight years post qualification
experience: |
£127.33 per hour |
|
Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years post
Qualification experience: |
£112 per hour |
|
Other solicitors and legal executives and fee earners of
equivalent experience: |
£92.66 per hour |
| Trainee solicitors, Para legal and other fee earners: |
£70 per hour |
| Routine letters are charged at 1\10 of appropriate hourly
rate. |
|
| In addition to the cost rate, a “mark up”
between 0% and 100% will be added – depending upon the circumstances
below. Unless you are specifically advised to the contrary, the
mark up will not exceed 50%. If no mark up has been advised, a mark up
of 50% will be applied on the assumption of an average of the
circumstances below. |
|
For mark-up purposes, due regard will be paid to what may
be fair and reasonable to both us and the client, having regard to all the
circumstances of the case and in particular to:
a)
the complexity of the matter or the difficulty or novelty
of the questions raised
b)
the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility
involved
c)
the time spent on the business
d)
the number and importance of the documents prepared or
perused, without regard to length
e)
the place where and the circumstances in which business or
any part thereof is transacted
f)
the amount or value of any money or property involved
g)
whether any land involved is registered land
h)
the importance of the matter to the client and
i)
the approval (express or implied) of the entitled person or
the express approval of any testor to:
i.
the solicitor undertaking all or any part of the work
giving rise to the costs or
ii.
the amount of the costs
The above rates conform to the rates specified as
appropriate rates for contentious business conducted in the local County Court
and High Court District Registries.
The firm applies the same rates for non-contentious
business and the “mark up” principles in respect of all business.
Unless we agree to the contrary, any time spent by our
lawyers in travelling or in waiting to attend any meetings shall be calculated
with reference to the hourly costs rates of the lawyers in question.
Our fees are subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) where
applicable. You will provide us with all relevant information in this respect.
If your information is incorrect, you shall reimburse us on demand for any
interest , penalties or legal costs that we incur as a result.
Our fees are payable irrespective of whether a matter
proceeds to completion.
We shall be entitled to pay our fees out of any sums that
we receive or hold on your behalf, such as the proceeds of sale.
9.
DISBURSEMENTS AND OTHER COSTS
In addition to our fees, you shall also pay to us, with
VAT if applicable:
· All
Disbursements we make or incur on your behalf.
· The
costs of copying of documents;
· The
cost of any foreign telephone calls that we make on your behalf;
· The
cost of all travel and accommodation reasonably incurred by us.
We may require you at any time either to pay us sums on
account of any Disbursements or costs that we may have to incur, or to make any
payments of this sort yourself direct to the person in question.
10.
ESTIMATES AND QUOTES
Estimates and Quotations are generally based upon your
initial description of the matter in question and upon any documentation that
you might have given us to consider. Such information may not be sufficient to
give an Estimate or Quotation, particularly if documentation needs to be
prepared or negotiated, or if any complicated legal points are involved.
Where an Estimate or Quotation is given, it must be in
writing to be of any effect. Such effect will in any event be limited in that
sometimes a matter is more complicated than we could reasonably have expected
from your description or from a preliminary review of that documentation, or
unforeseen issues arise as a matter progresses which have a bearing on the
amount of time which we need to spend, or upon any Disbursements or other costs
which need to be incurred. We shall advise you of any such changes in
circumstance, as these matters will fall outside the scope of any Estimate or
Quotation which we have given. We
shall seek to agree with you an additional fee for such matters, but if no
agreement is made, we shall have the right to cancel this Contract on giving
immediate written notice to you.
If it is not possible to calculate our charges with
reference to a Quotation we have given, they shall be determined with reference
to our hourly rates.
Unless we specifically advise to the contrary, all
Estimates and Quotations are exclusive of VAT, Disbursements and other costs.
11.
MONIES ON ACCOUNT
We reserve the right to require you to pay one or more
sums on account of our fees and/or any likely Disbursements or costs at any time
before and/or during the course of the work. Any sums we ask you to pay on
account may include an element to reflect any VAT that may be chargeable. These
sums will be held in your name in our client account accruing interest if no
less than £20. From these sums, we shall be entitled to settle our invoices for
fees, Disbursements or costs after we have advised you of the fees,
Disbursements and costs in question. If
it transpires that our invoiced amounts at the end of a matter are less than the
sums that we are holding on account, we shall refund the balance to you.
12.
BILLING AND PAYMENT
We shall invoice you as frequently as we think
appropriate. Relevant issues in
determining the frequency of our invoices will include.
Subject to any special terms in the covering letter,
billing frequency is at our discretion depending on such criteria as the nature
of the matters on which we have been asked to act, the amount of our unbilled
fees, the amount of time that is being spent on your matters and your financial
circumstances. We generally invoice our clients on a monthly or quarterly basis
and on completion of the transaction.
Our invoices are payable in full upon receipt.
If any of our invoices are not paid within 30 days of
their delivery to you:
· We
may charge you interest on the outstanding amounts at the rate payable on
judgment debts, and;
· We
have the right to suspend work on any matters on which you have asked us to act,
or to cancel all or any of our Contracts with you on giving you immediate
written notice, and:
· We
have the right to apply to Court/Tribunal to be taken off the record as your
lawyers in relation to any legal matter in which we are representing you on
giving you 7 days written notice.
Where the covering letter is addressed to more than one
person, or where we have agreed with the addressee of the covering letter to act
for another person as well, each of you shall be jointly and severally liable
for our fees and disbursements and other costs, so that each of you is jointly
responsible for ensuring that our bill is paid, and we can pursue all or any one
of you for the whole amount that is due to us.
This shall be the case regardless of any agreement you may have entered
into with anyone else regarding the payment of our fees, disbursements, and
other costs.
13.
COMPLAINTS REGARDING FEES
Our invoices contain a brief summary of the work that
we have undertaken for you and the Disbursements and costs that have been paid
out your behalf in relation to the matters on which you have asked us to act.
A more detailed description can be provided if needed.
If you are not satisfied with the amount of our fees,
you have the right to ask us to obtain a remuneration certificate from the Legal
Complaints Service. The certificate will either say that our fee is fair and
reasonable, or it will substitute a lower fee. If you wish us to obtain a
certificate, you must ask us to do so within a month of receiving our invoice.
If you ask us to obtain a remuneration certificate,
then unless we already hold sums on account from you to cover these, you must
first pay:
· Half
our fee shown in the bill; and
· All
the VAT shown in the bill; and
· All
the Disbursements we have incurred that are shown in the bill.
However, you may ask the Legal Complaints Service at 8
Dormer Place, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 5AE to waive this requirement so
that you do not have to pay anything for the time being. You would have to show
that exceptional circumstances apply in your case.
A separate procedure is to have our charges reviewed by
the court, called an assessment - see sections 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors
Act 1974.
14.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
As solicitors we are permitted to put a reasonable
limit on our liability to our clients provided that:
· The
limit on our liability is not below the minimum level of cover required by the
Solicitors’ Indemnity Rules (currently £2,000,000 for partnerships and £3,000,000
for LLPs) (“Minimum Level”); and
· We do
not limit our liability for death or personal injury resulting from our
negligence.
Our liability to you shall therefore be limited as
follows:
Irrespective
of the legal grounds on which any claim against us is made, our liability and
loss to you (including any liability for negligence other than for death or
personal injury) shall be limited to:
· Minimum Level for all
claims and losses resulting from
one act error or omission, subject to aggregate limits of ;
· Minimum Level for all claims and losses arising from a
series of related acts errors or omissions or;
· Minimum Level for all claims and losses resulting from a series of acts
errors or omissions arising out of or attributable to the same originating
cause, source or event, or;
·
Minimum Level for all claims arising from the same or similar act error
or omission in a series of related matters or transactions.
For the
purposes of this clause, a claim against any one or more of our assistant
solicitors, employed barristers and any other members of our staff (whether
employees or not) or the Principal, shall be regarded as a single claim against
us and our liability to you shall be limited accordingly.
15.
JOINT LIABILITY
If you have a claim against us for any loss or damage
for which someone else (including you) could also be liable, our liability to
you in those circumstances shall be limited to a just and equitable proportion
of the loss or damage in question after liability for it has been apportioned
between everyone responsible and for the purposes of this clause:
· “loss
or damage” shall include all recoverable amounts, including legal costs; and
· The
ability or otherwise of any person or entity to satisfy any legal claim for any
reason including (but not limited to) death, bankruptcy, or insolvency shall be
disregarded; and
· It
shall be assumed that there are no agreements in force that exclude, limit or
cap the liability of anyone else who might be liable to you.
16.
OTHER MATTERS
We shall not be liable to you for any failure to
provide our services caused by matters beyond our reasonable control.
17.
REGULATORY MATTERS
The Firm is regulated by Solicitors Regulation
Authority in the conduct of its law practice. The firm has effected professional
indemnity insurance cover which meets the requirements of the Solicitors
Regulation Authority.
All UK law firms are subject to reporting and other
requirements imposed by the UK’s money-laundering laws and other legislation
and you may therefore be required to provide us with information that may be
relevant for legal or regulatory purposes at any time.
Any failure by you to provide any information of this sort shall entitle
us to cancel this Contract on giving immediate written notice to you.
We are not authorised under the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000 but we are able, in certain circumstances, to offer a limited
range of investment services to clients because we are members of the Law
Society. We can provide these
investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services
we have been engaged to provide.
If you have any problem with the service we have
provided for you then please let us know. We
will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints
handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves.
If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us,
then we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority which also
provides a complaints and redress scheme.
Although we are not authorised by the Financial
Services Authority, we are included on the register maintained by the Authority
so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the
advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts.
This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or
redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the Solicitors Regulations
Authority. The register can be
accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register
18.
CONFLICTS
We have the following rights to cancel this Contract on
giving immediate written notice:
· If
our own interests conflict with yours; or
· If a
conflict of interests arises between you and any of our other clients, or there
is a significant risk that this might happen; or
· If
any instructions you give us conflict with our professional duties or
obligations as solicitors.
19.
TERMINATION
You may immediately terminate the Contract in writing
at any time if you wish us to stop acting for you.
We may also cancel the Contract:
· On
giving you reasonable written notice; or
· If we
believe there are circumstances that justify an immediate cessation of the work
that we are doing for you; or
· In
the circumstances provided for in clauses 6, 10, 12, 17 and 18 above.
Circumstances that might justify our ceasing to act for
you under the first two bullet points above would include a non-payment of any
of our invoices, your failure to make any payment on account or to settle any
Disbursements or costs which we have requested, or your failure to give us the
instructions that we might reasonably expect in relation to your matter(s).
In the event that we cancel the Contract and cease
acting for you, we shall be entitled to charge you a fee for all the time spent
by us up o cancellation, and all the Disbursements and costs we have incurred or
may be liable for up to that point in time.
If it is not possible to calculate our fee with reference to a Quotation
that we have given, our fee shall be calculated on the basis of our hourly
rates.
20.
PAPERS AND DEEDS
We are entitled to retain our files and any documents
we are holding on your behalf until you have paid all our invoices.
Unless you have already asked us to return any papers to you, we shall
keep all files relating to your completed matters in storage for not less than
six years, either in their original form or on some other retrievable medium.
After the end of that period, those files will be destroyed, although
this shall not apply to any original documents that you have specifically asked
us in writing to keep in safe custody for you.
We do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored
papers which relate to current matters, although we reserve the right to charge
you for any time spent in retrieving papers relating to completed matters and
for any time spent in reading the file, writing letters, or doing any other work
at your request.
If you ask us to send any documents to anyone else, we
shall not be liable for any loss or damage that occurs to those documents after
they leave our possession. You
should also note that, unless we believe it might be appropriate to do so we
will not ordinarily make copies of any lengthy or bulky documentation which we
send to anyone else, unless you specifically ask us to do so, and pay our
copying charges.
21.
EMAIL FAX AND IT MATTERS
Unless otherwise agreed, we may use conventional
(unencrypted) email to communicate with you and anyone else that is involved in
any matter on which you instruct us. You acknowledge that conventional email may
present security risks in certain circumstances and you shall be taken to have
accepted those risks unless you tell us not to use that means of communication.
If you would like us to use encrypted email for
communication purposes you should notify us in writing. We will endeavour to do
so, but this shall also be subject to us making the necessary arrangements with
you and any other recipients.
If you do not want us to fax you at any fax number
where we might ordinarily think you may be contactable, you must inform us of
this in writing and provide us with any fax number(s) you wish us to use.
Please note that in order to protect the integrity and
security of our IT systems, we may prohibit the receipt and opening of certain
types of electronic files by our staff and you should note our internal IT
procedures may also impose a delay on our ability to open and deal with certain
types of electronic files.
Please note that we may record and monitor
telephone, fax and email communications that are made to or from our offices and
staff for the purposes of the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)
(Interceptions of Communications) Regulations 2000.
22.
RECOMMENDATIONS
If we should recommend the services of anyone to you
such as accountants, surveyors, trade mark and patent agents, foreign lawyers or
anyone else, we shall do so in good faith and this shall be the sole extent of
our liability with regard to the recommendation in question.
23.
AUDIT QUERIES
If we receive requests for information of an auditing
nature from you, your accountants or auditors, we may address our response to
you and we may charge you for the time spent in addressing these enquiries at
our normal hourly rates.
24
. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS
Unless we specifically agree to the contrary in
writing, we shall act only on your behalf in relation to the work that we do for
you and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply.
Any legal advice that we give you is for your own use
only and we shall not be liable to anyone else in relation to that advice
(including anyone that you pass or transmit it to) unless we express agree to be
liable to the recipient(s) in writing.
25.
DATA
If you are a private individual we shall only use any
personal data that we have relating to you for the following purposes:
· To
identify you as a client of this firm, and to confirm any information you have
given us;
· To
provide you with our products and services;
· To
process any payments from you;
· To
send you information regarding our products and services, including any products
and services that we may supply in conjunction with anyone else, unless you ask
us not to do so;
· For
our own internal purposes in connection with risk management matters and
resolving disputes; and
· For
producing statistics and other information relating to our business, providing
this shall not identify you personally.
26.
GENERAL
The Contract is governed by English law and it shall be
subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
Terms Accepted by:
Position:
Date:
Please return
a signed copy to us and retain a copy for your own records.
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