Technology Law Solutions - Website Privacy and Data Protection Policy; Terms of Engagement
1. This Privacy Policy sets out the data processing practices carried out in relation to the website: www.technologylawsolutions .com ("the Website") by its owners ("the Company ").
Information Collected
2. The Company collects and processes details when you access/use the Website ("Your Information").
Use of Your Information by the Company
3. By providing Your Information via the Website, you agree: (a) subject to paragraph 5, to allow the Company to use Your Information to provide you with information or services; and (b) to the disclosure of Your Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
4. Whenever you provide Your Information, the Company will treat that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The Company will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.
5. If you do not want to receive information, products or services from the Company please let us know.
6. The Company may also use and disclose information or data in aggregate (so that no individuals are identifiable) for marketing and strategic development purposes.
7. The Company will, from time to time and upon your request, amend or erase any incomplete, inaccurate or out of date information that it holds about you in relation to the Website.
Disclosures
8. Subject to clause 9 below, the Company will only disclose Your Information to its officers, employees and contractors, successors in title to its business and suppliers it engages to process data on its behalf, unless otherwise agreed.
9. The Company may disclose Your Information if such disclosure is required by a person or body having a legal right, duty or obligation to have access to such information, but only in pursuance of such legal right, duty or obligation.
Use of Cookies
10. A cookie is a small piece of information sent by the web server to a web browser on your computer, which enables the server to collect information from the browser www.technologylawsolutions.com uses cookies. The use of cookies is an industry standard and many websites use them. If you do not wish to receive cookies you may (if your website browser permits) set your web browser so that you do not receive them.
Changes
11. The Company may change this Privacy Policy, with or without notice, in which case it will post these changes here so that you will always know what information it gathers, whether it will disclose it to anyone, and how it may use that information.
Legal Notice
NOTICE ISSUED BY TECHNOLGY LAW SOLUTIONS LIMITED ("the Company") APPLICABLE TO THE ENTIRE CONTENTS UNDER DOMAIN NAME www.technologylawsolutions.com ("Website") AND ANY CORRESPONDENCE BY E-MAIL TEXT OR OTHERWISE BETWEEN US AND YOU. USE OF THIS WEBSITE INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS.
1. Introduction
1.1 By accessing any part of this Website you shall be deemed to have accepted this legal notice in full. If you do not accept this legal notice in full, you must leave this Website immediately.
1.2 The Company may revise this legal notice at any time by updating this posting. You should check this Website from time to time to review the then current legal notice, because it is binding upon you. Certain provisions of this legal notice may be superseded by expressly designated legal notices or terms located on particular pages of this Website.
2. Licence
2.1 You are permitted to print and download extracts from this Website on the following basis:
(a) no documents or related graphics on this Website are modified in any way;
(b) no graphics on this Website are used separately from accompanying text; and
(c) the Company’s copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
2.2 Unless otherwise stated, the copyright and other intellectual property rights in all material on this Website (including, without limitation, photographs and graphical images) are owned by the Company or its licensors. For the purposes of this legal notice, any use of extracts from this Website other than in accordance with paragraph 2.1 above for any purpose is prohibited. If you breach any of the terms in this legal notice, your permission to use this Website automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any downloaded or printed extracts from this Website.
2.3 Subject to paragraph
2.1, no part of this Website may be reproduced or stored in any other website or included in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without the Company’s prior written permission.
2.4 Any rights not expressly granted in these terms are reserved.
3. Service Access
3.1 While the Company endeavours to ensure that this Website is normally available 24 hours a day, the Company will not be liable if, for any reason, this Website is unavailable at any time for any period.
3.2 Access to this Website may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, during maintenance or repair or for any reasons beyond the Company’s control.
4. Website Disclaimer
4.1 While the company endeavours to ensure that the information on this Website is correct, the Company does not warrant the accuracy and completeness of the material on this Website. The Company may make changes to the material on this Website, or to the products and prices described in it, at any time without notice. The material on this Website may be out of date, and the Company makes no commitment to update such material.
4.2 The material at this Website is provided 'as is' without any conditions, warranties or other terms of any kind. Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company provides you with this Website on the basis that the Company excludes all representations, warranties, conditions and other terms (including, without limitation, the conditions implied by law of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and the use of reasonable care and skill) which but for this legal notice might have effect in relation to this Website.
5. Liability
5.1 The Company , any other party (whether or not involved in creating, producing, maintaining or delivering this Website), and any of the Company’s principal, employees or agents of any of them, exclude all liability and responsibility for any amount or kind of loss or damage that may result to you or a third party (including without limitation, any direct, indirect, punitive or consequential loss or damages, or any loss of income, profits, goodwill, data, contracts, use of money, or loss or damages arising from or connected in any way to business interruption, and whether in tort (including without limitation negligence), contract or otherwise ) in connection with this Website in any way or in connection with the use, inability to use or the results of use of this Website, any websites linked to this Website or the materials on such websites, including but not limited to loss or damage due to viruses that may infect your computer equipment, software, data or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing this Website or your downloading of any material from this Website or any websites linked to this Website.
5.2 Nothing in this legal notice shall exclude or limit the Company’s liability for (i) death or personal injury caused by negligence (as such term is defined by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977); (ii) fraud; (iii) misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter; or (iv) any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
5.3 If your use of material on this Website results in the need for servicing, repair or correction of equipment, software or data, you assume all costs thereof.
6. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
This legal notice shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. Disputes arising in connection with this legal notice shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
1. ENGAGEMENT PERSONNEL AND RESPONSIBILITY
1.1 Your engagement will be conducted by our principal or a named associate as previously agreed.
1.2 Ancillary work may be carried out by other lawyers or assistants where we consider it appropriate and their details will be provided to you in writing in order to provide a cost effective service
2. SERVICE STANDARDS
2.1 We will update you regularly on progress in the engagement. We will usually update you either on the telephone or in writing. If you have a preferred method of communication, you should let us know. We will also explain to you, either on the telephone or in writing, the legal work required as the engagement progresses and will let you know of the likely timescales for each stage of the engagement.
2.2 We will update you every month on the incurred costs of this engagement unless agreed otherwise and on whether the likely outcome of the engagement justifies the likely costs and risks associated with the engagement, in particular whenever there is a material change in circumstances.
3. ACCESSIBILTY and HOURS OF BUSINESS
3.1 Our hours of business are 9.30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday.
3.2 We can be reached at any time out of office hours on the mobile / text numbers you will be provided with and by e-mail.
4. MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITIES
4.1 We shall review the engagement regularly and advise you of relevant changes in the law or other material circumstances.
4.2 We shall advise you of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware or consider to be reasonably foreseeable that could affect the outcome of this engagement.
4.3 Your responsibilities include to provide us with clear and accurate instructions and to let us have all documentation required to progress the engagement in a timely manner.
4.4 You will also be responsible for safeguarding any physical and electronic information, data or documents which are likely to be require for analysis or disclosure in the course of any mediation, litigation or arbitration proceedings.
4.5 UK Court Civil Procedure Rules require parties to a dispute to make reasonable efforts to settle and this accords with our service philosophy.
4.6 You are under an obligation to co-operate with the Court and with other parties so that the Court can deal with litigated cases expeditiously and fairly. Similar obligations apply to Arbitrations and other proceedings
5. CHARGE RATES
5.1 Fees for work will be charged at the standard rate unless expressly agreed by us in advance and in writing otherwise. Work may be undertaken on a Fixed or Conditional Fee Basis where expressly agreed. We can advise you on alternative methods by which your engagement can be funded.
5.2 Fees are calculated having regard to all the circumstances of the engagement including complexity, skill, time, urgency, importance and value.
5.3 You are responsible for payment of our fees, unless expressly agreed by us in writing.
5.4 We record the time we have spent on your engagement in six-minute units.
5.5 We shall provide you with our best estimate in advance of the likely costs that will be incurred in this engagement.
5.6 Standard hourly charging rates are our usual charging method and reflect the fee earner’s experience and will be discussed and agreed prior to commencement of each engagement for Principal, Senior Associate and Assistant / Researcher. Fixed or conditional fees may be agreed in appropriate cases.
5.7 Engagement specific rates may be reduced or increased depending on the type of work undertaken. Standard rates will apply unless and until we agree otherwise and you receive written notice of such agreed different rates from us.
5.8 Fees are exclusive of VAT, which will be added at the appropriate rate.
5.9 Fees are exclusive of all disbursements, such as Counsel’s fees, Court fees, couriers and the costs of experts or overseas lawyers, which are incurred on your behalf.
5.10 All disbursements will be shown separately on our bill. We reserve the right to make an additional charge for small disbursements, including bank charges, messengers and large quantities of photocopying as well as overseas communication costs usually to be charged at cost.
5.11 It is not usually possible to accurately estimate the number of hours work or the length of time that will be involved to conclude the engagement.
5.12 In the event of any issue arising regarding our fees at any time or at the conclusion of the engagement, or upon a change of rates, you may ask for our bill to be assessed (‘taxed’) in accordance with Solicitors’ Code of Conduct (Client Relations) LSA Amendment [(No.2)] Rules [2009] as follows
(1) If you are not satisfied with the amount of our fee you have the right to apply to have this bill assessed (“taxed”) by the court under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. A copy of these provisions will be provided to you at your request. Taxation will either determine that this bill is fair and reasonable, or it will substitute a lower fee. You may also make a complaint to the Legal Complaints Service, at Victoria Court, 8 Dormer Place, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 5AE, also at www.legalcomplaints.org.uk.
(2) If you wish to proceed to taxation, you must do so within a month of receiving this notice.
(3) We may charge interest on unpaid bills, or on the part of a bill remaining unpaid. The rate of interest charged will be at the rate payable upon judgment debts, and will be charged from one month after delivery of the bill.
(4) You may obtain further assistance from the Law Society at 13, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL and at www.lawsociety.org.uk
(5) A copy of this firm’s complaints procedure is available to you on your request. Any complaint should be addressed to Robert Marcus, the Principal of this firm. We will tell you in writing how your complaint will be handled and in what timeframe you may expect our written initial or substantive response.
6. INCREASE IN CHARGING RATES
6.1 You have been informed of the current charging rates in paragraph 2 above. Rates are normally reviewed upwards on 1st March in each year. The rates are fixed by reference to various factors, including those described in paragraph 2 above. If at any time you wish to know the current charging rate, please ask us but you will be notified in writing of any increase.
7. INTERIM ACCOUNTS
7.2 Interim accounts will normally be rendered every three months but the period may be more or less frequent, depending on whether we are undertaking a greater or lesser amount of work on your engagement.
7.3 If at any time you are concerned as to the amount of fees you have incurred, please ask for an estimate or an interim account.
7.4 Exceptionally, we may have agreed with you in writing not to require payment of our fees or, to require payment of disbursements only, until the conclusion of the engagement. In the event that interim accounts are rendered then even though immediate payment is not demanded, interest will at our sole discretion run on them (see paragraph 8 below). This concession does not alter your primary liability for our fees.
8. PAYMENT TERMS
8.1 Payment of our accounts is to be made within 21 days of the date of a valid invoice.
8.2 (a) If an account is not paid within 56 days of delivery:-
(i) in contentious matters:
We reserve the right to charge you interest at 9% per annum on the full amount of the account (including VAT) form the date of the invoice.
(ii) in non contentious matters:
We reserve the right to charge you interest at 9% on the full amount of the account (including VAT) from 1 month from the date of delivery of the invoice. At our discretion we may issue court proceedings against you to recover the outstanding debt, interest and costs.
(ii) We will at our sole discretion, decline to deal with all your matters until the account is paid in full and we may not be prepared to accept further instructions from you on this or any other matter.
(b) For non-contentious business within one month of delivery of our account you have a right under the Solicitors (Non Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 1994) to require us to obtain a remuneration certificate from the Law Society and/or to apply to the High Court for taxation of the bill pursuant to Sections 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors’ Act 1974.
(c) Your authority for us to receive all monies payable to you by third parties (by way of cheques drawn in our favour) is expressly granted by acceptance of these terms.
(d) We reserve the right to exercise a general lien as regards any outstanding
amounts.
(e) It is the policy of our practice not to accept cash from clients.
If you deposit cash directly with our bank, we may decide to charge
for any additional checks we decide are necessary to prove the source
of the funds.
9. IMPLIED AUTHORITY
9.1 We shall assume that unless you advise us to the contrary,
a. We have your authority to take all steps that we consider reasonable in the conduct of your engagement and to incur disbursements (i.e. fees to third parties for the conduct of your matter), e.g. searches, court fees, surveyors, experts and Counsel.
b. Sometimes, we ask other companies or people to do work on our files, for example photocopying or scanning, to ensure this work is done promptly. We will always seek a confidentiality agreement with these outsourced providers. If you do not want your information to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible.
c. We are committed to quality standards and in that context we have your authority to allow your file to be inspected by suitably qualified quality assessors as and when we consider appropriate. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your information.
d. We may not without your permission publicize your engagement in any form of media, and provided that if such permission is granted it would be limited to publicity which extends only to disclosure of material that would normally be in the public domain and not to matters, which are properly regarded as confidential.
e. We comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 with respect to information we hold on our clients by using the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal and commercial services to you and for related purposes including: updating and enhancing client records; analysis to help us manage our practice / statutory returns; legal and regulatory compliance. Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Date Protection Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal date that we hold about you.
f. We may from time to time send you information which we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information, please notify us in writing.
10. STORAGE OF DOCUMENTS
10.1 After completing the work on your matter, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there are any funds owed to us for fees and expenses.
10.2 We will keep your records and documents for up to 6 years, except those that you ask to be destroyed or returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them 6 years after the date of the final account. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody. However, we may charge you for storage of those documents.
10.3 If we take documents or papers out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may charge you both for time spent producing stored papers that are requested reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to the retrieved papers.
11. INTEREST
11.1 Sometimes in litigation cases, a losing party must pay costs and disbursements. If interest is paid on those costs and disbursements, it is a term of our agreement with you that any interest recovered shall belong to us. At our discretion, interest paid on disbursements may be paid to the person to whom the disbursement is payable.
11.2 Any money received on your behalf will be held in our client account. Interest will be calculated and paid to you at the rate set by HSBC plc for that client account which may change. The period for which interest will be paid normally runs from the date when funds are received by us until the date on the cheque issued to you. The payment of interest is subject to certain minimum amounts and periods of time set out in the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998.
11.3 Where we pay money to you, it will be paid by cheque or bank transfer. It will not be paid in cash or to a third party.
12. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
Technology Law Solutions is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and associates and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.
13. RECOVERY OF COSTS
13.1 If you are successful in contentious proceedings you may be entitled to payment of your costs by another party to the dispute. Where this happens, you will probably be awarded costs on a ‘standard basis’, which is less than a full indemnity, that is less than your total bill from us. It may be approximately two thirds of your bill although it may be more and sometimes less in accordance with principles currently applied by the Court and Tribunals.
13.2 Similarly, you may not get back part of or all your costs if the other party does not pay, cannot pay or if you reject a sensible settlement proposal. The examination of legal costs on the standard basis is complicated where the parties cannot agree the amount. In that case, the costs are assessed by the Court during a ‘Detailed Assessment’. This is a slow procedure and the costs of assessment itself sometimes outweigh the benefits. Even if you are awarded costs, you are at all times liable for our charges in full.
13.3 In the event that you are unsuccessful in any contentious matter or hearing, you may be ordered to pay the other sides costs.
14. SUMMARY ASSESSMENT OF COSTS
14.1 If there is a Court Hearing before the full trial, which lasts less than one day, the Court may make an on the spot assessment of the costs of that hearing. If it does so these costs will usually be payable within 14 days.
14.2 If you are ordered at such a hearing to pay costs, but do not do so within 14 days you may be prevented in continuing or defending the action. It is possible that the Court may even strike out your case. A costs order can be enforced in the same way as any judgment e.g. bankruptcy or winding up proceeding.
15. PAYMENTS ON ACCOUNT
15.1 It is our practice to ask you from time to time for a sum on account of our fees and/or disbursements that we may incur on your behalf. The amount paid to us on account may not reflect the cost of the work that we are about to undertake, nor the amount of work that has been undertaken or even a forecast of our future costs.
15.2 The payment on account may, at our discretion, only be a sum to enable us to pay disbursements on your behalf. If at any time you wish to have an estimate of the costs incurred to date, please ask us. It is our usual practice, however, to advise clients on costs incurred and to be incurred at regular intervals and certainly no more than every 3 months. Sums of money paid to us on account (whether or not identified by reference to disbursements incurred or to be incurred) may be appropriated entirely at our discretion. The absence of a request for payment on account is not to be taken as an indication that we hold sufficient sums on account.
16. INCORPORATION OF TERMS
16.1 Delivery of these Terms of Engagement to you at any time during the period we are instructed by you constitutes the contract between us from time to time.
16.2 Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.
16.3 You may end your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
16.4 We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example if you do not pay an interim bill or there is a conflict of interest. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
16.5 If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point. These are calculated in accordance with paragraph 5 of these Terms of Engagement.
17. COMPLIANCE WITH MONEY LAUDERING REGULATIONS
17.1 The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 require solicitors to get satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients and sometimes people related to them. This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their client can be used by criminals wanting to launder money.
17.2 To comply with the law, we need to get evidence of your identity as soon as possible. Our practice is to ask individual clients for a copy of their passport, together with a copy of a utility bill. If you are a company, we require a certificate of registration and official details of directors and shareholders. If we undertake a company search on your company, we charge you at cost.
17.3 If you cannot provide us with the specific information requested, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss other ways to verify your identity.
17.4 We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, solicitors may be required to make a disclosure to the Serious Organised Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your engagement for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.
18. COMPLAINTS
18.1 We will endeavour to always meet the goals set out in the client service commitment although this is not incorporated into these Terms of Engagement and does not form a contractual term. We appreciate that, notwithstanding our best efforts, differences of opinion or misunderstandings may arise and in the unlikely event of your having to make a complaint, please contact Robert Marcus who will explain our complaints procedure.
18.2 In the event of our being unable to resolve a complaint against this firm, it is hereby agreed that such dispute shall be referred to a sole mediator who shall be agreed between the parties or, in the absence of an agreement, a qualified mediator nominated by The Law Society.
19. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
19.1 Our liability to you for a breach of your instructions shall be limited to £3 million, unless we expressly state a higher amount in the letter accompanying these terms of engagement. We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profits or opportunities.
19.2 We can only limit our liability to the extent the law allows. In particular, we cannot limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.
19.3 Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms above.
20. LAW AND JURISDICTION
20.1. You agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice of England in respect of any action brought by ourselves to recover any sums which we may consider to be due to us.
20.2 We shall be entitled to commence and maintain any action to recover any sums which we may consider to be due to us in any jurisdiction of our choice with English law always applying.
20.3 You undertake, if so requested by us, to appoint agents to unconditionally accept service of proceedings in England and Wales and to acknowledge those proceedings.
20.4 This agreement shall be subject to and construed in accordance with English Law.