Andrew Jackson Terms and Conditions of Business

These terms and conditions of business set out the basis on which our services are provided. Once now received these conditions will apply to you if you continue to instruct us. If there is any conflict between any part of these conditions and our client care letter, our client care letter will apply. Please let us know if you have any queries or don’t understand any aspect of these conditions.

We hope that this document will help you to understand how we operate and enable you to use our services to your best effect.

1. Our Service to You
   1. Upon receipt of your initial instructions we will confirm in writing:-
      1. your instructions;
      2. scope of work;
      3. charges and expenses likely to be incurred;
      4. the people responsible for your work, their status and hourly rates.
   2. We aim to:-
      1. offer an efficient and effective service;
      2. conduct our services in a competent and professional manner;
      3. respond promptly and keep you well informed;
      4. keep a record of all action taken.
2. Scope of our services to you
   1. We are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In some circumstances, it may be necessary to refer you to an independent financial advisor/person authorised by the Financial Services Authority.
   2. We are also not able to provide advice in respect of taxation matters unless otherwise agreed in the scope of work or on any point of foreign law.
3. Your dealings with us
   1. To assist us in providing our services in this way, you will appreciate the importance of providing us with information when we ask for it to enable us to act and continue to act efficiently in carrying out your instructions.

      Such information may include:-

      1. a change in details;
      2. any critical dates;
      3. giving us as much notice as possible of changes in time scales;
      4. information in respect of timescales and changes to them;
      5. any changes in instructions;
      6. letting us know if you do not understand any aspect of the work;
      7. correct communication details.
4. Communicating with you
   1. We may communicate with you by e-mail, post, fax and phone. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that you are happy for us to communicate by e-mail or fax, even though we cannot guarantee security or confidentiality.
5. Charges
   1. Unless otherwise agreed our charges will be calculated by reference to the time actually spent dealing with your matter.
   2. Routine letters are charged as 6 minute units of time and we charge for the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in 6 minute units.
   3. Time spent on your matter may include:-
      1. meetings;
      2. considering, preparing, reading and working on papers;
      3. correspondence and telephone calls.
   4. We usually calculate our charges using hourly rates which are set according to the level of seniority of the person(s) dealing with your matter. We may also take into account any or all of the following:-
      1. the complexity of the issues;
      2. tight timescales at which action must be taken;
      3. out of normal office working hours in which action must be taken;
      4. the value of the transactions.
   5. Our hourly rates are subject to review (from time to time) and we will notify you of any changes to our hourly rates.
   6. Any estimate of charges can only be approximate and must not be regarded as a fixed quotation. However for certain work, fixed charges or charges up to a maximum level can be agreed in advance of any work being undertaken.
   7. An estimate of the additional charges will be given where:-
      1. unexpected difficulties arise in your matter which will involve greater charges being incurred;
      2. you instruct us to spend additional time on your matter (by attending extra meetings or by considering an extra element in your matter for example);
      3. you require us to undertake work beyond the scope of work set out in our client care letter.
   8. If for any reason whatsoever the matter does not proceed we will charge for the work already undertaken and any expenses incurred on your behalf.
6. Expenses
   1. In addition to our charges there may be certain other expenses necessarily incurred in carrying out your instructions which we will require you to reimburse us now in full.
   2. These expenses are known as disbursements and may include by way of example:-
      1. postage, fax, telephone and photocopying;
      2. search fees;
      3. court fees;
      4. travel costs and courier fees;
      5. barristers and other expert’s fees.
7. Value Added Tax
   1. Any estimates we provide are exclusive of VAT unless otherwise specified. VAT will be charged as applicable on our charges and on those expenses and disbursements that are liable for VAT.
8. Your Money
   1. Any of your money that we hold will be held in a separate client account. Where we hold money on your behalf we will account for interest in accordance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998 unless otherwise agreed.
9. Billing
   1. We may send you interim bills at regular intervals or at an appropriate stage in the conduct of your matter. Any interim bill shall be paid by you in accordance with the provisions contained in Condition 10 and at all times we reserve the right to take action to recover any outstanding charges or expenses.
   2. We reserve the right to request payment on account of charges, expenses and disbursements.
   3. We will send you a final bill on conclusion of the work.
   4. If you have any query about your bill you should contact the person dealing with your matter straight away.
10. Payment
    1. Payment is due to us within 30 days of the date of the bill (unless otherwise agreed) and we reserve the right to charge you interest on the bill (including any interim bill) from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within 30 days of delivery by us of the bill. Interest will be charged at the rate payable for the time being on court judgement debts. We reserve the right to claim interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
    2. You will be responsible for paying our bill. If you expect someone else to pay your bill, you must let us know as soon as possible. You remain responsible if they do not pay.
    3. You will also remain responsible for paying our bill even if you have a right under an indemnity or a court order for an assessment of costs.
    4. Our invoices include the following information:
       1. Remuneration Certificate
          1. If you are not satisfied with the amount of our fee you have the right to ask us to obtain a remuneration certificate from the Law Society.
          2. The certificate will either say that our fee is fair and reasonable, or it will substitute a lower fee.
          3. If you wish us to obtain a certificate you must ask us to do so within a month of receiving this bill.
          4. We may charge interest on unpaid bills and we reserve the right to do so at the rate payable on judgement debts, from one month after delivery of our bill.
          5. (i)If you ask us to obtain a remuneration certificate, then unless we already hold the money to cover these, you must first pay (a) half our fee shown in the bill; (b) all the VAT shown in the bill; (c) all the expenses we have incurred as shown in the bill (called “disbursements”).

          (ii)However, you may ask the Law Society (at 8 Dormer Place, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 5AE) to waive these requirements 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.

          6. Your rights are set out more fully in the Solicitors (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 1994.”
       2. Detailed Assessment
          1. You may in certain circumstances be entitled to have your charges reviewed by the court. This process is called “detailed assessment”. The procedure is different from the remuneration certificate procedure set out above and is set out in ss.70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974”.
11. Money Laundering
    1. To comply with Money Laundering Regulations we are required to implement procedures to guard against the risk of money laundering.
    2. These procedures require us to:-
       1. obtain formal evidence of your identity;
       2. check documents relating to any company for whom we may act and officers of that company;
       3. gain evidence as to the source and/or destination of funds;
       4. report any evidence or suspicion of money laundering to the relevant authorities. We are prohibited from notifying you of this fact.
    3. We will not normally accept payment in cash but where we do the limit is £2,500.
12. Data Protection and Privacy
    1. We will hold information of a confidential nature about you and your affairs in the strictest confidence. We will not disclose personal information to any third party without your consent unless we are required to do so by law.
    2. However, where we undertake work for you in conjunction with third parties who are also providing services to you or us in connection with your matters, we will assume that we have your authority to discuss relevant confidential information with them unless you indicate otherwise.
    3. We will put your details on our databases and computer systems to assist us in providing our services.
    4. If you consent we may use your details to send you information which we believe will be of interest to you (including newsletters, publications and details of seminars).
    5. Please also refer to our privacy policy on our website at www.amj.co.uk. This provides details on how we may use personal information. A copy of the privacy policy is available on request should you be unable to access our website.
13. Complaints
    1. We aim to provide a high quality service. If, however, you have any comments or concerns about our service, please raise them with the person dealing with your matter or alternatively contact our Managing Partner, Rob Penrose.
    2. We will endeavour to deal with your concerns promptly and thoroughly.
    3. We are regulated by the Law Society which provides a complaints scheme in the event we are not able to resolve your concerns. Further guidance may also be obtained from the Consumer Complaints Service (which is part of the Law Society) and a copy of its leaflet can be requested.
14. Termination of Instructions
    1. You may withdraw your instructions at any time by written notice to us. However, we reserve the right to send you a bill for charges and expenses incurred on your behalf up to the date of termination. We will not release any papers to you until our bill has been paid in full.
    2. We may withdraw our services at any time where there is reason to do so. Such reasons may include:-
       1. work which would result in a breach of the law or which would infringe the principles of good professional practice;
       2. difficulty in obtaining clear instructions
       3. a serious breakdown in confidence;
       4. where a conflict of interest arises;
       5. where you do not comply with our request for payment on account of charges or expenses or fail to pay our bill.
15. Storing Documents
    1. After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.
    2. We will keep our file of papers for a minimum of six years (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you). However, we reserve the right to:-
       1. destroy the file of papers after six years unless you request that we hold the file in safe custody;
       2. convert the file into an electronic format for storage and destroy the physical file upon its conversion;
       3. charge for the retrieval of any stored file of papers.
    3. We offer a free service to our clients for the safe storage of deeds, wills, share certificates and other securities but reserve the right to charge for this service. Wills are stored on the basis we are under no obligation to keep them under review.
16. Our Liability
    1. We shall not be liable to you for any pure economic loss, loss of profit, loss of business, depletion of goodwill or otherwise, in each case whether direct, indirect or consequential, or any claims for consequential compensation whatsoever (howsoever caused) which arise out of or in connection with our services.
    2. Under no circumstances shall we be in breach of these conditions or incur any liability to you for any loss, damage or delay arising out of the firm’s compliance with any statutory or regulatory requirement.
    3. Our total liability in contract, tort (including negligence or breach of statutory duty), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise, arising in connection with the performance or contemplated performance of our services may be limited in our client care letter in relation to an individual matter. This will never be below £2,000,000 or such other amount as required by the Law Society from time to time.
17. Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
    1. Unless expressly stated nothing in these conditions confers any rights on any person pursuant to the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
18. Law
    1. Our relationship will be governed and construed in all respects in accordance with English law and, save in respect of actions by us to recover sums due from you, the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with the relationship between us.