1. Our terms

 

1.1. Parties 

 

In these terms Magara Law is referred to as “Magara/we/our/us”. The clients of Magara Law are referred to as “you/your”.

 

1.2. Our status

 

We are a private limited liability company trading as Magara Law.

 

1.3. Entire terms

 

These terms (and any conditional fee agreement) are the only terms between us. Save as explained below, they will not change unless we replace them in their entirety.

 

1.4. Invalidity

 

If any term is invalid, then it shall be deemed changed just in so far as necessary to make the term valid. Where that is not possible, then the invalid term shall be deleted. No change or deletion shall affect any other term.

 

2. Our charges

 

2.1. Fees

 

The way we charge for our services is set out in our engagement letter and may be varied by us in writing. We may offer a fixed or a capped fee. If so, we will set out the scope of work we will deliver at that price. A fixed or capped fee will be based on assumptions and conditions. Where these do not hold true, for work outside the agreed scope and for all work not subject to a fixed or a capped fee we charge for the time we spend working for you at an hourly rate. We record the time spent on your work to the nearest minute. We review our rates annually and will give you one month’s written notice of any increase.

 

2.2. Estimates

 

Any estimates we provide are based on conditions, assumptions and our understanding of the work we are to undertake. An estimate is not a cap and we may exceed our estimates.

 

2.3. Disbursements

 

In connection with your matter we may incur expenses in your name (“disbursements”). We will not incur an individual disbursement over £300 without your approval. By approving a disbursement, you become contractually bound to pay the relevant third party for the relevant goods or services. That third party will bill us and we will in turn bill you at cost. We may also engage third parties in our own name as part of our service provision to you. If so, we will not charge these to you, though in some cases we will make a linked charge for our related services.

 

3. Costs on account

 

We may need to ask you for a payment on account of costs, disbursements and VAT (if applicable). If so, we will send you a costs on account statement requesting payment of an appropriate sum into our client account. From time to time, we may ask for a top-up payment. At the end of our engagement, we will return any balance to you if applicable. If we ask for costs on account, we are not obliged to do any work or incur any disbursement until they are received. Unless we specifically say so, we do not cap our fees at the level of the costs on account we request.

 

4. Payments

 

4.1. Invoices

 

You agree we may deliver interim statute invoices. Unless clearly stated on the face of an invoice to the contrary, all our invoices are self-contained accounts for the period they cover. We may invoice periodically and at any point. Our invoices will state the work done, any disbursements and the fees due. Disbursements-only invoices are payable on receipt, regardless of the payment terms we agree. We can only address an invoice to you, even if someone else is to pay it.

 

4.2. Settling invoices

 

You can pay us by bank transfer. Our bank details are set out in our invoices. 

 

4.3. Payments in

 

You must quote our reference number with every payment. Sending money without our reference may delay our receipt of your payment. On request, you must confirm the source of the payment and your source of wealth. We may return the funds at your cost and we may charge you for any work done prior to the return of funds.

 

4.4. Payments out

 

Money will only be paid from our account with your instructions, except to pay our fees and disbursements or following a court order.

 

4.5. No liability

 

We are not liable for any loss whatsoever (including, but not limited to, losses arising from our returning funds and our delay in applying or sending funds) arising from any breach of this paragraph 4 or from our compliance with any applicable law governing the transfer of funds.

 

4.6. No cash or cheque

 

We do not accept or make cash or cheque payments.

 

4.7. Currency conversion

 

We do not accept any other currency other than the British Pound Sterling.

 

4.8. Interest and costs

 

We will charge you interest at 8% per annum above the Bank of England’s base rate on all overdue amounts. We trust not, but if we ever need to incur costs in recovering unpaid amounts, you agree to pay our costs in full.

 

4.9. Payment from money we hold

 

If we hold any money for you, we may use it to settle anything you owe us, even if you tell us not to do so.

 

4.10. Retention

 

Until all payments due to us have been made, we may keep your property and documents. We may also keep your funds up to the amount of your unpaid bills and any work in progress.

 

4.11. Each client is liable

 

When two or more clients together engage us, each client is jointly and separately liable to pay the full amount of our fees, disbursements and VAT.

 

4.12. Security 

 

Before sending us funds, you should reconfirm our bank details by telephoning the number on our website and speaking either with your primary contact. We will not change our bank details. If you receive any correspondence suggesting that our bank or contact details have changed or raising any concerns in this respect, you should take no action save contacting your primary contact at Magara Law. We reserve the right not to make any transfers without adequate proof that the transfer is properly authorised, lawful and correct. We may require you to confirm your instructions both in writing and by telephone.

 

4.13. Bank default

 

Money paid into our account is held at our bank on trust for you. If our bank becomes insolvent or does not carry out our instructions, we are not liable for any loss or damage caused to you.

 

5. Liability

 

5.1. Our liability

 

We are only liable for the losses we cause directly. We are not liable for your loss of profit or other indirect loss. We are not liable for matters outside our control.

 

5.2. £3 million cap 

 

Our total liability to you (and to any other party we have agreed in writing may rely on our advice) is limited to £3,000,000. This limit applies to all claims against us related in any way with our work for you connected to this engagement Letter. Where we work for more than one client on a matter, this £3,000,000 limit applies to our total liability to all of them. 

 

5.3. No liability to anyone but you

 

The services we provide are only for you. Nobody else can rely on our advice (or see a copy) for any purpose, without our written permission. We owe no duties to anyone but you.

 

5.4. No one is liable except us

 

If a claim arises, connected to our work, you can only claim against us, not against any of the following (even if they have been negligent): our shareholders, members, partners, directors, officers, associates, employees, consultants, barristers, solicitors, assistants, agents or other legal professionals (“staff”). If anyone signs a document in his own name, that does not mean the signatory accepts any personal legal liability. Each person mentioned in this paragraph can enforce it under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

 

5.5. Earlier statements

 

We make this agreement on the basis that you have not relied on any statement or promise from us or from any of our staff. If that is wrong, please write to us straightaway to say so.

 

5.6. Liability that cannot be limited

 

Nothing in these Terms limits any liability that cannot legally be limited, such as (without limitation) for fraud on our part, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

 

6. Our legal advice

 

6.1. Jurisdiction

 

We are authorised to practise law in England and Wales. We do not practise in any other jurisdiction. Any advice we may give you in relation to other jurisdictions is commercial advice only; it is not legal advice and you must not rely on it as such. If you require such legal advice you must tell us in writing. We will then endeavour to introduce you to a law firm authorised in the relevant jurisdiction.

 

6.2. Relevant information

 

You must ensure you tell us everything we need to know in order to work for you as soon, as you realise we need to know it. This includes anything you have told us in the past if we worked for you before. You must always be truthful and open with us.

 

6.3. Changes in law and your situation

 

We will advise you according to your situation as you explain it to us and the law in force when we give our advice. We will not update our advice once we have delivered it to you unless you ask us to do so in writing. If you believe your situation may change after we give our advice, you should tell us how in writing and ask us to factor this in to our advice.

 

7. Work done by others

 

7.1. Engaging others

 

Where we believe it is in your interests, we may introduce you to third parties to work for you. We make no recommendation and the decision to engage them is yours alone. If you wish to engage them, you would usually do so directly. Where appropriate, we may act as your agent and, if so, they will appear as a disbursement on your bill (see paragraph 2.3). In all cases you alone are responsible for their fees.

 

7.2. Reliance

 

We will rely on the work and advice prepared by you and your other advisers (including those you may engage through us).

 

7.3. Responsibility

 

We are not responsible for any action, omission, error or deficiency of anyone you engage whether directly or through us.

 

8. Use of information

 

8.1. Source of information

 

We may receive information about you and other individuals directly from you, from a third party connected with you and from a third party connected with us.

 

8.2. Confidential information

 

We safeguard all the confidential information you disclose to us. We may share your information within our network. We will also share your information with others where you allow it, where required by law or regulation, as part of a file audit, where required by our insurers or where we think it allows us to give you a better service.

 

8.3. Multiple clients

 

When two or more clients together engage us, each client authorises the sharing with the other(s) of any information it provides. If one or more clients terminate our retainer, we may still use all the information provided to us during the retainer for the benefit of the remaining client(s).

 

8.4. Personal data and Privacy Policy

 

We comply with applicable data protection laws to protect your data. These terms and our privacy policy explain how we use personal data. We recommend you read our privacy policy which can be found on our website.

 

8.5. If you are a data controller or data processor

 

If you are a data controller or data processor for others, and you provide to us personal data relating to others, then you confirm to us that you have a lawful basis for doing so under data protection law and where that basis is consent, then you confirm you have secured the consent of the data subject to our using their data as part of our acting for you.

 

8.6. Special category data

 

During the course of providing our services to you, we may need to use special category data. Your acceptance of these terms is your explicit consent to our processing any special category personal data as part of your instructions to us. Special category data is personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

 

8.7. Data controller

 

When we use personal data about you or others in connection with providing our services to you, we do so as data controller. Our contact details are set out in our engagement letter and communications relating to data protection should be addressed to roy@magaralaw.co.uk.

 

8.8. Use of personal data

 

Our core purposes for processing personal data are to operate our law firm, to provide legal services to our clients, to maintain our client and business records and to comply with law and regulation. In relation to you (or the organisation on behalf of which you instruct us) this primarily involves: providing you with legal advice or other information that you have requested from us; invoicing you for services we have undertaken for you; keeping records of the work we have carried out for you; and fulfilling our anti-money laundering obligations. These terms deal with our use of your data as part of your instructions to us. In all other respects, our use of data is set out in our Privacy Policy.

 

8.9. Lawful basis of processing

 

Before accepting your instructions, we may need to carry out certain checks (e.g. anti-money laundering and conflict checks). If so, we process your personal data to comply with our legal obligations. When we are providing our advice to you, we process your personal data to provide legal services to you and to comply with our contractual obligation to provide such services. We will also process personal data where it is in our legitimate interests to do so (for example, as part of the administration of our business and keeping our systems secure).

 

8.10. Categories of personal data obtained

 

The core categories of personal data which we use to provide our legal services to you are: name, email address and other contact details; correspondence with us; bank account details and/or other billing details; and copies of your passport, driving licence, birth certificate, national identity card, utility bills and/or other identifying information required to be provided to us for anti-money laundering purposes.

 

8.11. Sharing your personal data

 

If we share your personal data we will require the recipient to safeguard it. We may share your personal data with our insurers, our bankers, our regulators, our professional advisors, our auditors, our staff and the staff of our network firms. In order to provide you (or your organisation) with our services, we may provide personal data to the courts, to lawyers advising other parties in your matter, or to other professionals (such as accountants, experts or barristers). We will not otherwise share your personal information with any third party except where permitted by data protection law.

 

8.12. Data retention

 

We store some files digitally and others in hard copy. In each case we may use third parties to store your files. We keep files for six to eight years, or longer if required by law. This is explained in more detail in Information Retention Policy. You can request a copy of this any time.

 

8.14. Destruction and retrieval

 

We will destroy your files at the end of their storage period, or earlier with your and our consent. Please write and tell us if you object to this. We will charge you if you want us to retrieve your files after we have completed our work.

 

8.15. Your rights

 

If the General Data Protection Regulation applies to you, you have the following rights: the right to be informed; the right of access; the right to rectification; the right to erasure; the right to restrict processing; the right to data portability, the right to object and certain rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling. Where our lawful basis for processing your personal data is consent, you have the right to withdraw consent. You can find out more about your rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.

 

8.16. Supervision (personal data)

 

If you have any questions or concerns, or if you want to exercise your legal rights regarding your data then you should email us at roy@magaralaw.co.uk. We would ask you to use that address as well should you have a complaint. We are supervised by the ICO and if you prefer you can make a complaint to them at any time.

 

8.17. Failure to provide personal data

 

We may find it hard to advise you if you do not provide us with information we request (which may include personal data).

 

9. Insurance and regulation

 

9.1. Insurance

 

We maintain professional indemnity insurance with an insurer approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Please ask if you would like a summary of this insurance.

 

9.2. Legal services

 

We are a law firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

 

9.3. Supervision (other matters)

 

The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints-handling body. (In relation to supervision for our processing of personal data, see clause 8. above.)

 

9.4. No investment advice

 

We do not give advice on the merits of investment transactions or act as a broker or an arranger of investment transactions. No communication from this firm should be interpreted as an invitation or inducement to engage in any investment transaction or other investment activity. We are not entitled to communicate invitations or inducements to engage in investment activity on your behalf.

 

9.5. Undertakings

 

By engaging us to work for you, you irrevocably authorise us to:

 

a) give any undertaking that is a normal part of our work for you, and to

b) take the necessary action to fulfil our undertaking.

 

If a proposed undertaking is particularly important or not a normal part of our work, then we may refuse to give it until you give us express written authority in our usual format.

 

10. Proof of identity

 

10.1. Proof of your identity

 

Before we can start work, we must have documentary proof of your identity and, where relevant, that of your beneficial owner(s). This information may be renewed every three years. We may verify your identity by:

 

a) Searching a third-party database. This may leave a footprint on your credit file, but it will not affect your credit rating.

b) Asking you for original documents or for copies certified by another solicitor or by a regulated professional.

 

You agree to provide the documents we request and that we may carry out electronic checks on you. We will not usually charge you for undertaking identity checks, but we may if the checks are significantly more time-consuming than we would normally expect.

 

10.2. Proof of others’ identity

 

We will rely on you to check that others involved in a transaction are who they claim to be. Or, if you ask us in writing, we will be happy to check this for you.

 

10.3. Storing identity documents

 

We will keep copies of all documents provided to us as proof of identity for between five and eight years after we finish working for you on any matter. After that, if you ask us in writing, we will destroy them.

 

10.4. Reporting

 

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, we may be required by law to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency where we know or suspect a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we are required to make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may need to stop work and may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made.

 

11. Complaints

 

11.1. Ombudsman

 

If you are not satisfied with our handling of a complaint then, subject to eligibility, 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 and within six years of the relevant act or omission.

 

11.2. Fees

 

If you are unhappy about our fees at any point, then, in addition to the remedies set out in our complaints policy, you may apply to court for an assessment of an invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. However, if you apply to court for an assessment, the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about the invoice. There are strict time limits that apply to court assessments and you may wish to seek independent legal advice.

12. Communications

 

12.1. Communicating with us

 

You agree to communicate with us by email. That includes getting our invoices by email. (Our complaints policy makes an exception.) We may assume emails sent from your email account(s) are from you and are received as you sent them. You must notify us without delay of any unauthorised use of your email accounts(s).

 

12.2. Authority

 

It is your responsibility to tell us any limits on the authority of those who tell us what to do for you. We may accept instructions from anyone we reasonably believe you have authorised.

 

12.3. Irrevocable instructions

 

Where you provide an irrevocable instruction, then we may rely on it even after the end of our retainer or if you purport to revoke it.

 

13. Termination and suspension

 

13.1. Your rights

 

You may end this agreement at any time by writing to us. Termination takes effect one clear working day after we receive your notice or on our written acceptance of your notice, whichever is the earlier. You will still have to pay for any work done before we receive your notice of termination. Where we were engaged under a fixed fee, we will invoice the entire fee. If that would be inappropriate, then we will invoice on the basis of time incurred.

 

13.2. Our rights

 

We may suspend or end our services at any time if we have good reason. If so, we will write to you and will explain why and from when we will no longer work for you. Examples of a good reason to end our services would be if:

 

a) You have not done as agreed in this letter and terms.

b) You have not paid an invoice when due.

c) You have not provided costs on account when requested.

d) You have not provided adequate instructions.

e) You and we no longer have trust and confidence in each other.

f) Our work for you conflicts with our regulatory duties.

 

13.3. If we end or suspend our services, we may:

 

a) Invoice all our work in progress and disbursements which shall be payable immediately.

b) Suspend or end any other work for you or anyone you control.

 

14. Law and claims

 

14.1. English law.

 

English and Welsh law governs this and all future agreements and any dispute or claim arising out of it or in connection with them. Any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) regarding their subject matter or formation shall also be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

 

14.2. English jurisdiction

 

The parties irrevocably agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with this and all future agreements or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims).