TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. OUR CONTRACT

2. DEFINED TERMS

3. OUR AUTHORITY AND SERVICES

4. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

5. CLIENT CARE CODE

6. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

7. HOURS OF BUSINESS

8. FEES AND EXPENSES

9. OUR INVOICES

10. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

11. INFORMATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

12. CUSTODY, RETENTION AND TRANSFER OF DOCUMENTS

13. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

14. JOINT INSTRUCTIONS

15. LIABILITY

16. PROPORTIONATE LIABILITY

17. EXCLUSION

18. LOSS OF PROFIT

19. EXCEPTIONS

20. TERMINATION

21. GENERAL

22. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

23. LAW AND JURISDICTION

24. QUALITY STANDARDS

25. DISCLAIMERS

26. LITIGATION AND OTHER WORK IN RELATION TO DISPUTES
27. PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

28. FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME

29. LEGAL AID

30. REGULATIONS AFFECTING YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS

31. PROTECTING BANKING DETAILS AND EMAIL SCAMS

32. PAYMENT OF INTEREST

CANCELLATION PRIVACY NOTICE

OUR CONTRACT

1.1 Extent

These Terms of Business issued by Hunter’s Solicitors LLP (“the Firm”), as supplemented and/or amended by any relevant Engagement Letter; apply to each Matter we work on for you.

1.2 Variation

No variation of these Terms shall be effective, unless it is in writing and is signed by one of our Partners. power supply failure, terrorism, fuel strikes, severe weather, computer breakdown, failure of suppliers to meet delivery requirements, industrial disputes and absence of personnel due to illness or injury; “Matter”  means any specific transaction, dispute or issue in relation to which you ask us to provide Services whether or not it has been defined in an Engagement Letter or other agreement;

2. DEFINED TERMS

In these Terms of Business:- “the Firm”    the  Firm  means  Hunter’s Solicitors LLP and any successor practice and any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of the Firm or any of the Partners;

“Our Documents”

means documents (other than Documents Held for You) which we create or receive for our benefit (including copies of our letters to you, your letters to us, notes of telephone conversations and meetings with you for which we have not charged   you,   and   our

“Associated Entities”

means (where you are a body corporate) your shareholders, directors (as individuals not acting together as the Board), officers and employees, subsidiaries, parent companies, and  subsidiaries  of  parent preliminary drafts, research materials and internal notes);

“Partner”             means a partner of the Firm;

“Services”            means all services we provide to

you in relation to the relevant Matter; companies, and (where you are a trade association) your “We”, “us”, and “our” means or refers to the Firm;

“Credit Period”

individual members; means the period of seven (7) days from the date of our invoice for our fees and/or expenses;

“You” includes the addressee of the relevant Engagement Letter and any other person identified in the Engagement Letter as our client and “your” shall have a

“Documents” means  Documents  Held  For

You, Our Documents and Your Documents;

“Your Documents”

cognate meaning; and

means documents which you give or lend to us to enable us to

“Documents Held For You”

“Engagement Letter”

“Force Majeure”

means documents we create or receive on your behalf (including communications from or with third parties, notes of conversations and meetings, draft and final documents, and instructions to and opinions of barristers); means, in relation to any Matter, the letter (or other agreement) recording the basis of our engagement; means any circumstance beyond the reasonable control of the party affected by it and includes telecommunications   failure, provide Services.

3. OUR AUTHORITY AND SERVICES

3.1 Our Authority

• You give us full authority to act for you to the fullest extent necessary or desirable to provide the Services. In particular, we may engage barristers and other third parties and otherwise incur on your behalf reasonable expenses of a type which it is necessary or desirable to incur in relation to the Services in question.

• If we so require, you will contract directly with any third party so engaged by us and assume direct responsibility to them for the payment of their fees and expenses.

3.2 Our Services

• The Partner at the Firm named in any Engagement Letter as the “Supervising Partner” will be the Partner primarily responsible for the provision of our That Partner has complete discretion to deploy such of our lawyers, trainee lawyers, paralegals or other staff as she/he deems necessary or desirable to ensure appropriate delivery of the Services.
• We only advise on the Laws of England and Wales. If you require advice on the laws of other jurisdictions, we will, with your agreement, instruct lawyers practising those laws to give such advice, on the same basis as we engage other third parties on your

4. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

You will (so far as you are practicably able to do so):-

• provide us with timely instructions, information and materials necessary or desirable for us to perform the Services for you;
• notify us promptly of any changes or additions to instructions, information and materials previously provided by you or on your behalf; and
• ensure that all information provided to us is complete in all material respects and not

5. CLIENT CARE CODE

We set out below our complaints handling procedure. Thankfully, this has rarely been of interest to our clients, but we take this opportunity to ensure that you are fully acquainted with it.

5.1 Code

We want you to be happy with every aspect of our Service. We therefore operate a Client Care Code, the principles of which are as set out below:-

• We are committed wholeheartedly to the professional standards laid down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
• You will be told clearly at the outset the issues and how we advise they be dealt with, and the immediate steps we will take on your behalf.

• The Engagement letter (attached to this Terms of Business) notifies you of the following details:-
  • the name of the person or persons who is/are dealing on a day to day basis with your matter; and
  • the name of the Supervising Partner;
• You will be told the name of the new fee earner if the matter is transferred from one fee earner to another.
• We cannot guarantee that the fee earner or Supervising Partner will be available on demand, but we will do our best to get back to you promptly and efficiently.
• You will be informed of the progress of your matter and the reason for any serious delay.
• If you do not understand anything, please always ask. We will explain any important document; if you still are unclear as to the position, please say so. We want you to be fully informed and happy; you pay to leave the problem with us to solve.
• Never be afraid to ask for an appointment to discuss your case. Since time is money, do not be afraid to bring a written list of questions and note the answers. This can also be helpful when telephoning so you do not forget any point.
• There may be certain preparatory tasks that you ought to consider carrying out yourself to save costs. An example is putting the papers in order and flagging material items. This is helpful to us, and lowers your bill by saving the time we would otherwise spend on during the transaction.
• At the end you will be sent a bill and a letter confirming the matter has been completed and, where necessary, summarising any continuing consequences.
• If in doubt, ask. If you are still unclear or disagree, you can ask for us to confirm it by letter and you can then write with your
• The Firm’s policy is to only accept up to

£500 in cash payments from clients. Please discuss directly with Jeff Hazzelgrove if you are not able to pay the balance of the fees / disbursements via your bank account / cheque. If you try to avoid this policy by depositing cash directly with our bank, we may decide to charge you for any additional checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of the funds. Where we have to 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.

6. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

We hope that you will not have any reason to make a complaint about our Services. To underline how seriously we take complaints, we have a set Complaints Procedure. Please refer to Paragraph 22 entitled “Dispute Resolution”.

7. HOURS OF BUSINESS

The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. on weekdays. Messages can be left on the answerphone outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

8. FEES AND EXPENSES

8.1 General

• Unless otherwise agreed in the Engagement Letter, our fees will be calculated principally by reference to the time spent by us in providing the Services at the fixed hourly rates applicable to the relevant staff.
• We may, in accordance with professional guidelines, also charge a premium (where reasonable to do so) to take account of the nature, responsibility, complexity, value and urgency of the Services and other criteria specified in those guidelines.
• The fixed hourly rates of each of our Partners, Solicitors, Trainee Solicitors, Case Handlers, paralegals and other staff are reviewed from time to time and we will inform you of any variation in these rates and the date upon which they take effect.
• You will be responsible for paying the expenses we incur in the course of providing the Services (including travel and subsistence expenses, search and filing fees, court fees and barristers’, foreign lawyers’ and other third parties’ fees and expenses). We have no obligation to pay for such expenses unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose.
• VAT will be charged at the appropriate rate on all fees and expenses.

8.2 Limited Companies

When accepting to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a Director and/or Controlling Shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of our fees and expenses. If such request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and require immediate payment of our fees on a time spent basis and expenses as set out above.

8.3 Payments on Account

• We may require you to make a payment to us on account of our fees and expenses at any time and on more than one occasion. Money paid on account which is not subsequently required for fees and expenses will be returned promptly.
• We are not obliged to credit payments on account against interim invoices but may do so if you fail to make prompt payment.

8.4 Quotations and Estimates

• The provision of figures (orally or in writing) from time to time for the likely cost of a piece of work is an estimate only and does not constitute a contract to carry out the work at that cost.
• The provision of a written quotation for work constitutes an offer to carry out the work at that cost and does not become a contract until you accept the quotation or a defined part of it.
• Unless stated in writing to the contrary, any quotation or estimate does not include any expenses or VAT.
• Where we carry out work which falls outside the scope of an accepted quotation (or of an estimate which is subsequently incorporated into a contract between us) we may charge fees at our fixed hourly rates, in addition to the quoted or estimated fee. We may also charge additional fees on the same basis for work within the scope of such a quotation or estimate which is made more time consuming, onerous or urgent as a result of:-
  • circumstances or information which we did not know or could not reasonably have anticipated at the time of the quotation or estimate (whether or not you were aware of them/it); or
  • your, or your agents’, act or

8.5 Commissions

If we receive a commission from a third party arising from work we are doing for you, we will credit you with the commission.

9. OUR INVOICES

9.1 Frequency of Invoices

• Unless otherwise agreed in the Engagement Letter, we will be entitled to invoice you in respect of our fees and expenses monthly and on completion of each Matter. At the end of our financial year we shall be entitled to bring up to date our invoicing in respect of all your then unbilled work.
• Unless otherwise stated, monthly or other interim invoices are a final account of our fees for all work done during the period to which they relate. You agree that we may bring proceedings on interim invoices which are not final bills where we have provided Services and the amount of the invoice does not exceed the cost of the Services provided at the applicable fixed hourly rates.
• There may be a delay in invoicing expenses incurred on your behalf pending our receipt of the relevant invoices from suppliers. Unless otherwise stated, such invoices are not a final invoice in relation to such
• You may pay by cheque or directly into our client account, details of which will be supplied as necessary.

9.2 Payment Terms

Interest will accrue on all debts over 30 days until the time they are paid at the Law Society rate from time to time. Any debts that have to be chased will incur a handling charge of £50 plus VAT.

If you do not pay any invoice by the end of the Credit Period, or the sum we have requested on account within thirty (30) days (or such longer period as we may specify) of our demand, we may suspend or terminate the provision of all or any Services (and instruct any third parties engaged by us to suspend the provision of their services) and may invoice you for all accrued fees and expenses.

9.3 Third Party Payments

In some circumstances, you may have a right of recovery or indemnity against a third party in respect of all or part of our invoices, but we are not permitted to issue a VAT invoice to any person other than you in any circumstances, and you remain liable to us to pay our invoices notwithstanding such a right.

9.4 Right to Retain Money, Documents and Property

As a contractual right, in addition to any right to retain money, Documents and property available to us under the general law (lien), we have the right to retain your money, Documents and property (whether held in relation to the Services for which payment has not been made or any other Services) until you have paid us in full.

10. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

10.1 Definition

“Conflict of Interest” means any situation where:-

• we owe (or, if we accepted your instructions, would owe) separate duties to act in the best interests of two or more clients in relation to the same or a related matter and those duties conflict, or there is a significant risk that those duties may conflict; or
• our duty to act in your best interests in relation to a matter conflicts, or there is a significant risk that it may conflict, with our own interests in relation to that or a related matter; or
• we have confidential information in relation to a client or former client, and you wish to instruct us on a matter where:-
  • that information might reasonably be expected to be material; and
  • you have an interest adverse to our other client or former client, and for the purposes of this paragraph “you” does not include Associated Entities.

10.2 Similar Activities

We may act for parties engaged in activities similar to or competitive with yours.

10.3 Third Parties

Once we have agreed to act for you in relation to a Matter, we will not act for a third party in relation to the same Matter if there is a Conflict of Interest between that third party’s interests and your interests.

10.4 Instructions Creating a Conflict of Interest

We may decline to act for you where accepting your instructions would create a Conflict of Interest or cause us to break an existing agreement with a third party.

10.5 Consent

Where our professional rules allow, and subject to satisfying the requirements of those rules (for example by implementing an information barrier), we may act for you and another client where a Conflict of Interest would otherwise exist, provided that we have the consent of both parties. We do not require your consent to act against an Associated Entity.

10.6 Cessation of Services

If, whether through a change in circumstances or otherwise, we find that we have agreed to provide Services to you in circumstances which give, or could give, rise to a conflict of interest we will discuss with you how to deal with the conflict and may, be obliged to stop providing Services to you and/or to all other clients affected by the Conflict of Interest.

11. INFORMATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

11.1 Information About You

• We may use the information which you provide, or which we obtain through our dealings with you, for the provision of Services and may give it on a confidential basis to our Partners, employees and agents. We may use it to administer your account with us, including tracing and collecting any
• We may also use it to ensure the safety and security of our premises (where we may also use CCTV); for fraud prevention purposes (including verification checks for our money laundering obligations); to assess client satisfaction (such as by asking you to participate in surveys); and to help improve our services generally.
• We may also use it to contact you by letter, telephone, e-mail or otherwise about our services and about events such as seminars and conferences and to send you briefings and similar material. By signing and returning a copy of any Engagement Letter you are agreeing that we may use your contact details and information in this way. If you do not wish to be contacted, please let us know.
• Sometimes we ask other companies or people to do typing/photocopying/other administration duties on our files to ensure this is done We will always seek a confidentiality agreement with these outsourced providers. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible.

11.2 Our Duty of Confidentiality

• We will treat any information which is confidential to you and which we obtain as a result of acting for you as strictly confidential, save:-
  • for the purpose of acting for you; or
  • for disclosures to our auditors or other advisers or for the purposes of our professional indemnity insurance; or
  • as otherwise required by law or other regulatory authority to which we are
• We may refer publicly to your name as a client of ours, provided we do not disclose any information which is confidential to you.

• We shall be under no duty to disclose to you (or take into account in the course of providing the Services) any information acquired by us in acting for any other client or any information in respect of which we owe a duty of confidentiality to a third

11.3 Your Duty of Confidentiality

• Our advice and other communications with you are confidential and may not, without our consent, be disclosed by you to any third party (other than to your employees and agents who require access and who do not disclose it further) or otherwise made public except as required by law or other regulatory authority to which you are subject.
• If, as a result of our acting for you, you acquire any information in respect of which we notify you that we owe a duty of confidentiality to a third party you will keep it confidential and not use it without our

12. CUSTODY, RETENTION AND TRANSFER OF DOCUMENTS

• We will, at your request, either during the provision or after completion of any Services, release to you or to your order Your Documents and Documents Held For You, provided that we are not at the time exercising our right to retain documents pending payment of outstanding fees and expenses or are prevented by any court order, undertaking or other legal constraint from doing so. We may copy all of Your Documents and Documents Held for You before releasing them.
• We may at any time scan, microfilm, or otherwise make electronic copies or images of any Documents (other than Documents held in safe custody), destroy the originals and thereafter hold the Documents only in such copy or image form. Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing we will keep all Documents whether in original, copy or imaged Form for a minimum of six (6) years, after which we may destroy them and any copies or images of them.
• We may agree to store title deeds, wills and other especially valuable documents in safe custody for you if you require and, if we do, we will not, without your consent, destroy any such documents.
• We do not accept responsibility for the loss or damage of any item which we hold on your behalf unless we expressly agree in writing to the contrary.
• After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents whilst there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses. We will keep our file of your papers for up to six (6) years, except those that you ask to be returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them six

(6) years after the date of the final bill. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody. If we take papers or documents out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to ask 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 as well as reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to the retrieved papers.

13. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

13.1 Copyright

We retain copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all documents and other works we develop or generate for you in providing the Services (including know-how and working materials as well as final documents). We now grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non- sublicensable licence to use such documents or other works solely for the Matter to which the Services of developing or generating them relate and not otherwise. If you do not pay us in full for our Services in relation to that Matter we may, on giving you notice, revoke that licence and only re- grant it to you once full payment has been made.

13.2 Opinions from Barristers and other Third Parties

• We may retain, for our subsequent use, a copy of the advice or opinion of any barrister or other third party given in written form (or any note of any advice or opinion) obtained in the course of providing the Services. Any barrister or other third party will be instructed on the basis that any such advice or opinion will be so retained.
• If we retain a copy of any advice or opinion in this manner we will take all reasonable steps to conceal information (such as names, addresses or descriptions) which might reasonably enable you to be identified.

14. JOINT INSTRUCTIONS

• Where we agree to work on a Matter for more than one client jointly, the rights and obligations of the joint clients to us in relation to the Services will be several (save for obligations to pay money to us, which will be joint and several).

• Each joint client irrevocably permits us to disclose to any other of the joint clients at any time any information which we would otherwise be prohibited from so disclosing by virtue of our duty of confidentiality. If any joint client ends this permission during the provision of the relevant Services, or if a conflict of interest otherwise arises between joint clients, we may suspend or terminate the provision of Services related to that Matter to one or more of the joint clients.
• If any joint client asks us to transfer documents we will deliver Your Documents to, or to the order of, the joint client who delivered them to us. We will retain any Documents Held For You and will supply copies to each joint client, making the originals available at one of our offices for inspection by any joint client on reasonable prior written notice.

15. LIABILITY

15.1 Duty of Care

• We will use reasonable skill and care in the provision of the Services. Where we make an assessment for you, either expressly or by implication, of the likely level of risk associated with different potential courses of action, you accept that such assessment is made relying only upon the information and documents then available to us and cannot, therefore, be definitive.
• Accordingly, such an assessment should only be used as one element in the making of any practical or commercial decision. You accept that the magnitude or acceptability of a risk is a matter for you.
• The aggregate liability of the Firm (or of any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of any of the Partners) and of all Partners, consultants to and employees and agents of the Firm and any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of any of the Firm or the Partners in any circumstances whatsoever, whether in contract, tort, under statute or otherwise, and howsoever caused (including but not limited to our negligence or non-performance), for loss or damage arising from or in connection with the Services provided shall, in relation to each Matter, be limited to the sum, unless otherwise agreed, of two million pounds (£2 000 000.00)

15.2 Third Parties

• The Services are provided to and for the benefit of you as our client and you alone. No other person may use or rely upon the Services nor derive any rights or benefits from them. The provisions of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 are to that extent excluded.

• The Firm alone will provide the Services and you agree that you will not bring any claim whether in contract, tort, under statute or otherwise against any Partner, or any consultant to, or employee or agent of the Firm or any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of any of the Partners and those Partners, consultants, employees and agents shall be entitled to rely on the terms of this agreement insofar as they limit their liability.

15.3 Drafts

Where we provide draft or provisional advice or other materials, that advice or those materials are not to be relied upon as constituting our final view.

15.4 Current Law

The Services are provided in accordance with professional practice requirements and the proper interpretation of the law, as each exists on the date on which the relevant Service is provided. If there is any change in such requirements or the law, or their interpretation, after the relevant Matter has been concluded (or before that time but which could not reasonably be known by us at that time), we have no responsibility to notify you of, or of the consequences of, the change.

15.5 Communication

• We shall communicate with you at the postal and email addresses and the telephone and fax numbers which you publish unless you ask us to use other addresses and numbers. You will notify us if you regard any communications from us as particularly confidential and the means by which you require us to make such communications and we shall have no liability to you arising out of your failure so to notify us.
• Subject to any notification you may make to us under the previous paragraph, we shall not be required to encrypt, password-protect or digitally sign any email, or attachment, sent by us. We shall not be responsible for any loss or damage arising from the unauthorised interception, re-direction, copying or reading of e-mails, including any attachments. We shall not be responsible for the effect on any hardware or software (or any loss or damage arising from any such effect) of any e-mails or attachment which may be transmitted by us (save to the extent caused by our negligence or wilful default).

15.6 Deadlines

We will try to meet any deadline we agree with you for the performance of any Services but, unless we agree otherwise in writing in relation to any time, date or period for delivery or performance by us, time shall not be of the essence

16. PROPORTIONATE LIABILITY

If you accept or have accepted any express exclusion and/or limitation of liability from any of your other professional advisers, our total liability to you arising out of the Services will not exceed the net aggregate of the amount for which we would otherwise have been liable after deducting any amount which we would have been entitled to recover from such adviser as a matter of law whether pursuant to statute or otherwise, but are prevented from doing so as a result of any such exclusion and/or limitation of liability.

17. EXCLUSION

We shall not be liable for:-

• any loss, damage, cost or expense arising from any breach by you of your agreement with us or any act or omission of any other person; or
• any advice or document subject to the laws of a jurisdiction outside England and Wales; or
• any advice or opinion given to you by any third party (whether or not nominated or recommended by us).

18. LOSS OF PROFIT

We shall not be liable for any indirect loss or damage or any loss of profit, income, production or accruals arising in any circumstances whatsoever, whether in contract, tort, under statute or otherwise, and howsoever caused (including but not limited to our negligence or non-performance).

19. EXCEPTIONS

Nothing in this agreement exempts us from liability arising from our fraud or reckless disregard of our professional obligations; or from our negligence resulting in death or personal injury; or where, in the case of a contentious business agreement, law or regulation prohibits the exclusion of such liability.

20. TERMINATION

20.1 Completion of Services

An agreement between you and us for the provision of defined Services ends on the completion of the provision of those Services. An open-ended agreement for the provision of Services ends three

(3) months after the last date on which we provided Services to you. Unless new or different terms are agreed, our acceptance of instructions to perform

Services for you subsequent to the ending of any agreement gives rise, from the time of acceptance of the instructions, to a new agreement on these terms. If we provide you free of charge with any seminar, information, or other document after the ending of an agreement, such provision does not give rise to a new agreement.

20.2 Early Termination

Either you or we may terminate the provision of all or any of the relevant Services at any time by giving written notice to the other. We will not do this without good and substantial reason, such as:-

• the threat or risk of violence, injury or other danger to the physical, psychological or moral well-being of any of our personnel; or
• the discovery or creation of a Conflict of Interest; or
• your requesting us to break the law or any professional requirement; or
• the relationship of trust and confidence necessary between solicitor and client ceasing to exist between us; or
• your failure to pay to us any amount due, or money on account requested; or
• your insolvency; or
• your failure to give us adequate instructions; or
• our being forbidden to act by the National Crime Agency; or
• our reasonable belief that our continuing to represent you may cause damage to the professional or personal reputation of our firm or any of its personnel; or
• any other breach by you of these

20.3 Rights on Early Termination

On early termination, by either you or us, you will remain liable to pay all fees and expenses incurred before termination and due under our contract or due on the basis of the time spent at our usual hourly rates, whichever is the less, together with any further fees and expenses for work necessary to transfer our files to another adviser of your choice. All our rights set out in these terms shall continue to apply even if we terminate the agreement.

21. GENERAL

21.1 Money Laundering Regulations / The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

• We are required to comply with the Money Laundering regulations and in particular to verify the identity and permanent address of all new Clients. This is to ensure that the policy adopted worldwide by Financial and Government Authorities to prevent the use of laundering systems to disguise the proceeds of crime is achieved.

• If you are a new client or an existing client who has not previously supplied information, you are requested to supply both of the following; one item from List A and one item from List B (please note we require certified copies if you are sending these by post or if you are bringing in the original documents to our offices – we will make certified copies here)

LIST A – Proof of Identity

1. Current fully signed Passport
2. Current full UK Photocard Driving Licence
3. Council concessionary travel pass

LIST B – Address Verification

1. A bill for the supply of electricity, gas, water or telephone services (provided it is fewer than three (3) months old). Mobile phone bills are not acceptable.
2. Television Licence renewal
3. Council Tax bill (provided it is for the current year).
4. Recent Tax Coding
5. Recent Mortgage
6. Credit Card/Bank Statement (provided it is fewer than three (3) months old) showing current address.
7. Care Home validation letters

• Under the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”), we may be required to make a report to the relevant authorities if at any time we become aware of or suspect (whether from you or any other person) the existence of the proceeds of crime in relation to any Services on which we are engaged. Our obligation to make such a report will, in certain circumstances, override our duty of solicitor/client confidentiality and we may not be permitted to inform you whether or not we have made, or might intend to make, such a report.

We may terminate the provision of any Services to you, or be instructed to do so by the relevant authorities, if you fail to comply with your obligation to provide evidence of identity or we suspect that you or any other party connected with you or with the Matter is involved in activities proscribed by POCA.

21.2 Severability

Each of these terms shall be severable and distinct from the others and if any term is held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, the remaining terms shall not be affected.

21.3 Equal Treatment / Equality and Diversity

Consistent with our internal policies and procedures, we will not discriminate in the way we provide our Services on the grounds of race, colour, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability or marital status.

21.4 Financial Services

If during the course of the matter upon which we are advising you, you need advice on investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority, as we are not. However, as we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, we may be able to provide certain limited investment services where these are closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you.

If you have any problem with the services we have provided for you, then please let us know. We will try to resolve any 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 and complaints and redress mechanisms are provided through the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman.

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 of the Law Society.

21.5 Insurance Mediation

We are an ancillary insurance intermediary which means we can arrange insurance contracts for our clients. We are not authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on insurance distribution activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Legal Ombudsman.

The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.

22. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

22.1 Scope

All claims, complaints and disputes arising out of or in connection with the Services (“Disputes”) will be resolved pursuant to this paragraph.

22.2 Complaints Procedure

• We hope you will have no complaint. To underline how seriously we take complaints, we have a set Complaints Procedure which can be summarised as follows: (a copy of our full complaints procedure is available on request)-
  • If you have any complaint or observation (good or bad) about our service, please say
  • Raise any complaint first with the Fee Earner assigned to your matter, including any complaint about your bill.
  • If this does not resolve it satisfactorily, tell the Supervising Partner responsible for your case.
  • If this does not resolve it satisfactorily, contact Jeff Hazelgrove, the person nominated by the partnership to ensure prompt and thorough investigation of any
  • If still unresolved at this stage, you may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Normally, you will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint and 6 years from the date of the act or omission giving rise to the complaint. Alternatively 3 years from the date you should reasonably have known there are grounds for complaint.
• Contact details:
  • The address of the Legal Ombudsman is: P O Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ; telephone, 0300 555 0333; or view their website at legalombudsman.org.uk, email enquiries to: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

• Kindly note that you have the right to object to your bill by making a complaint to the appropriate body referred to above and/or by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors’ Act 1974 and, if all or part of our bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest.

22.3 Exclusions

We shall not be obliged to comply with paragraph 22 above in relation to any Dispute in which we seek:-

• an order or award (whether interim or final) restraining you from doing any act or compelling you to do any act; or
• a judgment or award for a liquidated sum to which here is no arguable defence (provided that the exception shall cease to apply and the Dispute may be referred to arbitration on the application of either party if the court decides that you should have permission to defend the claim); or
• the enforcement of any agreement reached or any binding order, award, determination or decision made pursuant to paragraph 22 above, nor shall anything in this paragraph inhibit us at any time from serving any form of demand or notice or from commencing or continuing with any bankruptcy, winding up or other insolvency proceedings.

22.4 Regulator

Nothing in this Terms of Business shall prevent you at any time from referring any Matter to the body or bodies for the time being charged with the regulation of solicitors.

23. LAW AND JURISDICTION

The terms on which we provide Services to you are governed by, and shall be construed in accordance with, English law. You and we each agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts, provided that we may in our sole and unfettered discretion commence proceedings against you in any other Court

24. QUALITY STANDARDS

Due to our own internal quality standards, us achieving CQS, and working towards Lexcel, we are subject to periodic checks by outside assessors. This could mean that your file may be selected for checking, in which case we would need your consent for inspection to occur. All inspections are, of course, conducted in confidence. If you prefer to withhold consent, work on your file will not be affected in any way. Since very few of our clients do object to this I propose to assume that we do have your consent unless you notify us to the contrary. We will also assume, unless you indicate otherwise, that consent on this occasion will extend to all future matters which we will conduct on your

behalf. Please contact me if I can explain this further or if you would like me to mark your file as not to be inspected.

25. DISCLAIMERS

25.1 Tax

We are not qualified to advise you on the tax implications of transactions you instruct us to carry out, or the likelihood of them arising.

25.2 Planning in property transactions

We will not advise you on the planning implications of your proposed purchase, unless specifically requested to do so by you, otherwise than by reporting to you on any relevant information provided by the results of the “local search”.

25.3 Other property disclaimers / Environmental

It is not our responsibility to carry out a physical inspection of the property nor advise on the valuation of the property nor the suitability of your mortgage nor any other financial arrangements. We shall not advise generally on environmental liabilities where we shall assume, unless you tell us to the contrary, that you are making your own arrangements for any appropriate environmental survey or investigations.

We may, however, need to obtain on behalf of your lender, at your expense, an environmental search. However, we will not advise you about any issues relating to the possible contamination of any land which may be relevant to your purchase. We have to tell you that we are not qualified to advise on the results of any search made in that respect and would only be able to report to you the actual results of such a search.

If we are instructed on purchase and we are also acting for your proposed lender, we have a duty to fully reveal to your lender all relevant facts about the purchase and the mortgage. This includes any differences between your mortgage application and information we receive during the transaction, any cash back payments or discount schemes that a seller is giving to you

26. PROVISIONS RELATING TO LITIGATION AND OTHER WORK IN RELATION TO DISPUTES

This paragraph contains further contractual provisions and important information which we are professionally obliged to give you where the Matter relates to litigation or the resolution of disputes by other means (including a non-contentious Matter which becomes contentious, or gives rise to further instructions on a contentious Matter).

26.1 Costs Risk

• In litigation matters, the Court may decide to order one party to pay the costs of the other. The Court usually orders the unsuccessful party to pay all or a part of the successful party’s costs, although there is no certainty about this. The successful party usually recovers a proportion of its costs from the unsuccessful party, although there is no certainty about this. You should be aware that:-
  • If you make an interim application to Court which does not succeed, you may have to pay the other side’s costs, usually within two (2) weeks.
  • If you lose the case, you may have to pay the other side’s costs and it is not usually possible for you to withdraw from the case without dealing with the issue of those
  • Costs awarded have to be proportionate to the value of the dispute and, in the ordinary course, recovered costs from the other side rarely exceeds sixty to seventy per cent (60-70%) of actual expenditure.
  • You will still be liable to pay our costs in full, even if the other party fails to pay the costs awarded to you by the Court.
  • Issues which the Court may take into account in assessing the costs payable or recoverable include:
    • efforts made before and during the proceedings to try to resolve the dispute, including the appropriate use of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution procedures;
    • the effects of payments into court and offers of settlement;
    • the complexity and size of the Matter and the difficulty or novelty of the questions raised;
    • the skill, effort, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved;
    • the time spent;
    • the place and Circumstances in which the work was done.
  • if the other side is or becomes legally aided, it is highly unlikely that you will recover your costs, even if you are successful.
  • If you are unsuccessful, or the Court so orders for some other reason, you may be ordered to pay the other side’s costs. We will discuss with you whether the likely outcome will justify the expense/risk.

26.2 Funding

• Legal expenses insurance may be included in your contracts of insurance and you should check your policies to see if you are covered. Your policy may cover your costs and/or your liability to pay the other side’s costs. If you believe you are covered, please discuss this with us so that we can assist you in notifying your insurer. If you do not have legal expenses insurance, you may be able to purchase insurance to cover you in the event that you have to pay the other side’s costs.
• A conditional fee agreement is an agreement whereby we would be entitled to charge you an increased fee if you were successful, and would charge you no fee or a reduced fee if you were not successful. You might be able to take out an insurance policy to cover you in the event that you were ordered to pay the other side’s costs. You would usually be able to recover this insurance premium and any sums you paid to us from the other side if you were successful. Not all Matters are suitable for this type of conditional fee arrangement but we are happy to discuss this further with you at your request.

26.3 Statements of Truth

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, all statements of case (the term for pleadings which includes documents such as claim forms, defences and witness statements) and certain other documents, must be verified by a statement of truth, to the effect that the party putting forward the document believes the facts stated in it are true. Making a false statement of truth is potentially a contempt of Court.

Whilst a statement of truth can be signed by you or your legal representative, it is our policy that you should sign your own Statement of Truth.

26.4 Attendance at Hearings

Please be aware that, under the Civil Procedures Rules, the Court can Order you to attend hearings. We will discuss this with you further as your case progresses.

26.5 Alternative Dispute Resolution

As part of the active management of a case under the Civil Procedure Rules, both the Courts and the parties in a dispute are required to consider the use of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) if it is considered appropriate to help to resolve the dispute. ADR includes methods of dispute resolution such as mediation, adjudication and expert determination.

There have been occasions when the Courts have imposed costs penalties on parties who unreasonably refuse to consider ADR. I will discuss both the methods of ADR and any possible costs implication further with you if and when it becomes appropriate.

27. INSURANCE

We have a legal duty to tell you about our professional indemnity insurance. We have an obligation to carry such insurance and our qualifying insurers are:-

The insurance covers our practice carried on from our offices in England and Wales and will extend to acts or omissions wherever in the world they occur.

28. FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME

We bank with Lloyds Bank PLC and hold all client funds with that bank. In the event that there is a banking failure, it is unlikely that we will be held liable for losses resulting from that failure.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”) is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of a deposit taking institution. This means that the FSCS can pay compensation if such an institution is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it. FSCS is an independent body set up under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The scheme covers deposits at our bank belonging to clients who are individuals or businesses up to the compensation limit that exists at the relevant time (currently £85,000) per client per authorized deposit-taking institution. If you hold other personal monies yourself in the same bank as we hold client funds the limit remains at the compensation limit existing at the relevant time in total, so any amount deposited by you will be deducted from the compensation limit available in respect of the funds deposited by us on your behalf (subject to temporary high balance rules – see www.fscs.org.uk – for details.) Some deposit taking institutions have several brands i.e. where the same institution is trading under different names. You should check either with your bank, the Financial Conduct Authority or a financial adviser for more information.

In the event Lloyds Bank collapse, we can contact the FSCS with details of all clients whose money is held in our account and the amount to which they are entitled with supporting evidence. In order to provide such information, we require your consent and accordingly by accepting these Terms and Conditions you give us that consent, unless you inform us in writing to the contrary. If you inform us in writing that you do not give us consent, the FSCS will still need to know the account balances but we may withhold your identity. In this case, you will not be able to receive compensation from the FSCS.

29.    LEGAL AID

We don’t undertake legal aid work and it is important that you are aware of Legal Aid. Legal Aid is useful to a litigant because if he loses, his liability is limited to his means-tested contribution, and it is unlikely the Court will allow the victor to recover any costs against him. Legal Aid is not free. In most cases it is only a loan repaid from the fruits of the action. If the assisted party succeeds and recovers or preserves any asset (except for some exemptions for maintenance and family proceedings), it is subject to the statutory charge. The statutory charge operates to put the recovery or the preserved asset first towards payment of the assisted party’s legal costs, and the assisted party only gets the net balance (if any) – often much later because of the time taken in quantifying the final costs. If money is recovered, it has to be paid to the assisted party’s solicitor who has to pay it into the Legal Aid Fund who carry out the accounting and pay out the balance. The Legal Aid Agency has no power to reduce or waive the effect of the statutory charge. If a home is involved, it is sometimes possible to delay payment, but the statutory charge then operates like a mortgage and attracts interest until everything is repaid on sale. For more information please discuss this with the person attending to your case (they will be able to confirm if Legal Aid will be relevant to your type of case and if you may qualify) / alternatively go to the LAA website www.gov.uk/legal-aid or telephone them directly on 0300 200 2020.

30. REGULATIONS AFFECTING YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013

If we have not met you either in person (because, for example, instructions and signing of the contract documentation is taking place by telephone/mail, e mail or on-line – ie: by way of a “distance” contract) or we have taken instructions

and a contract has been concluded away from our business premises (because, for example, we have met with you at home – ie: by way of an “off- premises” contract) and the contract was entered into on or after 14 June 2014, you may have the right to cancel this contract within 14 calendar days of entering into the contract without giving any reason. The client care letter sent to you will confirm if this is applicable to your case.

The cancellation period will expire after 14 calendar days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise your right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or e mail). For this purpose you may wish to use the form attached to these terms of business we will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a cancellation on a durable medium (e.g. by e mail) without delay. To meet the cancellation deadline, you must send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.

Should you require the work to be commenced within the 14 calendar day cancellation period, you must provide your agreement to that in writing, by e mail, post or fax to enable us to do so. By signing and returning a copy of the client care letter / authority to act you are providing your agreement in writing to enable us to commence work within the 14 calendar day cancellation period. Where you have provided your consent for work to commence within the 14 calendar day cancellation period and you later exercise your right to cancel, you will be liable for any costs, VAT and disbursements incurred up to the point of cancellation. Unless you make an express request for us to commence work within the 14 day period (i.e. by signing and returning the signed copy of the client care letter / authority to act we will not be able to undertake any work during that period.

31. PROTECTING BANKING DETAILS AND EMAIL SCAMS

The use of emails and the internet provide speed and efficiency. However, as you will also be aware, these can pose increased risks e.g. viruses, spam and identity theft etc.

Over the last year it is reported that well over half of UK businesses have been affected by cybercrime. Generally, instances of fraud and email hacking are regrettably on the increase and unlikely to ease into the future as those carrying out these activities are getting more sophisticated.

If you are happy to proceed with communication by email, in addition to the conditions outlined in our Terms of Business, we need to draw your attention to the following (and this list is not exhaustive):

• We may require you to provide us with written details of your bank account by letter, telephone, or at the first meeting with your fee earner / adviser / case handler. Please do not send your bank details in an email.
• Please be alert to instances of email hacking. You should take suitable precautions to ensure you do not expose your email account(s) to a risk of being hacked by a 3^rd Please be alert to any signs that might indicate that your email account has been attacked.
• We do not, and will never provide our bank details by email to you. We ask you to be vigilant and if you receive an email informing you that we have changed our bank details to report it to us immediately so that we can investigate.

If you are in anyway uncertain, or concerned about any communication received from us, then please telephone your fee earner, or speak to one of our Partners immediately. Please do not respond to any such communication by email, or take any action until you have verified the authenticity by speaking with us.

32. PAYMENT OF INTEREST

In accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules 2011 we are required to account to you for interest on money held by us in our client account when it is fair and reasonable to do so. The holding of client money is incidental to the carrying out of clients’ instructions. In addition, we are required to hold client money in an instant access account to facilitate transactions. As a result, the rates of interest paid under this policy are unlikely to be as high as those obtainable by yourself.

Interest will be paid where the amount of interest calculated exceeds £20.00

Where money is held in relation to separate matters for you, we will treat the matters and money as separate unless the matters are so closely related that they should be considered together.

Where client monies are held in our general client account we will pay interest without deducting tax at source. You will be responsible for declaring any interest to HM Revenue & Customs.  Where client monies are held in a separate designated client account, interest is paid gross.

Interest will be calculated on a daily basis using the rate of interest offered to business customers on instant access deposit accounts at the bank where we hold general client funds.

Interest will be calculated on cleared client funds. In the case of cheques received, this will be 10 days after the cheque has been deposited with our bank and for amounts received in cash, or via credit or debit card, standing orders, BACS and CHAPS, interest will accrue from the day of receipt into our client account.

We will normally account to you for interest at the conclusion of the matter. You may contract out of receiving interest by signing a written agreement with us.

This interest policy, including the de minimis limit of £20 will be reviewed periodically, particularly if changes are made to the Bank of England’s Base Rate.

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION

Right to cancel

You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement within 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract. Please use the attached cancellation form and send it to us by post, fax or email.

Effects of cancellation

If you cancel the contract, we will reimburse all payments received from you within two weeks.

If you request us to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period and then you cancel the contract, you must pay us for work we have done prior to cancellation.

CANCELLATION FORM

To:          Hunter’s Solicitors LLP

Client name(s):                                                            

Address:                                                                       

 

 

 

I/We hereby give notice that I/we cancel my/our contract for the supply of the following service:

Description of service:                                              

Signature:                                                                    

Date:                                                                             

PRIVACY NOTICE – USING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Intended purposes for processing

In order to provide you with legal services, for the administration of our files and records, we will be processing (using and storing) your personal data, which includes information that identifies you, such as your name, address, job title and contact information. In some cases we may also process special categories of personal data, such as your health records, racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs and/or criminal conviction and offence records.

Lawful bases for processing

We may be required to process your personal data in order to comply with our obligations under legislation such as the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Criminal Finances Act 2017, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2010 (for clients with US “person” status) and under common law. We may, on occasion, be required to share your personal data with the relevant authorities. This processing of your personal data is to comply with the law, and we would be unable to act for you without doing so.

In addition, we may process your personal data on the basis that we have a contract with you. Alternatively, in some instances we may have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data.

Whenever we are processing special categories of personal data, and/or criminal conviction and offence records, we will only use that data to deliver the services you have instructed us to provide.

All your personal data will be processed, and erased, in accordance with our Data Retention and Erasure Policy, a copy of which is available upon request from our Data Protection Officer, Helen Foreman.

Recipients of your personal data

In addition to our firm we may, when required and necessary, share your personal data with other organisations. Depending on the work we are undertaking for you the other organisations may include:

• Our firm’s “data processors” who are contractors from whom we obtain operational services including IT, message-taking, typing and secretarial support, costs draftsmen, secure document storage and shredding.
• Other “data controllers” that provide professional or commercial services, such as Counsel, other solicitors, accountants, medical practitioners, surveyors and estate and letting agents.
• Experts that you and we agree are necessary to assist us to progress your
• Providers of insurance, financial and banking services to you and/or to our
• HMRC, HM Courts & Tribunals Service, HM Land Registry, Councils and other national and local government bodies.
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and organisations involved with the preparation, assessment and certification of quality standards for which our firm is seeking or maintaining accreditation.

All of the above are located in the UK.

Your rights in relation to your personal data

You have the right of access to your personal data and to verify the lawfulness of the processing. If you would like a copy of your personal data that we are processing please contact our Data Protection Officer, whose name and address are above. Kindly note, we will need to verify your identity before responding to your request. Normally we make no charge for doing this, and will endeavor to send it to you within 1 month of receipt of your request. If you notice that any of the information we send you is inaccurate or incomplete, please tell us and we will rectify it promptly.

If you are dissatisfied with our response you may complain to a supervisory authority which, in the UK, is the ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. The ICO’s website is at https://ico.org.uk/ There may also be judicial remedies available to you.

Erasure of personal data

We will not erase or restrict the processing of your personal data during the period in which we have a legal obligation to retain that data under the applicable Act, Regulations or in common law.

Where we obtained your personal data to fulfil our contractual obligations to you, or if we

have a legitimate interest for processing your personal data for the exercise or defence of legal claims, we will erase that data as soon as it is no longer necessary to retain it in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected. Please see our Data Retention and Erasure Policy for timescales.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that all information we hold about you is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure we have implemented appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and protect that information.

Other data controller recipients of your personal data are each responsible for implementing appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and protect that information, and to keep it secure.

Data processor recipients of your personal data have provided sufficient guarantees that they have implemented measures to ensure compliance with the GDPR and to protect your rights.

Transferring your personal data

We will not transfer your personal data overseas.

Personal data concerning a third party

You should only give us personal data about someone else with their permission. Where you provide us with personal data about someone else, or someone discloses to us personal data about you, it may be added to the personal data we already hold and may be used in the ways described in this Privacy Notice.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 These terms and conditions shall govern your use of our website.

1.2 By using our website, you accept these terms and conditions in full; accordingly, if you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use our website.

1.3 If you register with our website, submit any material to our website or use any of our website services, we will ask you to expressly agree to these terms and conditions.

1.4 You must be at least 18 years of age to use our website; by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you warrant and represent to us that you are at least 18 years of age.

1.5 Our website uses cookies; by using our website or agreeing to these terms and conditions, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of our privacy and cookies policy.

3.0 Copyright notice

3.1 Copyright (c) 2023 Hunter’s Solicitors

3.2 Subject to the express provisions of these terms and conditions:

(a) we, together with our licensors, own and control all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our websitematerial on our website; and

(b) all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in our websitematerial on our website are reserved.

4.0 Licence to use website

4.1 You may:

(a) view pages from our website in a web browser;

(b) download pages from our website for caching in a web browser;

(c) print pages from our website;

(d) stream audio and video files from our website; and

(e) use our website services by means of a web browser,

subject to the other provisions of these terms and conditions.

4.2 Except as expressly permitted by Section 4.1 or the other provisions of these terms and conditions, you must not download any material from our website or save any such material to your computer.

4.3 You may only use our website for your own personal and business purposes, and you must not use our website for any other purposes.

4.4 Except as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, you must not edit or otherwise modify any material on our website.

4.5 Unless you own or control the relevant rights in the material, you must not:

(a) republish material from our website (including republication on another website);

(b) sell, rent or sub-license material from our website;

(c) show any material from our website in public;

(d) exploit material from our website for a commercial purpose; or

(e) redistribute material from our website.

4.6 Notwithstanding Section 4.5, you may redistribute our newsletter in print and electronic form to any person.

4.7 We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of our website, or indeed our whole website, at our discretion; you must not circumvent or bypass, or attempt to circumvent or bypass, any access restriction measures on our website.

5.0 Acceptable use

5.1 You must not:

(a) use our website in any way or take any action that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the performance, availability or accessibility of the website;

(b) use our website in any way that is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity;

(c) use our website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software;

(d) conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to our website without our express written consent;

You may not:

(a) access or otherwise interact with our website using any robot, spider or other automated means, except for the purpose of search engine indexing;

(b) violate the directives set out in the robots.txt file for our website; or

(c) use data collected from our website for any direct marketing activity (including without limitation email marketing, SMS marketing, telemarketing and direct mailing).

5.2 You must not use data collected from our website to contact individuals, companies or other persons or entities.

5.3 You must ensure that all the information you supply to us through our website, or in relation to our website, is true, accurate, current, complete and non-misleading.

6.0 Registration and accounts

6.1 To be eligible for an account on our website under this Section 6, you must be resident or situated in the United Kingdom.

6.2 You may register for an account with our website by completing and submitting the account registration form on our website, and clicking on the verification link in the email that the website will send to you.

6.3 You must not allow any other person to use your account to access the website.

6.4 You must notify us in writing immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account.

6.5 You must not use any other person’s account to access the website, unless you have that person’s express permission to do so.

7.0 User login details

7.1 If you register for an account with our website, you will be asked to choose a user ID and password.

7.2 Your user ID must not be liable to mislead and must comply with the content rules set out in Section 10; you must not use your account or user ID for or in connection with the impersonation of any person.

7.3 You must keep your password confidential.

7.4 You must notify us in writing immediately if you become aware of any disclosure of your password.

7.5 You are responsible for any activity on our website arising out of any failure to keep your password confidential, and may be held liable for any losses arising out of such a failure.

8.0 Cancellation and suspension of account

8.1 We may:

(a) suspend your account;

(b) cancel your account; and/or

(c) edit your account details,

at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation.

8.2 You may cancel your account on our website using your account control panel on the website.

9.0 Your content: licence

9.1 In these terms and conditions, “your content” means all works and materials (including without limitation text, graphics, images, audio material, video material, audio-visual material, scripts, software and files) that you submit to us or our website for storage or publication on, processing by, or transmission via, our website.

9.2 You grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, store and, with your specific consent, publish your content on and in relation to this website.

9.3 You grant to us the right to sub-license the rights licensed under Section 9.2.

9.4 You grant to us the right to bring an action for infringement of the rights licensed under Section 9.2.

9.5 You hereby waive all your moral rights in your content to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law; and you warrant and represent that all other moral rights in your content have been waived to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

9.6 You may edit your content to the extent permitted using the editing functionality made available on our website.

9.7 Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach any provision of these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may delete, unpublish or edit any or all of your content.

10.0 Your content: rules

10.1 You warrant and represent that your content will comply with these terms and conditions.

10.2 Your content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any person’s legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action against any person (in each case in any jurisdiction and under any applicable law).

10.3 Your content,use of your content by us in accordance with these terms and conditions, must not:

(a) be libellous or maliciously false;

(b) be obscene or indecent;

(c) infringe any copyright, moral right, database right, trade mark right, design right, right in passing off, or other intellectual property right;

(d) infringe any right of confidence, right of privacy or right under data protection legislation;

(e) constitute negligent advice or contain any negligent statement;

(f) constitute an incitement to commit a crime, instructions for the commission of a crime or the promotion of criminal activity;

(g) be in contempt of any court, or in breach of any court order;

(h) be in breach of racial or religious hatred or discrimination legislation;

(i) be blasphemous;

(j) be in breach of official secrets legislation;

(k) be in breach of any contractual obligation owed to any person;

(l) depict violence in an explicit, graphic or gratuitous manner;

(m) be pornographic, lewd, suggestive or sexually explicit;

(n) be untrue, false, inaccurate or misleading;

(o) consist of or contain any instructions, advice or other information which may be acted upon and could, if acted upon, cause illness, injury or death, or any other loss or damage;

(p) constitute spam;

(q) be offensive, deceptive, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, harassing, anti-social, menacing, hateful, discriminatory or inflammatory; or

(r) cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person.

11.0 Limited warranties

11.1 We do not warrant or represent:

(a) the completeness or accuracy of the information published on our website;

(b) that the material on the website is up to date; or

(c) that the website or any service on the website will remain available.

11.2 We reserve the right to discontinue or alter any or all of our website services, and to stop publishing our website, at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation; and save to the extent expressly provided otherwise in these terms and conditions, you will not be entitled to any compensation or other payment upon the discontinuance or alteration of any website services, or if we stop publishing the website.

11.3 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and subject to Section 12.1, we exclude all representations and warranties relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, our websiteuse of our website.

12.0 Limitations and exclusions of liability

12.1 Nothing in these terms and conditions will:

(a) limit or exclude any liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence;

(b) limit or exclude any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;

(c) limit any liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or

(d) exclude any liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law.

12.2 The limitations and exclusions of liability set out in this Section 12 and elsewhere in these terms and conditions:

(a) are subject to Section 12.1; and

(b) govern all liabilities arising under these terms and conditions or relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty, except to the extent expressly provided otherwise in these terms and conditions.

12.3 To the extent that our websiteinformation and services on our website are provided free of charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature.

12.4 We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control.

12.5 We will not be liable to you in respect of any business losses, including (without limitation) loss of or damage to profits, income, revenue, use, production, anticipated savings, business, contracts, commercial opportunities or goodwill.

12.6 We will not be liable to you in respect of any loss or corruption of any data, database or software.

12.7 We will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage.

12.8 You accept that we have an interest in limiting the personal liability of our officers and employees and, having regard to that interest, you acknowledge that we are a limited liability entity; you agree that you will not bring any claim personally against our officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the website or these terms and conditions (this will not, of course, limit or exclude the liability of the limited liability entity itself for the acts and omissions of our officers and employees).

13.0 Breaches of these terms and conditions

13.1 Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, or if we reasonably suspect that you have breached these terms and conditions in any way, we may:

(a) send you one or more formal warnings;

(b) temporarily suspend your access to our website;

(c) permanently prohibit you from accessing our website;

(d) block computers using your IP address from accessing our website;

(e) contact any or all of your internet service providers and request that they block your access to our website;

(f) commence legal action against you, whether for breach of contract or otherwise; and/or

(g) suspend or delete your account on our website.

13.2 Where we suspend or prohibit or block your access to our website or a part of our website, you must not take any action to circumvent such suspension or prohibition or blocking (including without limitation creating and/or using a different account).

14.0 Variation

14.1 We may revise these terms and conditions from time to time.

14.2 The revised terms and conditions shall apply to the use of our website from the date of publication of the revised terms and conditions on the website, and you hereby waive any right you may otherwise have to be notified of, or to consent to, revisions of these terms and conditions.

14.3 If you have given your express agreement to these terms and conditions, we will ask for your express agreement to any revision of these terms and conditions; and if you do not give your express agreement to the revised terms and conditions within such period as we may specify, we will disable or delete your account on the website, and you must stop using the website

15.0 Assignment

15.1 You hereby agree that we may assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.

15.2 You may not without our prior written consent assign, transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with any of your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.

16.0 Severability

16.1 If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect.

16.2 If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision of these terms and conditions would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted,rest of the provision will continue in effect.

17.0 Third party rights

17.1 A contract under these terms and conditions is for our benefit and your benefit, and is not intended to benefit or be enforceable by any third party.

17.2 The exercise of the parties’ rights under a contract under these terms and conditions is not subject to the consent of any third party.

18.0 Entire agreement

18.1 Subject to Section 12.1, these terms and conditions, together with our privacy and cookies policy, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of our website and shall supersede all previous agreements between you and us in relation to your use of our website

19.0 Law and jurisdiction

19.1 These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.

19.2 Any disputes relating to these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

20.0 Statutory and regulatory disclosures

20.1 We are registered in Companies House you can find the online version of the register at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house, and our registration number is OC383435

21.0 Our details

21.1 This website is owned and operated by Hunter’s Solicitors

21.2 We are registered in England and Wales under registration number OC383435 and our registered office is at 116 Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SS0 7LP

21.4 You can contact us: 0207 723 3040

(a) by post, to the postal address given above;

(b) using our website contact form;

(c) by telephone, on the contact number published on our website from time to time; or

(d) by email, using the email address published on our website from time to time.

22.0 Return / Refund / Cancellation Policy

We aim to be a very flexible company and always work with the customer to make sure they get the best services possible.

This web site has been created by, for and on behalf of the Company.

Unauthorized use of Hunter’s Solicitors trademarks, trade names and logos, and media is prohibited.