commercial property
commercial litigation
company & commercial law
employment law
debt collection
corporate tax services
VAT consultancy
notary public services
agricultural & rural affairs
taxation farms & landed estates
charities
trusts
employment law
rural disputes
This statement and the Schedule attached explain the basis on which we will carry out the work you have instructed us to do.
mfg Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership. Any person acting on our behalf does so in their capacity as a Partner, agent or employee of ours, and not in any personal capacity. Any action by them, any communication from them, or any advice from them, is taken, sent or given on our behalf.
In these terms of business “we” or “our” or “us” refer to mfg Solicitors LLP ('the LLP'). Your relationship is solely with the LLP, and the LLP has sole legal liability for the work done for you and for any act or omission in the course of that work. No Partner, consultant or employee of the LLP will have any personal legal liability for that work whether in contract, tort or negligence. In particular, the fact that an individual Partner, consultant or employee signs in his or her own name any letter or other document in the course of carrying out that work does not mean he or she is assuming any personal legal liability for that letter or document. No reference to a “partner” is to imply that any person is carrying on business with others in partnership for the purposes of the Partnership Act 1890.
You are authorising us to take necessary steps to take the case forward until you tell us to stop work. We shall not be responsible for any failure to advise or comment on anything which falls outside the scope of your stated instructions.
We use the word “Partner” to refer to a Member of the LLP, or an employee or Consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications.
A list of the Partners of the LLP is displayed at our registered office together with a list of those non-members who are designated as Partners.
People responsible for your work
The Schedule sets out some important information about the conduct of your case. The Person named as having conduct of your matter is your case manager who will carry out most of the work on the matter personally on behalf of the LLP, although from time to time it may be necessary to involve other Partners or employees of the LLP as well. Time spent by other Partners or employees of the LLP will be charged at their respective hourly rates, which may be higher or lower than the case manager‟s rates. If you wish to contact your case manager, but find that he/she is unavailable please ask to speak to his/her secretary who will be pleased to assist or to take a message for you.
The Schedule sets out your details, the matter on which you have instructed us to act for you, information on the costs, disbursements and out of pocket expenses involved in your case; and details of the Office Partner and Chairman of the Managing Board.
Charges and expenses
In some cases we may be able to agree a fixed fee if so this will be set out in the schedule, otherwise the hourly rate is set out in the Schedule and will be calculated by reference to the time spent in dealing with your matter and in some cases a percentage mark up. Our hourly rate will be charged for time spent dealing with your matter including, but not limited to, time spent advising, attending on you and others, dealing with papers, correspondence, telephone calls, travelling, time spent at Court Hearings and site inspections. The current hourly charge out rate is set out in the Schedule. This rate will be reviewed annually on the 1st May each year. Routine letters and e-mails that we write and receive and routine telephone calls that we make and receive will be charged in units of 6 minutes. We have indicated in the Schedule an estimate of the costs involved either by time or by value, based on the information we currently have; this may need to be revised as the case goes on and we can estimate more accurately the level of costs involved.
If a member of staff is required to travel on your matter (e.g. to Court or for a site visit) we reserve the right to charge travelling expenses and parking, such travel expenses will be itemised on your accounts. We also reserve the right to charge for photocopying, the cost per single A4 copy black and white is 30p and 50p for colour copies. These charges are subject to VAT and will be set out in your invoices.
In most cases, in fixing our charges we take into account a number of factors which include the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise or specialist knowledge that the case requires and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter involved. On the basis of the information currently available, we expect those factors to be adequately covered by the charges set out in the Schedule. However, if your instructions mean we have to work outside normal office hours or the matter becomes more complex than anticipated, we reserve the right to increase the level of those charges you will be notified of any change in the charges.
If you have any query about the level of our charges please contact your case manager straight away.
We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary.
Payments on account of fees and expenses
It is our normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time in advance on account of our charges and any expenses e.g. Searches Court fees etc. This helps to avoid delay in the progress of the case. We will offset any such payments against your bills, but it is important that you understand that our total charges and expenses may be greater than any advance payments.
We accept all major credit cards for payment of bills and disbursements and your case manager will indicate in the covering letter how much is required.
Cheques
If you wish to use cheques to make payments, pay deposits or for any other purpose, please be aware that in line with current banking procedures we will need to allow up to ten working days to allow for full clearance by both your bank and our own bank. Therefore we will not be able to draw on those funds until the ten days have lapsed. We prefer payments by BACS, telegraphic transfer, chaps or by bankers draft, where the funds can be used immediately as clearance is not required. Please note that in accordance with Money Laundering Guidance we cannot accept cash payments in excess of £500.
Billing arrangements
If appropriate, we will send you interim bills for our charges and expenses at regular intervals while the job is in progress. In any event we will provide a costs update at least every 6 months. We will send a final bill on completion of the work. Whatever the outcome we will charge you for all work done and expenses incurred.
If you have not already paid in advance, payment is due to us within 14 days of the date of any bill. If payment is late, we may charge you interest on any bill at the appropriate Court rate (currently 8%) from the date on which payment of our account is due. Interest will be charged on a daily basis. If any amount (including VAT and disbursements) remains unpaid after six months from the date of the bill a fixed administration fee of 15% of the total amount outstanding will be added in respect of recovery costs.
We are sure that you will understand that in the event of prompt payment not being made we must reserve the right to decline to act any further and that the full amount of the value of work done up to that date will then be charged to you. If any bill is outstanding for more than fourteen days no further work will be carried out on this job until that bill has been paid in full. If the bill remains unpaid for more than two months, then we may not be able to carry out any work for you, not only on this matter but on any other matter in which the LLP is acting for you until the bill and any other outstanding bill is paid in full.
If you have any question about any bill, you should get in touch us straight away.
Anticipated Disbursements e.g. Searches, court fees, stamp duty, probate fees and out of pocket expenses
In appointing us to act on your behalf, you are also authorising us, unless you instruct us to the contrary, to incur such disbursements as we consider necessary. You will be required to reimburse us, but we will tell you before incurring any significant expenses. A summary of anticipated disbursements is set out in the Schedule. This list is as complete as we are able to make it at present, but please note those additional disbursements and out of pocket expenses may have to be incurred while dealing with your matter you may be asked to place us in funds before any disbursements can be incurred.
Value Added Tax
Figures quoted are net of VAT, which will be chargeable on fees and any taxable disbursements and expenses at the appropriate rate charged from time to time.
Client Monies
Money held by us for you, whether on account of fees or disbursements or otherwise, will be placed in our Client Account. Where a Partner or Partners alone of this LLP act as executor or trustee, the money will be held on Client Trustee Account.
Interest calculated at £20.00 or above will be paid on monies held in accordance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules.
Money held by us (including accrued interest and money held for your associates) may without reference to you be taken by us in payment or part payment of our bills, whether overdue or not, including any outstanding disbursements and out of pocket expenses whether it relates to this matter or any other in which we act for you.
In addition, if you owe us any money in respect of unpaid fees and disbursements, we reserve the right to transfer any money held by us to which you are beneficially entitled (but which may not be necessarily held in your name) at the time when you become absolutely entitled to that money to settle or part settle any indebtedness to us.
Money Laundering
Proof of Identity
The Law now requires solicitors, as well as banks, building societies and others, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients. This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their clients can be used by criminals wishing to launder money. In order to comply with the law on money laundering, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable. We should be grateful, therefore, if you would provide is with documents to verify your identity and address - one bearing your photograph such as a current photo driving licence or passport and one with your current residential address, such as a current utility bill, bank statement or council tax demand, not more than three months old. We will take copies of those documents, which we will retain, on your file.
In the event that you are a company client we will require evidence of the existence of the Company and confirmation of the person(s) in the Company from whom we are to take instructions. Please, therefore, let us have a copy of your Certificate of incorporation, your memorandum and articles of association, and a recent set of accounts together with written confirmation, on headed paper, of the person(s) authorised on behalf of the company to give us instructions. In addition we require identity documents and proof of address from the Directors and if appropriate shareholders of the company.
Before we can proceed further with this matter, the above identification must be produced to us, even if you are a well-known and long established client of the LLP; the rules leave no room for discretion.
Confidentiality
Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however is subject to a statutory exemption: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the solicitor may be required to make money laundering disclosure.
If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make money laundering disclosure, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it. Where the law permits us to do, we will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what action we may need to take.
Cash
Our firm's policy is to only accept cash up to £500.00 from clients.
If clients circumvent this policy by depositing cash direct with our bank we reserve the right to charge for additional checks we deem necessary regarding the source of the funds.
Confidentiality and conflicts
We will keep all information regarding your affairs confidential at all times unless you instruct us to disclose information or we are compelled to disclose it by law.
If an actual or potential conflict between your interest and the interests of another client of the LLP arises during our dealings with you, we will discuss the position with you and determine the appropriate course of action. In order to protect your interest, we may not be permitted to continue acting.
In Conveyancing matters we often receive instructions from your lenders also to act on their behalf. If so, it should be noted that we would have to pass to them information you give us that might be relevant to their decision whether to finance your purchase. If you tell us things that you do not want the lenders to know, and which are relevant to the lenders, we may have to stop acting for the lenders and possibly also for you.
We use email routinely to communicate and, whilst we have normal levels of security in place, you accept the risk that email communications are not secure.
Storage of papers and documents
We are entitled to keep all your paper and documents while money is owing to us. After completing a transaction files and other papers relating to your matters will be stored for such time as we judge reasonable or for such time as we are required by law after which we will dispose of them. Such files or papers (excluding deeds and securities) may be preserved on microfilm or other means of image processing. We will not destroy any document you deposit with us for safe custody.
We do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored papers or deeds in response to continuing or new instructions to act for you. However, we reserve the right to make a charge based on the time we spend on reading papers, writing letters or other work necessary to comply with the instructions to retrieve old papers and files.
In the event that you terminate your instructions and require us to send to you stored papers or deeds we will make a reasonable charge based upon the time required retrieving and where necessary making a list of them.
We will normally store Deeds and other documents from you free of charge but reserve the right in exceptional circumstances to make a charge. In the event that you remove Deeds and documents from our safe custody we reserve the right to make a charge for collation, scheduling and arranging for collection of these.
Foreign Law
The LLP is not able to give advice on matters governed by foreign law, i.e. legal jurisdictions outside England and Wales including the acquisition of overseas property and the LLP will, in no circumstances, be deemed to have done so.
Termination
In some circumstances, you may consider we ought to stop acting for you. You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.
We may decide to stop acting for you but only with good reason; for example, if you do not pay an interim bill or fail to comply with our request for a payment on account or to give clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed. We will give you reasonable notice if we intend to stop acting for you.
How you can help us
Please give us clear instructions, tell us if you have any important time limits, make sure we have understood each other correctly, ask us if you are not sure about anything, deal promptly with any questions that arise, keep in regular contact – don't feel afraid to ask for a progress report if you are worried about anything.
If you require large print on letters or documents please do not hesitate to contact us and this will be arranged if at all possible.
Communication and complaints
We are confident of providing a high quality service in all respects. If, however, you have any queries or concerns about our work, please raise them in the first instance with your case manager. If you feel that they are not able to resolve the problem then you should contact the Office Partner who is responsible for supervising this office. If that does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction then please get in touch with the LLP‟s Chairman of the Managing Board who is Mr M V Burton. We would hope that way would resolve any problem that arises. It is therefore important that you raise any concern you may have with us as soon as it does arise.
Commissions
Unless otherwise agreed with you in writing, we will account to you for any commission which we are entitled to receive on share transactions, investments and insurance's effected by us on your behalf.
Regulation of Financial Services
Our LLP is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the conduct of investment business. Where we provide services to you, which are subject to such regulation, additional terms governing the provision of those services will be supplied to you separately.
Our Liability to you is limited
1. We will not be liable in contract or tort (including negligence) or in any other way for:-
a. any consequential or indirect loss, liability or damage; or
b. loss of any kind of profit, business, goodwill or anticipated savings or other benefits or any liability to any third party arising directly in the natural and ordinary course or indirectly in connection with our agreement or our services.
2. Our aggregate liability, if any, to you under or in connection with our agreement (including costs) and whether for breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation or otherwise is limited to £10,000,000.00. This paragraph and paragraph 1 will not apply to any liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or fraud.
3. Our liability under our agreement or otherwise relating to it shall be limited to that proportion of your losses that it would be just and equitable to require us to pay having regard to the extent of our responsibility for them on the basis that all other professional advisors involved in matters relating to our agreement shall be deemed to have provided an undertaking in terms no less onerous that this paragraph.
4. You agree that we will not be liable to you for any amount in excess of our proper share of any joint and several liability we may have with any of your other professional advisors in relation to our agreement and which you are not entitled to recover from them as a result of having agreed to limit their liability or as a result of their insolvency.
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Information For Litigation Clients Only:-
Other party’s charges and expenses (if applicable)
In some cases and transactions you may be entitled to recover payment in full or part of costs you have incurred from some other person. It is important that you understand that in such circumstances the other person may not be required or be able to pay all the charges and expenses which you incur with us. You have to pay our charges and expenses in the first place and any amounts which can be recovered will be a contribution towards them. If the other party is in receipt of legal aid or is publicly funded no costs are likely to be recovered.
If you are successful and a Court Orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, interest me be claimable on them from the other party form the date of the Court Order. We will account to you for such interest to the extent that you have paid our charges or expenses on account but we are entitled to the rest of that interest.
You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs that the Court Orders the other party to pay to you.
If you are unsuccessful in a court case you may be ordered to pay some or all of the other parties legal charges and expenses. That money will be payable in addition to our charges and expenses. Arrangements can sometimes be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses, please discuss this with your case manager if you are interested in this possibility.
Public Funding and insurance
We have discussed with you whether Public Funding is available for this matter and if any alternative funding or insurance covers you.
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Limited Companies
When accepting instructions 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 the charges and expenses of this LLP. If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.
Our Hours of Business
The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9:00am and 5:00pm on weekdays. Messages can be left on the answerphone outside those hours and appointments may be arranged at other times when this is essential.
Taxation Advice Unless specifically instructed by you, our advice does not include taxation advice, which we will be pleased to provide on request.
Variation
These terms shall apply subject to any variation agreed with you in writing.
Conclusion
Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.
We hope that by sending this statement we have addressed any immediate questions about the day-to-day handling of your work and our terms of business. If you still have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your Case Manager.
This is an important document: please keep it in a safe place for future reference.
