Terms of Business

TERMS OF BUSINESS  

Shalom Legal Services Ltd Terms and Conditions of Business  

Shalom Solicitors is the trading name of Shalom Legal Services Ltd is regulated  by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) whose code of conduct can be found  on www.sra.org.uk. The SRA is the independent regulatory body of Solicitors.  Professional rules laid down by it require that clients of solicitors be informed of  certain terms of business. Accordingly, this formal statement indicates the basis  upon which we will carry out our professional services on your behalf.  

1. Hours of business 

1.1 We are located at 17New Road Avenue, Partnership Business Centre,  Chatham, Kent, ME4 6BA and normally open our offices between 9.30 a.m.  and 5.30 p.m. on weekdays. Appointments can be arranged outside of  these hours if essential. We are closed on all Bank Holidays and some  religious days.  

2. Responsibility for work  

2.1 A nominated fee earner at the firm will be responsible for your work and  will be the principal point of contact. That person is identified in the Client  Care Letter, together with any other personnel nominated to handle your  work. You will be notified of any personnel changes, the reason for these  changes and any cost implications will be explained to you if any. Our  reception staff may be able to deal with your queries and will be pleased to  take any message from you.  

3. Our Service  

3.1 Shalom Solicitors is committed to high quality legal advice and client  care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you receive, or  about the bill, please contact the person dealing with your case in the first  instance. If after discussing the matter with the case worker, the difficulty  remains unsolved, you should write to our Client Care Director who can be  contacted at our above mentioned address. If you are not satisfied with our  handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) at PO  Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ to consider the complaint. You may  obtain a copy of our firm’s Complaints Procedure from our office.  

3.2 We trust that we would be able to resolve the matter with which you are  unhappy with between ourselves. Indeed we pride ourselves on the quality  of service we offer and in the many satisfied clients we have. We would  hope you would be another.  

3.3 You are reminded that you will be bound by the contents of all signed  documents and you are strongly advised to read all documents thoroughly 

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and to raise any queries before signature. Under no circumstances should a  document be signed unless you thoroughly understand it and are satisfied  with its contents in all respects. We are here to help you – please ask  questions whenever you wish.  

3.4 No staff of this practice will be required to do anything which may  amount to a breach of our code of conduct.  

4. Level of Service Agreement  

4.1 In publicly funded cases, we will prepare and send your defence or  admission within the deadline, after we have received the grant of LAA  funding certificate or Representation Order and you have provided all  relevant documents that will enable us to respond to the claim. We will  notify you as soon as we send the defence or admission to the court or the  other party.  

4.2 The decision of the court concerning your case will be a refusal or a  grant. As soon as we receive a decision of the court regarding the  proceeding, we have completed and discharged this retainer. After such  decision any further work like appeal against the decision will attract  additional fees. We will discuss that if the need arises.  

4.3 We shall endeavour to keep you informed about the progress of the  case and also seek your instruction on any issues or developments, which  may arise as this matter progresses. We are able to deal with such matter  after you have provided the instruction sought. In that case your delay in  providing instruction will delay the action we need to take and slow the  progress of the case.  

4.4 In this retainer we agreed that you will call us at any time during office  hours. We will endeavour to respond to your call within 48 hours of  receiving it. You can also make your inquiries in writing.  

4.5 The exact time scale in this matter given current trend cannot be  estimated as delay may arise due to the high number of cases pending in  court. If we feel that the case is being delayed, we will inquire from the court  and advise you of the progress.  

5. Success Guarantee  

5.1 We cannot give a guarantee that your claim shall have a successful  outcome because it depends on the evidence that you have given to  support your claim and whether you have provided satisfactory evidence is  for the court to decide. We will advise further on the merit of your case  when we receive further information and documents requested. 

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6. Confidentiality 

6.1 As Solicitors, we are under a professional and legal obligation to keep  our client’s affairs confidential. This means that we cannot disclose your  information to a third party without your consent. External firms or  organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. This  external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in  relation to your files. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory  exception: 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 a money laundering  disclosure. If this happens, we may not be able to inform you that a  disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it.  

7. How we can help each other  

7.1 Please let us have clear instructions and make sure that we have  understood each other correctly. We will, usually, relate your instruction as  we understand them to be in a client care letter at the onset of your  instructions to us. If you are unsure about anything, please ask us to  explain.  

7.2 Keep in regular contact. Inform us if you move or change phone  numbers. If you are worried about anything or do not hear from us when  expected, you are welcome to ask for a progress report.  

7.3 Deal promptly with any correspondence or questions and we shall  endeavour to do the same.  

7.4 Tell us of any important time limits or if you are going to be unavailable  for a period of time.  

7.5 Help us to plan our working day. Unless it is urgent or you need to  discuss matters, write to us rather than telephoning. If you wish to see  someone, please make an appointment.  

8. Fees (relating to all matters)  

8.1 Where we have given you an estimated/fixed fee. This is based upon  the standard transaction and is designed to cover a reasonable number of  telephone calls, letters, faxes, e-mails and/ or documents. If the transaction  is unexpectedly complicated or lengthy, we reserve the right to charge an  additional hourly rate over and above the quoted fee. We will notify you in  advance if this is the case. 

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8.2 Unless and until either (a) an alternative fee arrangement has been  agreed and confirmed in writing by us or (b) you are entitled to have the fee  of Victory at Law Solicitors paid by the Legal Aid Agency, the basis for  calculation of our fees is described below. This is mainly by reference to the  time spent by the relevant fee earner and staff on dealing with the  transaction or case, the time charged being all time spent on your affairs.  This will include attendances upon yourself and perhaps others; any time  spent travelling; considering, preparing and working on papers and  correspondence; making and receiving telephone calls; all time spent  making file notes; etc.  

8.3 Each solicitor and trainee’s time is charged out at an hourly rate (broken  down into six minute units) which reflects overhead costs. Routine letters,  telephone calls and faxes are charged at a single unit whereas longer  telephone calls or letters are timed in six-minute units, as are all other  matters. File opening is charged at £25.00. Minimum charge on any matter  is £60.00 + VAT.  

8.4 The current guideline hourly rates of solicitors are set out below. These  rates do not include VAT.  

Pay band A (Solicitors with over 8 years’ experience): £278.00 Pay  band B (Solicitors with over 4 years’ experience): £237.00 Pay  band C (Other solicitors or fee earners with equivalent experience):  £190.00  

Pay band D (Trainee solicitors, paralegal and other fee earners): £134.00  

8.5 Where your instructions require that work is done outside of normal  office hours, we reserve the right to increase the level of the hourly rate.  Your client care letter will indicate all negotiated hourly rate.  

8.6 The hourly rates set out above are normally reviewed annually to take  effect from the 1st November. Details of any revision of rates occurring  during the continuance of a case or transaction will be supplied to you.  These rates may not be appropriate in cases of exceptional complexity or  urgency. Where it becomes apparent that such circumstances exist, we  reserve the right to cease acting for you unless revised rates are agreed for  future work.  

8.7 Some transactions involving a substantial financial consideration or  benefit to the client, may attract fees calculated by reference to the time  spent and also by reference to a value element based on e.g. the size of the  Estate or the value of the financial benefit. The value element reflects the  importance of the transaction and the consequent responsibility falling on  the Firm. Further information on the calculation of the value element and 

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whether it will be applied to your case will be supplied.  

8.8 In relation to payments made by us on your behalf e.g. for such items as  Court fees, Counsel’s fees, fees for medical reports, search fees, Land or  Probate Registry fees, etc., Shalom Solicitors have no obligation to effect  such payment unless funds have been provided by you for that purpose.  VAT is payable on some of these payments.  

8.9 Fees are payable whether or not a case is successfully concluded or a  transaction is completed. If any case or transaction does not proceed to  completion for any reason during the period in which we are instructed, then  we shall be entitled to charge for work done on the basis set out above but,  in our absolute discretion, we may waive part or all of such entitlement to  fees.  

8.10 Instructions from limited liability companies are accepted only on the  basis that all sums due to Shalom Solicitors for costs and disbursements  are personally and jointly and severally guaranteed by all the directors and  officers of the company.  

8.11 You should take careful note that instructing Shalom Solicitors to take  on your matter under a No Win No Fee agreement involves us acting  your case throughout its lifetime with obvious cost implication to Shalom  Solicitors. This is done without charge or interest payable by you.  S h a l o m S o l i c i t o r s , therefore, anticipates making profit out of their  share of your costs/damages. You should therefore realise that although  there is no restriction on your changing solicitors in your matter there are  financial matters to be settled. Should you wish to change solicitors and we  are confident that Shalom Solicitors are providing a full and proper service,  you will be invoiced the full cost of the work we have carried out to-date at  our private rates according to our Terms and Conditions. Your new chosen  Solicitors will also have to provide a written undertaking to discharge our No  Win No Fee percentage out of any future compensation received. Both  these matters are required to be satisfied prior to your file of papers being  handed over.  

8.12 Other cases or transactions – It is helpful if you pay us as of when due  to avoid any delay in the progress of your case. In transactions or cases  likely to continue for more than one month, interim accounts covering the  work already carried out will normally be rendered from time to time. This  procedure enables you to budget the costs as the matter progresses. In the  event of any account or request for payment on account not being paid, we  reserve the right to decline to act further in the case. The full amount of  work done up to that date will be subject to a final account rendered and will  be a debt due from you. 

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8.13 Interest will be charged at 4% over Barclays Bank PLC’s base rate  from time to time from the date of delivery of an account in cases where  payment is not made within twenty-eight days of such delivery. Victory at  Law Solicitors will be entitled to charge for all expenses and costs to which  we are put in recovering monies due to us.  

8.14 In cases or transactions continuing for some period of time, you may  find it convenient to arrange regular payments on account by way of Bank  Standing Order. If you wish to make use of this facility, please raise this with  us.  

8.15 Where in any matter you are receiving assistance with payment of  legal costs or disbursements from another source, for example, legal  insurance, you will remain responsible to us for those costs and  disbursements unless and until payment has been received in full.  

8.16 For some cases funded privately, there is a charge of £50.00 for  opening a file and a charge of £50.00 for dealing with Money Laundering  Regulation, where relevant.  

8.17 There may be circumstances where Shalom Solicitors may be  entitled to exercise a lien for unpaid costs.  

9. Costs recovered  

9.1 In some litigation cases a successful client may be entitled to the  payment of costs by some other party to the proceedings. However, it is  rare for the system of “taxation” of costs, as it is known, to result in the other  party having to pay the full amount of the costs incurred by the client with  their own Solicitor. If the other party is in receipt of Legal Aid, no costs are  likely to be recovered. You should realise that the primary liability for costs  incurred with Shalom Solicitors is yours even in a case where it is expected  that an order for costs will be obtained against another party. Further, the  costs of seeking to enforce such an order for costs against another party  have to be met by you.  

9.2 Should your claim against your opponent fail then it is possible for the  Court to order you to pay your opponent’s costs of the proceedings.  However, for those who are legally aided, there is some degree of  protection by virtue of Section 17 of the Legal Aid Act 1988 which provides  that an order for costs against a legally aided must not exceed the amount  (if any) which the Court considers reasonable for that party to pay. The  Court has to take into account all of the circumstances, including the  financial circumstances of both parties and their conduct in connection with  the dispute. The Court will usually order costs against a losing legally aided  party but direct that these costs are not to be enforced without leave of the 

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Court. The effect of such a direction is that the winner would have to apply  to Court for leave to take enforcement action to recover their costs.  

10. Interest payments  

10.1 If we hold money on your behalf, subject to the terms of these  paragraphs, interest will be calculated and credited to you on the quarter  date and in accordance with the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1991. Subject to  certain minimum amounts and period of time prescribed by the Rules,  interest will be calculated and paid at the rates from time to time payable on  Barclays Bank PLC’s Business Services Practice Call Deposit Accounts  less a sum of £20.00 to take into account the administrative costs of  calculation and payment in respect of each amount of interest as and when  calculated. The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from  the date(s) on which cleared funds are received by us until the date(s) of  issue of any cheques in discharge thereof. In lengthy matters, interest is  calculated on our accounting quarter dates; end January, end April, end  July and end October. However, Shalom Solicitors does not currently hold  client account. These will therefore not currently apply to you.  

10.2 Where clients obtain borrowing from a lender, Shalom Solicitors will  request the lender to arrange that the advance cheque is received by us a  minimum of four working days prior to the completion date to ensure that  cleared funds are available in time for completion. You should note that the  lender may charge interest from the date of issue of the cheque.  

10.3 Where a client has taken out a loan through a third party to fund  litigation, in all cases where we receive money on your behalf, which must  be paid to discharge your loan, we will pay that received money into our  Office Account. In such cases, the client is not entitled to receive the money  from us on demand as we have a superior duty to discharge/reduce your  loan. Interest will not be earned on such balances.  

10.4 As the liability for your solicitors costs are always yours, although we  may be instructed to obtain all or part of those costs from your opponent,  our costs bill, once it has been agreed for payment with your opponent, will  be secured by money held on your behalf in our Clients Account. For this  purpose such security will be transferred to our Office account as against  the outstanding account.  

11. Communication  

11.1 We will aim to communicate with you by such method as you may  request. We may need to virus check discs or email. Unless you withdraw  consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate by fax, email  and other social media communication methods but we cannot be 

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responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent through  them.  

12. Data Protection  

12.1 In order to act for you we may need to hold personal data about you,  including information such as medical records and reports which are  sensitive and personal. We will hold that data only for the purpose of acting  for you in relation to your case and will not use the data for any other  purposes. In the course of acting for you, we may need to disclose some  data to third parties, including experts we ask to help you and other party to  the claim and their advisers.  

12.2 You have the right to receive details of the personal information we  hold about you following payment of a fee. If you have any questions or  need further information on how we will deal with your data, please write to:  Compliance Director, at our office address. The Data Protection Act and the  General Data Protect Regulation (GDPR) requires us to advise you that  your particulars are held on our database. We may, from time to time, use  these details to send you information which we think might be of interest to  you.  

12.3 Where we act for two or more clients jointly it is on the clear  understanding that we are authorised to act on instructions from either, both  or any of them.  

13. Professional Indemnity  

13.1 .Under the Indemnity Insurance Rules firms are required to take out  and maintain qualifying insurance. Details of insurance can be found at our  office, or you can contact us to request this Shalom Solicitors information.  

14. Money Laundering  

14.1 There are now in force strict rules in respect of money laundering. It is  now a requirement that we report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) any  transaction that we are involved in where there is any suspicion of money  laundering. This is in direct conflict with the Solicitor/Client usual  confidential relationship. Where you instruct us to accept or hold or pay  over money on your behalf, if the circumstances give us cause that a proper  disclosure ought to be made to the Authorities you hereby authorise us to  make such disclosure on your behalf. In such circumstances we shall not be  liable for any consequential losses following from such disclosure. If you  are not content for us to make such report then we can no longer act for 

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you.  

15. Proof of Identity  

15.1 Under the Proceeds of Crime Act we have to take full Proof of Identity  from you. We usually do this at the first meeting. However, if we have not  yet done so for whatever reason, we will ask you to make an appointment  for this as soon as possible.  

16. Financial Services – Conduct of Business  

16.1 If during the course of your instructions, you require advice on  investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised 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 carrying out for you.  

17. Storage of papers and deeds  

17.1 Following the conclusion of a transaction or case, we will retain your  file of papers for a minimum of 6 years on the understanding that we have  your authority to destroy it after this period of time. If, however, you request  for documents during the storage period we may charge you a nominal fee  to cover the costs for retrieval.  

17.2 If you require such papers (including pre-registration deeds and  documents where the title to a property has been registered at H M Land  Registry) to be kept for any specific period you must give notice in writing to  us to that effect and, in the event of such notice being given, we reserve the  right to require you to take personal custody of the papers.  

18. Future instructions  

18.1 Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of the then  current hourly rates, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to  all future instructions given by you to us.  

19. Termination of your Instructions  

19.1 You have the right to transfer to another solicitor, and you may 

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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 the  firm for our charges and expenses. Should this happen and your case is still  outstanding we will be entitled to apply our hourly rate as outlined above in  ascertaining how much you will pay us. In that case, the agreed fee would  no longer be applicable. However, in cases that are publicly funded, your  legal funding may not be transferred if it is considered you are acting  unreasonably.  

19.2 We may have to decline to act further for you if there is some conflict  or other circumstances that puts us in a position where the solicitor/client  relationship has broken down, for example: if you do not pay a bill, if you fail  to comply with a request for payment of money on account, if you do not  give us clear or proper instructions, if I cannot continue to act without being  in breach of rules of professional conduct or if there has been an  irretrievable breakdown in trust and confidence. We would give you notice  in the unlikely event that this happens.  

19.3 Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an  acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business, it should be helpful  if you would please sign and return one copy of the same for us to retain on  our file.