Terms of Business
Terms of Business
1. Our Aim
We aim to offer our clients quality legal advice with a personal service at a fair cost. As a start, we hope it is
helpful to you to set out in this statement the basis on which we will provide our professional services.
2. Barretts Law Limited
Barretts Law Limited is a limited company, registered in England and Wales with registration number 14024561.
Its registered office is at 162 Queens Road Buckhurst Hill Essex IG9 5BD. In these Terms and Conditions of
Business, any reference to “we”, “us”, “our” or “the Firm” or any similar reference, is a reference to Barretts
Law Limited.
3. Limitation of Liability to Barretts Law Limited
Your relationship will be solely with Barretts Law Limited and it will have sole legal liability for the work done for
you and for any act or omission in the course of that work. No director, including any director described as a
partner, employee, agent or consultant of Barretts Law Limited will have any personal legal liability for that work,
whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise.
In particular, the fact that any individual director, including a director described as a partner, employee, agent
or consultant, may sign in his or her own name any letter, e-mail or other document in the course of carrying
out that work, will not mean that he or she is assuming any personal legal liability to you separate to that of
Barretts Law Limited.
4. Limitation of Liability to a Fixed Sum
The liability of Barretts Law Limited to you shall not exceed £3,000,000.00. This limit is considered to be fair and
reasonable and reflects the level of professional indemnity insurance held by the firm. The limit shall apply to
any and all causes of action against us in respect of or arising from or in any way connected with our engagement
by you.
If you consider that you require a higher limit of liability in respect of any particular matter, please contact us to
discuss this. We may be able to make alternative arrangements, or we may be able to advise you of alternative
lawyers with higher limits.
Where in relation to any loss you may have a cause of action against Barretts Law Limited and against any third
party, we shall only be liable to you for our share of the responsibility, but nothing in this paragraph shall increase
our liability beyond that mentioned above.
5. Our Commitment to You
We will:
- Represent your interests and keep your business confidential
- Explain to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome
- Make sure that you understand the likely degree of financial risk if applicable
- Keep you regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us
- Try to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you
- Deal with your queries promptly
6. Our Hours of Business
The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. Messages can be left on
voicemail outside our opening hours and it may be possible to arrange appointments at other times in
exceptional circumstances.
7. Charges and Expenses
We may have agreed with you a fixed fee for the work we carry out, in which case the following will only apply
for work outside that fixed fee arrangement.
Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by the solicitors and other staff in
respect of any work which they do on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others,
reading and working on papers, correspondence, preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent
travelling away from the office when this is necessary.
Outgoing correspondence (such as letters, emails and other forms of written communication) is charged in six minute units of time.
We charge for the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in six-minute units. We charge for considering incoming
correspondence in units of six minutes of time.
The current hourly rate will be given in the initial client care letter you receive and will be confirmed to you at
any time on request. The current rates we charged are below.
Hourly rates are reviewed periodically to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation. If a review is carried
out before your matter has been concluded, we will inform you of any variation in the rate before it takes effect.
In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors including any need to carry out
work outside our normal office hours, the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action has to be taken,
any particular specialist expertise which the case may demand. In particular, in property transactions, in the
administration of estates and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge
reflecting for example, the price of the property, the size of the estate, or the value of the financial benefit may
be considered. It is not always possible to indicate in advance how these aspects may arise. Where a charge
reflecting any value element is to be added we will explain this to you.
Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients such as Land Registry fees and counsel’s
fees. We have no obligation to make such payments unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose.
We refer to such payments generally as “disbursements”. We will require a payment in advance from you in
respect of any disbursements payable on your transactions.
In certain matters and circumstances where you are entitled to do so, we will seek to recover from your opponent
part or all of our basic charges and disbursements. In the event your claim is successful, we may recover part or
all of our basic charges and disbursements from your opponent, on top of the costs that you pay us. In accordance
with Rule 46.9(2) of the Civil Procedure Rules, by agreeing to these Terms of Business, you are expressly
permitting payment to us for an amount of costs greater than that which may be recovered from your opponent.
The firm reserves the right to bill a client for anticipated feeds and disbursements, including but not limited to
costs that have not yet been incurred.
If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses
incurred to the date of termination of our instructions.
Bank Charges and Card Handling Fees
We reserve the right to charge clients for any bank charges or card handling fees incurred in connection with
payments made to us for disbursements. These charges may either be billed directly to you or deducted from
any funds held on account.
You will be informed of such charges as they arise, and they will be clearly detailed in your bill.
Basic Charges
These are for work done from the date you instructed us until this agreement ends.
These are calculated for each hour engaged on your matter unless we have otherwise agreed in writing. Routine
letters and telephone calls will be charged as units of one tenth of an hour. Other letters and telephone calls
will be charged on a time basis. Other persons, companies and agents may be instructed by us on your behalf.
In this situation will charge you their time at the appropriate rate in the table below. So, for example, if we are charged
by an external medical sorter at £80 per hour, we may charge you that time at a Grade C rate of £250 per hour.
The hourly rates are:
Grade of Fee Earner Hourly Rate
Grade A
Solicitors with over eight years post qualification experience. Cilex with
over 8 years PQE, unqualified fee earners with over 15 years legal
experience. £325.00 – £395 + vat
Grade B
Solicitors and legal executives with over four years post qualification
experience, Cilex with over 4 years’ experience, unqualified fee earners
with over 8 legal years’ experience, Cost Lawyers with 8 years PQE.
£300.00 + vat
Grade C
Other solicitors and Cilex and fee earners of equivalent experience. Cost
Lawyers. Cost Draftsmen with over 4 years’ experience. This rate also
applies to unqualified fee earners who provide translation/interpretation
or medical pagination. £250.00 + vat
Grade D
Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners of equivalent
experience
£150.00 + vat
8. Distance Selling and Cancellation
Please note that if you instruct us over the phone or by email rather than at or following a face-to-face meeting
then the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (which replaced the Distance Selling Regulations) may apply to
the work we do for you.
The Regulations will not apply unless you are an individual acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside
an individual’s trade, business, craft or profession.
Please note that in the event the Regulations do apply then:
a) You have 14 days from entering into a contract with us to cancel the contract without giving any reason.
b) The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day after the contract between us is entered
into.
c) To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear
statement in writing (eg a letter sent by post, fax or email).
d) If you want us to start work within the 14-day period you will still have the right to cancel but we will
be entitled to charge for work we do within that 14 day period.
e) If we complete the work that you have asked us to do within the 14-day period then your right to cancel
may be lost.
f) It cannot be assumed that the work that we do for you will be completed within 30 days.
By signing our Client Care letter and/or instructing us to act, you agree that we should start work for you
immediately.
9. Payment Arrangements
In property transactions we will normally send you our bill following the exchange of contracts and payment is
required on a purchase prior to completion; and on a sale, at completion. If sufficient funds are available on
completion, and we have sent you a bill, we will deduct our charges and expenses from the funds. Unless
otherwise agreed, payment is due even though the matter may not proceed to completion.
When dealing with the administration of estates we will normally submit an interim bill at regular stages during
the administration, starting with the obtaining of a Grant. The final account will be prepared when the Estate
Accounts are ready for approval.
In all other cases and transactions, it is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time
on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following weeks or months. We find that this
helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses which are being
incurred. If such requests are not met with prompt payment, delay in the progress of a case may result. We will
also submit interim bills on a regular basis, dependent upon the nature of the case.
If payment of a bill or a request for a payment on account is not met, then we reserve the right to cease to act
for you in the matter
Payment is due to us within seven days of our sending you a bill, failing which interest will be charged on a daily
basis at 4% over Barclays Bank Plc base rate from time to time from the date of the bill.
10. Interest Payment & payments on account of legal costs.
Any money received on your behalf will be held in our client account. That client account is held with Barclays
Bank UK plc and is not an interest baring account. We are not, therefore, able to accrue and pay interest to
clients or third parties as a result of holding money in our client account since such is not paid by Barclays Bank
UK plc to us. By signing these Terms of Business, you accept this position as an agreement between you and us
pursuant to the Solicitor’s Accounts Rules.
Should a payment on account be received from any other party in these proceedings, you agree that we can
take from that any unpaid fees or disbursements.
You agree that any invoices either interim or final statute can be emailed to you rather than posted and will
count as proper service under the Solicitors Act 1974.
Where you obtain borrowing from a lender in a property transaction, we may ask the lender to arrange that the
advance monies are received by us prior to the completion date. This will enable us to ensure that the necessary
funds are available in time for completion. You should be aware that the lender may charge interest from the
date of issue of the advance.
11. Storage of Papers and Documents
After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing
to us for our charges and expenses. In addition, we will store an electronic copy of your file for not less than one
year. After that, storage of your file is on the clear understanding that we have the right to securely destroy it
after such period as we consider reasonable. We will not of course destroy any paper documents such as wills,
deeds and other securities which you ask us to hold in safe custody.
We will store wills, deeds and other securities free of charge whilst you remain a client. If you withdraw wills,
deeds or other securities from storage other than in connection with a continuing or new instruction, we will
make a charge for retrieval and delivery.
If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in
connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we will make a charge
based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents at your request. We may also charge for reading,
correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.
12. Termination
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.
If we decide to stop acting for you, for example if you do not pay an interim bill or comply with the request for
a payment on account, we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.
If for whatever reason you change solicitors and sums are still due to us, you and your new solicitors agree to
be bound by this undertaking:-
Agreed Undertaking.
1. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree to preserve our lien as to costs.
2. You or your new solicitor/legal representative will not release our papers to any party without our
expressed consent.
3. When the case concludes you or your new solicitor/legal representative will notify us immediately
and return any papers we request to draft our own breakdown or bill.
4. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree not to settle our costs without our consent.
5. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree that we can contact the paying party directly to
negotiate our costs.
6. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree to hold from any damage’s payment received
sufficient sums to cover our success fee and any unrecovered disbursements.
7. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree that we are an interested party for the purposes
of costs recovery from the Defendant.
8. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree that any interim payment on account of costs is
divided proportionately between our firms and paid within 14 days of receipt.
9. You or your new solicitor/legal representative agree to write to us every 3 months confirming how
the case is progressing.
13. Limited Companies
When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, by signing these Terms of Business a director
and/or controlling shareholder is providing a personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this
firm.
14. Tax Advice
Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning
strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the tax implications of a transaction that you instruct us to
carry out, or the likelihood of them arising. If you have any concerns in this respect, please raise them with us
immediately. If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue, we will do so and advise you
accordingly. If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.
15. Financial Services
The firm is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) but is able in certain
circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services to clients if they are an incidental part of the
professional services we have been engaged to provide because we are members of the Law Society. The firm
is included on the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) so that we can carry on
insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts.
This part of the firm’s business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is
regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”). The register can be accessed via the FCA website at
www.fca.org.uk/register.
The Faculty Office is a designated professional body for the purposes of FSMA. The Legal Ombudsman is an
independent body set up to decide complaints which cannot be resolved within a firm’s complaints procedure.
If you are unhappy with any insurance advice you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with either
the SRA or the Legal Ombudsman.
16. Data Protection
We will use all personal information that is supplied to us by you or a third party on your behalf, as your data
processor for the purpose of providing you with legal services. We may also use the personal information for
the purposes of complying with legal and regulatory requirements, to carry out credit checks, to detect,
investigate and prevent fraud, and for internal analysis and research. The firm is registered with the Information
Commissioner as a Data Controller.
17. Regulatory Information and Complaints Handling
We are committed to the provision of high quality legal services, and continued improvement in that quality. If,
however, you are not fully satisfied as to the quality of service which you have received or are concerned about
the amount of a bill, please in the first instance contact our complaints handling director by telephone on 020
3649 0550 or by post at our office address, from whom a copy of our Complaints Procedure can be obtained.
We would expect to resolve any problem to your satisfaction, but if we do not you may be entitled to ask the
Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint on 0300 555 0333 or by e-mail to
enquiries@legalombudsman.co.uk or by post to PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, United Kingdom.
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response
from us about your complaint. Our Complaints Procedure contains further information about the powers and
procedures of the Legal Ombudsman and the categories of client to whom his services are available. If your
complaint relates to a bill, you may also be entitled to apply to the court for an assessment of our bill, but if all
or part of a bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest.
As with all organisations, we learn about the quality of our service through constructive feedback from our
clients. We hope, therefore, that you will agree to debrief us at the end of a matter, so that we may learn from
you if any aspect of our service could be improved. Information relating to our professional indemnity insurance,
including the name and address of our insurer, the policy number and the territorial extent of the insurance
which we are required to maintain, can be obtained from our complaints handling director.
18. Money Laundering Regulations
We are required to comply with anti-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 by the UK Government to prevent
the use of laundering systems to disguise the proceeds of crime is achieved.
We utilise the InfoTrack eCOS solution, which is a robust industry approved client onboarding solution. By
accepting these Terms of Business, you agree to engage with InfoTrack fully and frankly in order to satisfy all
anti-money laundering and client onboarding regulatory requirements.
19. Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
This Act created a number of criminal offences. Solicitors commit a criminal offence if they become involved in
any arrangement which they know or ought reasonably to suspect facilitates (by whatever means) the
acquisition, retention, conversion, use or control of criminal property. Criminal property includes property
legitimately obtained but subsequently illegitimately retained, for example, by evasion of tax.
Solicitors are under an obligation (at the risk of imprisonment) to report to the National Crime Agency any
suspicion they may have that a client or an associate of a client either has committed or may intend to commit
an office under anti-money laundering regulations or this Act. This obligation overrides solicitor-client privilege.
20. Terms of Business
Unless otherwise agreed these terms of business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.
Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these terms it may not be
possible for us to start work on your behalf until one copy of them has been returned to us for us to keep on our
file. To avoid delay, please return one copy of these terms signed and dated as soon as possible.
21. Sanction statement
Please confirm the following statements:
We confirm that in connection with Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Guinea‑Bissau, Haiti, Iran. Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea (DPRK), Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe, we do not have any of the following:
- operations based in any of the above countries
- engagements relating to banking or finance or trading in any of the above countries with any persons or entities
- have any connections with any of the above countries.