Thank you for choosing Champion Law. Please read these terms of business carefully and print a copy for your reference, as they govern the relationship between you and Champion Law.
1. DEFINITIONS
(the singular shall include the plural and vice versa. Any reference to one gender shall also include the other)
| “Champion Law” | is a paralegal legal services business, and may also employ solicitors from time to time. Champion Law is the trading name of Champion Law Ltd – a company registered in the UK under company number 12560485, and whose registered office is at Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, Exeter, Devon EX1 1TS. Unless expressly mentioned otherwise, Champion Law shall hereinafter also be known as “us”, “our”, or “we”, and shall include our employees, agents, and sub-contractors. We are members of the Institute of Paralegals, and registered and voluntarily regulated by the Professional Paralegal Register under number 209765. We maintain professional indemnity insurance to cover the provision of our legal services up to £1 million worldwide, excluding the territories of United States of America and Canada. Our provider is J.M. Glendinning (Insurance Brokers) Ltd. Their address is Elmwood House, Ghyll Road, Guiseley, Leeds LS20 9LT, and their telephone number is 01943 876631. |
| “client” | shall refer to whomever is mentioned as the client in your engagement letter. The client shall be responsible for paying our invoices. Unless mentioned otherwise in the engagement letter, no third party rights shall be conferred on anybody else under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. |
| “consultant” or “assistant” | shall refer to the paralegal consultant we may use to assist us in working on your matter, as set out in your engagement letter. Our actions shall include the actions of consultants, unless mentioned otherwise throughout these terms. You hereby release any of our consultants or assistants from any liability whatsoever in relation to the rights conveyed to you under these terms. Champion Law is solely liable to you. |
| “consultation booking” | shall refer to the written notification we send to you confirming that a legal professional will contact you to discuss your query in a free half hour consultation. *Please note, subsequent consultations may incur fees.* |
| “consultation report offer” | shall refer to our written offer to draft a consultation report, which will be issued to you upon your request for a consultation report, following an initial free consultation or otherwise. |
| “engagement letter” | shall refer to the detailed scope of the work we will carry out, after a consultation or otherwise, and shall also detail any reasonably anticipated fees based on your instructions up to the date of drafting the engagement letter. |
| “fault” or “faulty” | shall refer to any work carried out which does not meet the reasonable standards expected of your legal professional and their level of qualification. For the avoidance of doubt as to the definition of ‘reasonable standard’, we reserve the right, at our sole discretion save for any regulatory bodies and the courts of England and Wales, to decide in your best interests what is a reasonable standard. |
| “formally instruct” or “instruct” | shall refer to your decision to instruct us, whether or not you have had an initial free consultation. Our interpretations of your instructions will be detailed in your engagement letter. |
| “in writing” | shall refer to any writing in a durable and lasting form, including electronic text or email, served on the other party. |
| “intellectual property rights“ | shall include patents, utility models, rights to inventions, copyright and [neighbouring and related rights, moral rights, trade marks and service marks, business names and domain names, rights in get-up, goodwill and the right to sue for passing off or unfair competition, rights in designs, rights in computer software, database rights, rights to use, and protect the confidentiality of, confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and all other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications and rights to apply for and be granted, renewals or extensions of, and rights to claim priority from, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or will subsist now or in the future in any part of the world. |
| “Introduce” or “introduction” | shall refer to the process of recommending another legal services provider, such as a firm of solicitors, who we believe might be better placed to assist you with your matter, because your matter covers reserved activities set out under clause 3.3, for example. If we earn a fee for introducing you to another legal services provider, then we will make you aware of this and the amount or percentage we will earn if you instruct them. |
| “invoice” | shall refer to the document we submit to you upon completion of your matter or part thereof, either confirming receipt of fees if paid up-front in whole, or requesting further payment from you, as better explained in your engagement letter. |
| “legal professional” | shall refer to both solicitors and paralegals, unless mentioned otherwise throughout these terms. Details of whether your legal professional is a solicitor or a paralegal can be found in your consultation booking and/or engagement letter. |
| “matter” | shall refer to any work carried out for you after you have paid to us any up-front fees, as better explained in your engagement letter. |
| “our contact details” | for the offices of Champion Law shall be: Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, Exeter, Devon EX1 1TS. Our telephone number is 0117 336 2127. Our email address is info@championlaw.co.uk. Please note that it is not possible to visit the office address in our contact details, but we may be able to suggest a suitable alternative in a corporate and private environment. |
| “our services” | shall refer to all work carried out under instructions in line with these terms and your engagement letter. |
| “our website” | shall refer to the website domain name www.championlaw.co.uk, together with all content, pages, and articles found or referred to on the website. |
| “paralegal” | shall refer to any legal professional who is identified as such in your engagement letter. Please note that our paralegals have obtained a similar level of legal experience as our solicitors, but they have either not qualified as a solicitor yet, or they are not authorised to practice under the ‘solicitor’ title. |
| “parties” | shall refer to you and Champion Law, or as otherwise mentioned throughout these terms. |
| “query” | shall refer to any enquiry you make with us prior to proceeding to formerly instruct us. |
| “solicitor” | shall refer to solicitor employees of Champion Law, but who are not authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to carry out reserved activity work under ‘section 12’ of the Legal Services Act 2007 whilst in our employ. Restrictions on the types of work Champion Law can carry out is also set out in clause 3.3 to 3.4 of these terms. |
| “termination” | shall be as defined in clause 10. |
| “terms of business” | unless clearly identified as anything different, shall refer to this entire document, which may also be identified as “these terms”. |
| “work” or “act” | unless mentioned otherwise throughout these terms, shall refer to any legal services, written or otherwise, once you have formally instructed us. |
| “you” and “your” | shall be interpreted as having the same meaning as “client”. |
2. ACCEPTANCE
2.1. By raising a query with us by any means and/or instructing us, you are confirming you are at least 18 years of age and agree to be bound by these terms of business and our privacy policy, which can be found on our website. Should you not wish to be bound by our terms, please do not arrange for a consultation or give instructions.
2.2. You will be deemed to have also accepted and be bound by an engagement letter should you reply in the affirmative after receipt, or if you continue to instruct us thereafter.
2.3. These terms of business were last updated on 22nd April 2020, and from time to time, they, the website, our social media channels, and privacy policy, may be updated or amended again at our sole discretion. The terms you agree to when you instruct us will apply to you up to completion of your matter. If new terms have been implemented through the duration of your matter, then such updated terms will be made available to you and will only take affect after completion of your existing matter and upon the start of a new matter.
2.4. It is your responsibility to check our terms of business and privacy policy thoroughly each time you instruct us. We will take your booking of a consultation and/or your agreement to any engagement letter as your acceptance of such terms.
2.5. You must be using our services from the United Kingdom only.
3. GIVING INSTRUCTIONS
3.1. Upon receiving your query, we may arrange a date and time for a free half hour telephone consultation for you to discuss your query with a legal professional. Please refer to clause 3.5 for more information on initial consultations and consultation reports.
3.2. We draw your attention to the following points regarding the cover of our fees:
a) We do not accept public funding to cover our fees, like legal aid. However, we may be able to advise you of your options to seek legal aid and to visit a legal services provider that accepts public funding;
b) If you are relying on your insurance company to cover our fees, then it is your responsibility to check with your insurer that they are agreeable to this.
3.3. Although we are unable to take your instruction for matters involving ‘reserved activity’ under the Legal Services Act 2007, we may be able to introduce you to a legal or other services provider who is authorised to carry out reserved activity if your matter concerns the following:
a) Filing court or Companies House documents for you as your agent;
b) Speaking on your behalf in court;
c) Applying for probate on your behalf to administer the estate of someone deceased;
d) Conveyancing (Transferring title in a property to another person);
e) Drafting tenancy agreements, and leases and licences of more than three years in term;
f) Carrying out notarial activities (authenticating documents for purposes outside the UK);
g) The creation of deeds and trusts (except a Will, Power of Attorney or any other deed made by virtue of a power of attorney, and stock transfers not held in trust);
h) Administering oaths (swearing statements to be true – written or verbal);
i) Financial advice;
3.4. Further to clause 3.3, we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide financial services of any kind, such as the commercial or financial wisdom of any matter, including taxation. We also do not act as a Claims Management Company, and so we are restricted on our advice or introductions if your matter concerns the following:
a) Compensation claims for miss-sold financial products;
b) An employee making a compensation claim against their employer;
c) Compensation claims for housing disrepair.
d) Criminal law;
e) Compensation claims relating to death;
f) Any other type of personal injury claims;
Any matters we introduce or advise on in these areas do not form part of, and are only incidental, to our main business.
3.5 The free initial consultation should help you better understand the legal implications of your query and how it can be resolved by either instructing us or managing it yourself. At the end of the consultation, we may offer to prepare a consultation report for you, detailing the most pertinent points from what was discussed in the consultation. Further research may be necessary to more comprehensively explain any legal implications and a solution to your query. Please refer to clause 5 ‘PAYMENT OF FEES’ for details on payments for consultation reports.
3.6 Unless you have received a quote or estimate from us before discussing your query with our consultant, they will be unable to give any fees to you before discussing the outcome of a consultation with us, and we will be in touch with you about fees directly. Please note, however, that quotes and estimates are still subject to confirmation in an engagement letter.
3.7. If we require you to verify your identify, we will ask you to submit in person, or via email or text, photos, or certified photocopies, of one of the following documents:
a) Your passport, or;
b) Your photo driving licence.
Two of the following documents may also be required to provide proof of address:
c) Title deeds and/or tenancy agreement(s) of the property or properties you reside at, or;
d) A Utility bill from the past 3 months, or;
e) Driving licence (if not already provided as ID), or;
f) Your bank statement from the past 3 months, or;
g) Council tax bill from the past 3 months, or;
h) 2 of your most recent mortgage statements.
3.8. For incorporated entities, we will also need to see the original certificate of incorporation, together with documents from clause 3.7 a) to f) for at least one director, who is authorised through the certificate of incorporation, and/or details from Companies House.
3.9. Please note that should you have any difficulty for whatever reason in submitting the required ID verification documents listed in cause 3.7 through electronic means, then we may arrange for someone to visit you in order to carry out ID verification in person.
3.10. Once we issue you with an engagement letter it is your responsibility to read it carefully and confirm the details to be correct, or suggest any amendments. Upon your agreement to the engagement letter, you have up to 14 days from the date of the letter to pay any up-front fees. Beyond such date the engagement letter will be rescinded and a new one may be issued with different terms and fees. Please refer to clause 10.1 for cancellation rights and refunded fees.
3.11. Please note, work on your matter will not commence prior to your payment of any up-front fees. Our bank account details and methods of payment can be found in the engagement letter.
3.12. Please also note that the engagement letter may not cover the ‘entire contract’ to fulfil your ultimate wishes. This may be for a number of reasons, as better explained in your engagement letter, and includes but is not limited to:
a) The division of your instructions into sub-matters in order to offer fixed fees for each stage of your matter, or;
b) Only being able to assist you up to court proceedings, for example, because we may consider that our services are inappropriate for the nature of your matter, or it is simply more appropriate introduce you to a different legal services provider.
3.13. Further to clause 3.12, if we are unable to continue taking your instructions beyond completion of a sub matter, and we introduce your matter to another legal services provider, they may have to assess your matter, which will incur their fees.
4. COMMUNICATION
4.1. Most communication will be via phone, text, PDF letters, or emails, so we ask that you frequently check your ‘junk’ email folder in case any emails relating to your matter have been mistakenly identified as ‘junk’ by your email server. It is your responsibility to respond to emails and other correspondence in a timely manner, whether from us, or a third party.
4.2. Some correspondence may contain important and sensitive information. You must endeavour to ensure you can securely sign in to your emails and phone, and authenticate yourself with any other method of communication through any necessary security measures to prevent any fraud or breach of confidentiality on your part, as we shall do the same on ours.
4.3. Should any fraud occur to impersonate you in any way, you shall become liable to honour any agreements, including these terms and your engagement letter, and settle any debts as a result.
4.4. We will send invoices to you via email, unless we expressly agree with you otherwise. Please refer to clause 5 ‘PAYMENT OF FEES’ for more information.
4.5. We may also, from time to time and at our or their sole discretion, meet with you in person to discuss your matter if you so wish.
4.6. Please note that we may record some conversations for record keeping purposes.
5. PAYMENT OF FEES
5.1. You hereby endeavour to pay all monies due, at any point together with up front fees and invoices, to Champion Law upon receipt of such requests by us. Our bank details can be found in clause 5.6, and will also be displayed in any consultation report offer, engagement letter, or invoice.
5.2. Any payments can be made to us via BACS or Faster Payments bank transfer. Whilst we also accept card payments over the phone, for businesses, these will be subject to a small surcharge of between 1% and 4% to cover the charges of our payment processor – Worldpay. The exact percentage and corresponding fee will be confirmed in writing before we take any payment. In some circumstances we will accept cheques, but you must discuss this with us in advance.
5.3. Please note, we do not accept cash payments.
5.4. A consultation report offer will be issued upon your request for a consultation report following on from the initial free consultation. Similar to our engagement letter, the fee for a consultation report must be paid in full within 14 days and before we can start drafting the report. Beyond such period the consultation report offer will be rescinded and a new one may be issued with different terms and fees.
5.5. For any payments we may require you to send proof of payment by providing us with a screenshot of the payment confirmation page if the payment was made online, for example.
5.6. Any requests for payments will only ever come directly from a ‘championlaw.co.uk’ email address. Our bank details are:
CHAMPION LAW LTD
Sort: 04-00-04
Acc: 35944447
5.7. Please note that our bank details above will not change during the course of your matter. If they do, or if you are ever suspicious of any requests for payment for any other reason, then you must contact Fergus Thompson by phone on 07772594183 by typing the number in manually, as appose to simply returning a call from a suspicious payment request from this number, as fraudsters can use ‘number spoofing’ to make their call appear legitimate. Fergus will be able to provide you with confirmation of whether or not the payment request was valid and sent by us.
5.8. Consultants are forbidden from giving quotes, estimates, or requesting payments, in line with clause 5.7. In the event you make any payments to a bank account as directed by a consultant, we will take any appropriate action in recovering any such sums from them, but we also reserve the right to suspend our services to you until such sums have been recovered or paid to us in full.
5.9. For any payments from business clients that we do not require up front, we reserve the right to class such other payments as late beyond 14 days of non-payment. Such late payments will incur:
a) An interest charge of 8% over the bank of England’s base rate, which shall accrue daily until such payments are made in full, and;
b) A fixed fee of £40 for debts up to £999.99, or £70 for debts between £1,000 and £9,999.99, or £100 for debts above £10,000, and;
c) Any costs incurred by us in recovering the debt.
5.10. Although the above late payment charges in clause 5.8 only apply to businesses and not individual consumers, if court action is required in the pursuit of the debt against a consumer, then late payment charges, not necessarily aligning with the above subsections, may apply.
5.11. Further to our privacy policy you hereby agree to waive your rights of confidentiality in respect of your name, address, and any other details relating to unpaid debts for the purposes of debt collection.
5.12. Further to clause 5.9 and 5.10, and without prejudice to any of our other rights or remedies, we shall hold a general and particular lien (a right to retain documents or other items) over any of your property coming into our possession or under our control as security for all amounts and liabilities whatever sort due or becoming due to us from you. The lien may be enforced by sale of any sort, and should we permit you to borrow such property held by us in a lien, you must return it to us immediately upon our request.
6. ADDITIONAL CHARGES
6.1. We cannot cover the cost of disbursements, like company and property search fees, Land Registry costs, court costs, the fees of counsel and experts, travel expenses, courier fees, computer search fees, or printing, postage, and the scanning of multiple or large documents.
6.2. For printing, postage, and scanning, this will be at a small additional cost – the latest tariffs being detailed in your engagement paperwork. Although we try to make this information as accurate as possible, we can only go on the latest information from our providers, as we try to pass on the exact cost, which will be set out in full in your next invoice.
6.3. Travel expenses will be calculated at £0.45 per mile, or the actual cost of a travel ticket for public transport. We will notify you of such travel costs in advance, within reason.
6.4. Your attention is also drawn to clause 5.9 and 5.10 concerning late payments, and clause 7.1 concerning any change of instructions.
7. CHANGE OF INSTRUCTIONS
7.1 Should your circumstances or instructions change in any way as to affect the agreed fees or timescale in your engagement letter, or you later reveal information which you should have disclosed when prompted by us or our consultant prior to drafting your engagement letter, then we will notify you of such changes, together with an amended engagement letter, which you must agree to, in writing, before such changes can be implemented. Alternatively, if the change means that your agreed matter cannot be completed as originally intended, you will still become liable to pay to us the remainder of the fees in your last engagement letter, in full.
8. YOUR OBLIGATIONS AS A CLIENT
8.1. In conjunction with all other obligations imposed on you by these terms, you hereby agree that:
i) All fees are paid only to Champion Law and nobody else, in line with clause 5, and to never pay any fees directly to our consultants.
ii) Information given to us or our consultants is true, accurate, and not misleading in any way;
iii) You shall not excessively ask us to make unreasonable amendments to work;
iv) You do not ask us to do anything illegal;
v) Information, including your personal data, is kept up to date by informing us of any such changes;
vi) Instructions are accurate and made clear to us in a timely manner;
vii) Documents are safeguarded and produced to us in a timely manner;
viii) You will not bypass us in any way to instruct and pay directly, by any means, any consultant within 12 months from completion of your matter they assisted us with;
ix) Treat any information relating to us with the utmost confidentiality, including our ideas, business methods, prices, accounts, finances, marketing, research, development, manpower, plans, processes, market opportunities, intentions, intellectual property rights, design rights, product information, client lists or details, employees’ details, trade secrets, computer systems and software, and anything else connected with the services we offer, including our relationship with clients or potential clients, together with their needs. You will prevent such information from being copied or reproduced, commercially exploited in any way, or used for any purpose outside it’s disclosure from us to you. Please note, any such information, in its entirety and already in the public domain at the time of disclosure, will be excluded.
8.2. Should your contravention of anything in clause 8.1, or anything else in these terms, diminish any fees owed to us, then you may become liable to;
a) Surrender any up-front fees already paid, or;
b) Pay us any estimated or quoted fees in your latest engagement letter, or;
c) Reimburse us of the actual loss on a full indemnity basis.
9. OUR OBLIGATIONS TO YOU
9.1. We hereby agree to:
i) Carry out your instructions in line with your engagement letter;
ii) Inform you if your instructions may incur additional costs in line with clause 6 and 7 as soon as practicably possible;
iii) Keep you regularly updated on the timescale and progression of your matter;
iv) Inform you of any correspondence or documents to be sent to the ‘other side’ or any other third party, and provide a copy electronically for your inspection where necessary or upon your request;
v) Carry out your instructions only in your best interests, subject to these terms;
vi) Comply with all other obligations imposed on us in these terms and your engagement letter;
vii) Hold the necessary level of experience and any qualifications to competently carry out a consultation report, take instructions, and complete your matter to a reasonable standard;
viii) Act on instructions only in your best interests, subject to these terms of business;
ix) Calculate fees proportionately and honestly based on your instructions;
x) Extend to you all professional courtesy in any dealings or communications at all times, and under no circumstances behave demandingly or aggressively towards you;
xi) Deal with any matter with the utmost confidentiality and abide at all times by your known confidentiality agreements, our privacy policy, and any other applicable data protection laws;
xii) Abide at all times with any codes of conduct applicable to our legal professionals’ qualifications. If they are a paralegal, this will be the Institute of Paralegals’ Code of Conduct, which can be found on their website following the link here. If they are a solicitor, this will be the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Code of Conduct, which can be found on their website following the link here.
xiii) Take responsibility for ensuring any consultant we use complies with our privacy policy and these terms;
xiv) Inform you when your matter has been completed;
xv) Rectify any fault in our work reported by you either within 28 days from the date the fault was reported, or as agreed with you in writing; both of which shall be subject to any time constraints on your matter, such as submission deadlines for court documents. Should we fail to do this, please report this to us, and we will process this as a complaint in line with clause 13.
xvi) Upon completion or cancellation of a matter, providing all payment terms have been complied with, to return to you any hard copies of documents and retain any electronic essential documents and other information relating to your matter, or reach an agreement with you for their safe storage for up to six years from the date your matter was completed. After which time, such documents and information shall be destroyed, pursuant to our privacy policy;
xvii) Use reasonable endeavours to not allow our consultants to:
a) Discuss their fees with you or give a quote or estimate of any sort directly to you;
b) Ask or accept payments of any kind for their fees from anybody but us;
c) Send engagement letters or invoices to you;
d) Give the impression to you that they are a law firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, or a Regulated Entity of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, or a barrister. (Please notify us immediately of any occurrence to the contrary);
e) Accept a consultation booking that they are incapable of or do not intend to competently carry out to a reasonable standard;
f) Purport to you to create a partnership or employment relationship between them and Champion Law, as no part of these terms, or express or implied terms outside of these terms, shall be construed as to give the contrary impression;
g) Use your details to send any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material, or any other form of solicitation, at any time;
h) Persuade you to bypass us in any way;
i) Impose any conditions on you that contravenes these terms or your engagement letter;
j) Bypass us to take instructions directly from you or accept payment for any such work within 12 months from the last date we facilitated any correspondence between you and our consultant;
k) Correspond with you in writing, or give legal advice through any other means to you directly, as they are our consultant, and shall only be advising us.
10. TERMINATION
10.1. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013) you are entitled to terminate instructions at any time and for whatever reason, giving us notice in writing of your decision. Full refunds will be given to consumers if no work was carried out, or authorised to be carried out, on your matter within the 14 day cancellation period from the date of payment of up-front fees. Business clients who cancel, and consumers who cancel after giving express consent in writing for us to start work immediately after payment of up-front fees, will incur fees on work carried out up to the date of cancellation. This will be a minimum of 20% of total fees in clause 6.1 of your engagement letter, and can be up to 100% of total fees if your matter has been, or is close to being, completed, or if instructions are cancelled beyond 14 days from payment, and we are not in contravention of clause 9 to any extent as to diminish the value of our services.
10.2 Further to clause 10.1, if you, or we in line with clause 10.3, terminates your matter and the fees incurred up to that point exceeds any fees paid by you, you shall become liable to pay for any such additional fees incurred.
10.3. Subject to clause 9, we are entitled to terminate your matter for any of the following reasons:
a) You instruct us to take any course of action which is inappropriate in that you shall incur extortionate additional costs, or it is not in your best interest, or illegal, and you decline our advice not to continue with such courses of action, or;
b) You ask for excessive and/or unreasonable amendments to work to be made, or;
c) You make unreasonable complaints about our services, or;
d) You suspend or threaten to suspend payments, or;
e) You are overly aggressive or demanding, or;
f) You cease communicating with and continue not to respond for at least 28 days from a written notification of cancellation, or;
g) You enter into any form of bankruptcy, liquidation, winding up, or appointment of administrator or receiver that could result in being unable to pay, or;
h) You cease or threaten to cease to trade, or;
i) You are in contravention of anything in clause 8 ‘YOUR OBLIGATIONS AS A CLIENT’, or;
j) You are in contravention of clause 5 ‘PAYMENT OF OUR FEES’, or;
k) You are in contravention of clause 12 ‘INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY’, or;
l) The necessary mutual trust and confidence between parties has broken down. However, this shall not unfairly prejudice you to the extent that such a breakdown of trust was caused by us.
10.4. If you terminate your matter because we are in contravention of anything in clause 9, then, subject to clause 10.1 and 10.2, we will apply all relevant subsections in clause 11 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
10.5. Pursuant to all other termination clauses, such party who terminates these terms shall have no liability to the other in respect of such termination. However, both parties’ rights and remedies that have accrued up to termination shall not be affected, subject to clause 11.4.
10.6. At the end of a 28 day notification period we will have no liability to you to continue acting on your matter or take any further instructions from you. Providing all necessary fees have been paid in full, we will release any of your documents and property relating to your matter.
11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
11.1. You hereby agree that, irrespective of the nature, gravity, and consequential loss of any breach by us of these terms, including misrepresentation, the amount of compensation in full and final settlement of any such breach will be limited up to the fee value paid by you for the negligent services in question.
11.2. You shall only qualify for a return of fees in full if:
a) You have reported the breach to us in writing, and we have failed to adequately comply with clause 9.1xv;
b) We have failed to adequately rectify the breach to a reasonable standard, subject to clause 9.1xv;
c) You have presented to us all facts as we require to investigate the breach and we found in good faith that we have failed to provide services to a reasonable standard;
d) No significant part of your matter can be separated from the rest as being work which complied with your engagement letter and these terms that could incur fees.
11.3. If we are in breach of these terms and a significant part of your matter can be separated from the rest as being work which complied with your engagement letter and these terms, and can therefore incur fees, we will make a reasonable calculation of the proportionate worth of such work, which shall be subtracted from any fees due back to you.
11.4. The return of any fees in line with clause 11.2 and 11.3 thereby terminates these terms as to give effect to clause 10.
11.5. Although we may use consultants to advise and assist us in completing your matter, all legal advice will come from us, and we are solely responsible and liable to you in carrying out your instructions in line with these terms and your engagement letter. You therefore hereby release our consultants and employees from liability to you from any such claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes with us.
11.6. Subject to clause 11.2, the limitation period or long stop in which to make such a claim, is 9 months from the date the service was given, providing all fees have been paid, with a further 3 months added from the date you became aware of the fault, equalling a total of 12 months in which to report the fault and make a claim for the return of fees from us. This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer to pursue any civil claim against us in the courts of England and Wales.
11.7. In pursuance to clause 11.6, should we cease trading for whatever reason, we have a run off policy that allows you 6 years from the date of ceased trading in order to make any claim, with an additional 3 years from the date you reasonably became aware of the fault.
11.8. Further to clause 3.4, we do not give any financial advice, and so we will not be liable to you for the commercial or financial wisdom of any matter.
11.9. Further to clause 4.2, whilst all parties must take all necessary steps in ensuring their methods of communication are secure, with particular reference to email communication, you acknowledge and accept the inherent risks of delayed transmission, incompatibility, fraud, and viruses. No party shall be liable to the other, except in contravention of clause 4.2 for any loss caused in relation to their methods of communication.
11.10. Whilst all professional care and accuracy is taken in the provision of services to you, we cannot offer any guarantees or warranties, either express or implied, that the services will make any third party respond to any documents, contracts, correspondence, or anything else, in any particular way, or that such material is completely free from minor mistakes or omissions.
11.11. What applies to our website below shall also apply to any content on our social media channels:
a) Whilst we take all reasonable steps to guard against this, we cannot guarantee that the website will be free from bugs or viruses, and as such, cannot be liable to you for any damage or loss caused to you whatsoever in you accessing such platforms;
b) The content of the website is intended for general information only and should not be taken to amount to advice which you can rely on;
c) The website is updated from time to time, but please note that some of the information may sometimes be out-dated, and we are under no obligation to ensure the accuracy of our website, and as such, we will not be liable to you for your reliance on any inaccuracies;
d) The website may contain links to third party websites which are outside of our control. We do not endorse such websites, and nor will we be responsible for any content or availability of such websites;
e) We do not guarantee continued access or availability to the website or any of our services, and as such, shall not be liable to you for any loss or expense caused to you from the unavailability or interruption of the website or any of our services.
11.12. Unless expressly set out in these terms, all conditions, warranties and obligations which may be implied or incorporated into these terms by statute, common law, or otherwise, and any liabilities arising from them, are hereby expressly excluded to the extent permitted by law.
11.13. Nothing in these terms of business limits or excludes liability of any party for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or wilful misconduct by the other party.
12. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
12.1. The name and branding, together with any slogans, letterheads, other graphics, and the logo of Champion Law Ltd, is our intellectually property rights, and as such, is the exclusive worldwide property of Champion Law Ltd, as is the content and layout of the website, together with the registered domain name and social media channels, and any contracts, letters or documents produced by us or our consultants or employees, and all our terms of business to include the engagement letter and privacy policy. Champion Law Ltd owns all worldwide rights in connection to such intellectual property.
12.2. Use of any intellectual property mentioned in clause 12.1 is strictly limited to your specific use, or as provided in your engagement letter. You are therefore strictly prohibited from, or allowing third parties, to use, copy, duplicate, reproduce, pass off, modify, or distribute such content without us providing you with a licence detailing the exact terms of use, including applicable royalties.
12.3. Contravention of anything in clause 12.2 may result in the immediate termination of your matter, and you hereby agree to remunerate us and pay any such royalties, damages, or other charges as may be appropriate for each occasion you, or a third party you enable, uses our intellectual property.
12.4. If you are in any doubt as to the authorisation or use of any intellectual property whatsoever, then you must contact us immediately for further clarity.
12.5. Nothing in these terms shall give rise to create any intellectual property rights in Champion Law or goodwill associated therein whatsoever to anybody but Champion Law Ltd, worldwide.
12.6 We, and our licensors, shall retain ownership of all intellectual property rights created in our services and, subject to clause 5:
a) we grant to you a fully paid-up, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free perpetual and irrevocable licence to copy and modify the works created in our services for your internal business purposes only; and,
b) you shall not sub-license, assign or otherwise transfer the rights granted in clause 12.6 a) to your affiliates or customers or to third parties for the purpose of your receipt of services similar to our services.
12.7 We warrant that your receipt and use of our services shall not infringe any rights of third parties to the extent that infringement results from copying, and shall, subject to clause 11, indemnify you in full against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including any direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation and all interest, penalties and legal costs (calculated on a full indemnity basis) and all other professional costs and expenses) suffered or incurred by you arising out of or in connection with any claim brought against you for actual or alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights, to the extent that the infringement or alleged infringement results from copying, arising out of, or in connection with, the receipt, use or supply of our services.
12.8 We shall not be in breach of the warranty at clause 12.7, and you shall have no claim to the extent the infringement arises from any modification of our services, other than by us, or the incorporation, or your instructions to incorporate, into our services, any intellectual property rights belonging to a third party.
12.9 You warrant that your receipt and use of our services shall not infringe any rights of third parties, including all intellectual property rights of third parties, and you shall indemnify us in full against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including any direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation and all interest, penalties and legal costs (calculated on a full indemnity basis) and all other professional costs and expenses) suffered or incurred by us arising out of or in connection with any claim brought against us or our agents, subcontractors or consultants for actual or alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights, arising out of, or in connection with, any modification of our services, other than by us, or the incorporation, or your instructions to incorporate, into our services, any intellectual property rights belonging to a third party.
12.10 If either party (the Indemnifying Party) is required to indemnify the other party (the Indemnified Party) under this clause 12, the Indemnified Party shall:
a) notify the Indemnifying Party in writing of any claim against it in respect of which it wishes to rely on the indemnity at clause 12.7 or clause 12.9 (as applicable) (IPRs Claim);
(b) allow the Indemnifying Party, at its own cost, to conduct all negotiations and proceedings and to settle the IPRs Claim, always provided that the Indemnifying Party shall obtain the Indemnified Party’s prior approval of any settlement terms, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld;
(c) provide the Indemnifying Party with such reasonable assistance regarding the IPRs Claim as is required by the Indemnifying Party, subject to reimbursement by the Indemnifying Party of the Indemnified Party’s costs so incurred; and
(d) not, without prior consultation with the Indemnifying Party, make any admission relating to the IPRs Claim or attempt to settle it, provided that the Indemnifying Party considers and defends any IPRs Claim diligently, using competent counsel and in such a way as not to bring the reputation of the Indemnified Party into disrepute.
13. COMPLAINTS
13.1. Should you have a complaint about the quality of our services, as the first point of redress, please register your complaint with us in writing, and we will take you through the following complaints procedure.
13.2. We will not charge you for making a complaint, and any complaint will not prejudice our treatment of you in the provision of our services, subject to clause 10.3. c).
13.3. If any complaints have been made over the phone, which you do not put into writing, we may put them into writing for you and send you the details for you to confirm to be correct.
13.4. We try and cater for all abilities wherever we can. If we need to make special arrangements for you, please inform us in writing so that we may facilitate you in properly registering any complaints or comments.
13.5. Fergus Thompson will be in charge of all complaints regarding our services, and he or a permitted representative with permission will thoroughly investigate your complaint. Within 3 working days of your complaint, we will give you the name of anybody investigating your complaint, who will keep you informed of progression.
13.6. The timeframe in which to report a complaint about our services shall be 12 months from the last date of whatever has caused your complaint. Unless you had what we deem in our sole discretion to be reasons for reporting the complaint beyond 12 months, we will not investigate your complaint. Please note that we will also not investigate any complaint reported to us after termination.
13.7. We will normally allow up to 28 days to investigate and resolve your complaint. However, in some instances we will be unable to resolve your complaint, and so unless we agree with you otherwise, your complaint will be closed after 28 days from the date we registered your complaint. Upon completion of a complaint investigation, we will submit to you a report containing:
a) Details of the findings;
b) Any action we took;
c) How your complaint has been resolved or why we were unable to fully resolve the complaint.
13.8. If we are unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint within our internal complaints procedure, then please note the following if you would like to take your complaint further:
a) If your legal professional is a paralegal, then the external complaints procedure of the Professional Paralegal Register can be found on their website here. Please note that you cannot complain to the SRA or Legal Ombudsmen about paralegals, or;
b) If your legal professional is a solicitor, you have the right to file a complaint to the Legal Ombudsmen, but not Champion Law. You will also be unable to make a claim on the SRA Compensation Fund, which is usually available to SRA regulated solicitor firms if their clients are individuals, or businesses with a turnover of less than £2 million, or a charity or trustee of a trust with an income or value of less than £2 million (providing beneficiaries do not suffer hardship).
14. GENERAL
14.1. These terms of business form the entire agreement between you and Champion Law, and supersedes any prior agreement, understanding or arrangement between you and Champion Law, whether made verbally or in writing.
14.2. These terms of business are meant to be read as a whole document. Each clause heading and subheading is merely there for guidance and shall not affect the interpretation of these terms.
14.3. In addition to all other rights and obligations naturally surviving in perpetuity, anything relating to the following parts shall survive the termination or expiration of these terms:
a) Data protection;
b) Clause 8.1ix;
c) Termination;
d) Limitation of liability;
e) Intellectual property;
f) Governing law;
g) Third party rights (clause 14.5).
14.4. We reserve the right to transfer and/or assign our rights and obligations under these terms by way of novation through any future merger or acquisition, or anything else. You hereby agree to any future novation providing it will in no way affect your rights and obligations under these terms during your matter.
14.5. These terms of business, save for the aforementioned parties throughout these terms, shall create no third party rights, authority, benefits, or enforceability, including any implied by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
14.6. If any part of these terms remains to be enforced, this does not preclude any party from enforcing that part at a later date and should never be interpreted as a waiver in any way or to mean that any other part of these terms will not be enforced.
14.7. If any part of these terms is found to be unlawful, illegal, invalid or unenforceable, these terms will be read to the severance of those parts, unless doing so would substantially frustrate the purpose of these terms and create liabilities detrimental to Champion Law. In which case, these terms of business, in their entirety but subject to clause 14.3, shall be terminated without giving any rise to further liabilities.
14.8. Any waiver, side agreement, or annexation to these terms must be affected and agreed to in writing by the parties to clearly relate to these terms.
14.9. These terms are governed by the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.