Our Terms and Typical Costs

Terms

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SINGLETONS
Solicitors
The Ridge South View Road Pinner Middlesex HA5 3YD UK
Tel +44 20 8866 1934
Email susan@singlelaw.com
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1. I will be the person handling the work. I am a solicitor and sole principal of Singletons.
2. If there is ever any matter with which you are not happy please feel free to raise it with me. This should be done within 30 days of the issue arising. If you remain unhappy and have a valid complaint you can contact the Legal Ombudsman ("LeO") at www.legalombudsman.org.uk  email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, tel. 0300 555 0333, post Legal Ombusdman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ. within 6 months of a final response to a complaint from us to you and no more than 6 years after the act concerned or within 3 years of when you might reasonably have known there were cause for complaint  (and for professional conduct issues such as sex discrimination the SRA www.sra.org.uk email www.sra.org.uk/consumers/prblems/report-solicitor.page) once we have investigated your complaint here. LeO will only consider your complaint if at the time you raised the complaint with us you were an individual, a micro-enterprise, a charity that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1m, a club, association or organisation whose affairs are managed by its members, a committee or a committee of its members and that had an annual income of less than £1m or a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1m. LeO may also consider complaints made by a personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of an individual who raised a complaint with us before they died. If your complaint concerns acts or omissions outside England and Wales, LeO may dismiss your complaint if the circumstances do not have sufficient connection with England and Wales.
   
3. Unless otherwise agreed I principally charge on the basis of the time spent on the matter and my usual current hourly charging rate is UK pounds sterling 360 per hour (£360) (plus value added tax where relevant) I charge for all time spent on the matter, including travelling and waiting time and telephone calls. I am happy to give you details of current costs at any time as a running total is always available. The amount of costs in litigation which you will have to pay is likely to be greater than the amount you can recover from the other party to the case. If the matter is on a conditional fee basis you have to pay the 100% uplift and the cost of any insurance premium you bought and the difference between what costs you recover from the other party and the costs incurred from your damages and own funds. Damages based agreements (a kind of contingency fee) is also possible in a few high value cases with a high chance of success. If you win damages and/or costs from the other party, you will have to pay me for the cost of recovery of the sums from the other party, where necessary.
4. My hourly rate may be increased from time to time, but you would be given written notice of this in advance.
5. If I incur disbursements, such as court fees and barristers' charges, these will be billed extra and I may need money in advance in appropriate cases.
6. Some clients may be able to obtain free advice via the Legal Services Commission and others may have legal expenses insurance, so please check whether this may apply to you. Limited companies, however, cannot obtain legal aid. Some cases can be done on a "no-win no-fee" basis, although insurance premiums and expenses may still be payable ( see above). You would be required to sign a written conditional fee agreement if we were to proceed on that basis which is not appropriate for most of our work.
7. I bill all clients monthly where there is on-going work, at the end of each month for work done in that month. If you do not pay when fees are due then I reserve the right to cease acting for you or suspend work until payment is made and to recover the fees due.  Bills are sent by email and unless I hear otherwise you are deemed to have consented to the invoice being sent to you by email.
   
8. Bills should be settled within 30 days, although many clients pay faster, interest being charged at 3% over NatWest base rate on overdue bills. You have a right where justified to complain about a bill first to me and then to the Legal Complaints Service (or the Office for Legal Complaints) and/or by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part lll of the Solicitors' Act 1974.
9. I will provide advice and legal services to you with reasonable skill and care and I acknowledge that (subject to the other exclusions and limitations in these Terms) I will be liable to you for losses, damages, costs or expenses (“Losses”) caused by my wilful default. My responsibility shall only extend to the advice and services I provide on matters upon which you have actually instructed me. I will be reliant upon you for the accuracy of the information and/or documentation you provide. I will not be liable to you for any Losses caused wholly or in part by the provision by you of false, misleading or incomplete information or documentation or due to the acts or omissions of any persons other than this firm or arising from any cause beyond my reasonable control. Where you have concerns which are particular to you and not of general application it is your responsibility to advise me. In the event that you are being advised by one of several professionals and a limitation of liability has been agreed in relation to one or more of them, you agree that my liability to you will not be increased due to the limitation of liability agreed by you with other advisers. My liability to you under or in connection with the engagement shall be limited to that proportion of the total losses (after taking into account your contributory negligence, if any) determined to be just and equitable having regard to the extent of my responsibility for the losses in question. My aggregate liability, whether to you or any third party, of whatever nature, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, for any losses whatsoever and howsoever caused arising from or in any way connected with each matter upon which I am instructed and/or advice on it, shall not exceed £2 million. Your rights in respect of any breach on my part of this engagement shall only be enforceable if notice in writing giving all material details of any claim shall have been given to me on or before the second anniversary of the date of this engagement. My liability, whether to you or any third party, in contract or tort or under statute or otherwise shall exclude, any indirect or consequential economic loss or damage (including loss of profits) suffered by you or any third party arising from, or in connection with, the matter on which I am instructed and/or advice on it, however the indirect or consequential economic loss or damage is caused, including my negligence but not my wilful default. Nothing in this section of these terms shall impose on me any liability of any kind or for any amount which I would not have but for this section. Nothing in this section of these terms shall have the effect of restricting my liability in respect of any kind of loss, damage or liability which cannot or must not be excluded or limited under English law.
10.  Singletons is registered with the Information Commissioner in relation to the handling of personal data. We will use your personal data as is necessary to perform the contract between us. This is the basis on which we process the data you give to us.  No marketing material is sent to clients. If several clients instruct us jointly we will share data between them (unless they tell us not to do so and the law and regulation permits us to comply with that instruction). If you want us to stop contacting you about a current work matter we are currently handling for you then let us know. We retain files for legal purposes after a matter has ended as required by law and as set out at paragraph 13 below.  Some of your data will be stored digitally and some in hard copy form. We use personal data you give to us to keep client records, to perform work for you and to comply with the law and regulations. Where needed we may share your personal data with our regulators, advisers and insurance company on the basis they will keep it confidential. In litigation court proceedings are usually public and  personal data you give to us for court proceedings such as in a witness statement will become a public document.  You have a right of access to your personal data. Your data may be sent to someone outside England such as where we email another contracting party  and forward emails to them in performing work for you. If you change your email address or other contact details let us know. You should not hand to us any personal data you do not have permission or a legal right to hand to us.
    
11. Nothing in this agreement shall benefit any third party and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply.
12. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 I may be obliged, without reference to you, to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency unless it is information received so that advice may be given about it or unless it comprises the advice itself (privileged information). I therefore reserve the right to give such notices as I deem appropriate without notice to or discussion with you.
13. After completion of the work I am entitled to keep all your papers and documents until money owed by you to me is paid. You can terminate your instructions to us at any time in writing, but we may retain the papers until you have paid all charges and expenses owing. If we also have a conditional fee agreement or damages based agreement with you for litigation its terms in relation to termination shall prevail. I reserve the right to stop acting for you in certain circumstances such as where you cannot give proper instructions or you lose confidence in me or do not pay an interim bill. I will give you reasonable notice of this and you must then pay sums owing. Normally after 6 years your file and papers sent to us will be destroyed without notice to you although in some cases it may be a longer or shorter period.
14. Where litigation is undertaken this is not on a conditional fee or damages based agreement basis (unless we have signed a separate signed agreement for that). You are obliged to pay my costs whether you win or lose the action and fees accrue as work is done and are payable on termination of our retainer with you, not completion of a case unless otherwise agreed. Litigation is not an “entire contract” between us and we may cease to act for you during the litigation on written notice to you, with leave of the court where this is required. You will then be obliged to pay our fees to date.
15. Our advice is provided to you and may not, without our prior written consent, be disclosed to any other party. You will not refer to us nor to our advice in any public document or communication without our prior written consent.
16. If there is anything here with which you are not happy please let me know, otherwise we shall proceed on the terms set out above.
17. We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Limited ("SRA") (which is a company limited by guarantee owned and controlled by the Law Society of England and Wales) and subject to its Code of Conduct - https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/. Elizabeth Susan Singleton's individual qualified solicitor SRA and Law Society of England and Wales registration number is 0131514. Singletons' (firm) SRA number is 78030. VAT No. GB 649974958 . Our indemnity insurer may change from time to time, but for 2023/24 is Endurance Worldwide Insurance Limited (Sompo) and we are insured to advise anywhere in the world.
18. The agreement between us is subject to English law and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in connection with any dispute hereunder whether in contract or in tort and we reserve the right to bring legal proceeding in the English courts or the courts elsewhere at our discretion.