December Hand Signed
December Hand Signed
December Hand Signed
General
This document sets out the terms of the relationship between you (the Client) and us (your Solicitor)
and contains certain information that we are required to provide to you at the start of your claim. We
have tried to make the information as clear as possible and it is important that you read the
document carefully and fully understand and agree its contents. We do appreciate that you may like
us to clarify certain points and if there is anything you would like us to explain, please do not hesitate
to contact us.
These terms contain provisions which limit our liability to £10 million. We refer you to the limitation
of liability set out below.
Cyclinglawyer Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’).
Our agreement with you to provide legal services is not a contentious business agreement within the
provisions of section 59-66 of the Solicitors Act 1974. The restrictions in those provisions of the Act on
the right of solicitors to sue for costs and to exclude liability therefore do not apply to our agreement
with you.
Cameron Tippings, Grade C Solicitor (i.e., up to 4 years post qualification), will be mainly responsible
for this matter. Cameron may be assisted by other solicitors or fee-earning staff as the matter
progresses.
We will try hard to avoid changing the people who are handling your work but if this cannot be
avoided, we will notify you promptly who will be handling your matter and why the change was
necessary.
Jon Edwards is our complaints partner and if there is any aspect of our services with which you are
unhappy with which we are unable to resolve between ourselves, please raise the matter with him.
We must:
• Always act in your best interests, subject to our duty to the court
• Explain to you the risks and benefits of taking legal action
• Give you our best advice about whether to accept any offer of
settlement
• Give you the best information possible about the likely cost of your
case
• Provide you with a good standard of service
Your Responsibilities to Us
You must:
• Give us accurate instructions that allow us to do our work properly
• Not ask us to work in an improper or unreasonable way
• Not mislead us or provide us with instructions, information or
documents that are misleading
• Co-operate with us
• Attend as necessary any medical appointment or court hearing
Failure to keep to your responsibilities may cause you to breach both the terms of your relationship
with us and the agreement under which your claim is funded and may render you liable for costs or
other charges and potentially those of the other party. For instance, if you fail to attend on any
medical appointments, you may be charged a non-attendance fee.
Subject to any cancellation rights, if you wish to abandon your claim at any stage before it settles
without our prior agreement, or if you provide us with instructions or information which is
misleading, we will be entitled to seek payment of our costs and disbursements from you.
As our Client, you are responsible for our charges (comprised of our basic charges, disbursements and
a success fee), and they form part of your claim against the other party. If you win your case some of
our charges will be paid by the person responsible for the accident or more likely, their insurers,
though this sum can be as low as £500 in certain cases which are subject to the low value claims fixed
fee regime. You will be responsible for the balance, however that balance is capped as set out below.
If you lose, you may become liable for all or part of our costs or those of the other party. To protect
your position and to ensure that your claim is truly no-win, no-fee, we may advise that you take out a
legal expenses insurance policy should it be required.
We would be grateful if you would confirm whether you believe that you may have any suitable legal
expenses insurance cover when you return this document.
As long as you comply with your obligations to us which are set out below, with the terms of any legal
expenses insurance policy and the no-win no-fee agreement under which we are acting, you will have
protection from paying any costs that are not recovered from the other party and which exceed 25%
of any damages received. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with your obligations.
At this stage, we believe that your claim has good prospects of succeeding. However, if we become
concerned at any stage that your claim might not succeed, we will contact you straight away.
Although we have explained to you how our fees are dealt with, we are still obliged by the rules that
govern us to confirm to you what our likely charges will be. Our charges are based on the time we
spend dealing with your claim, and this includes reading and working on correspondence, emails,
telephone calls and any meetings with you. The complexity of your case will also affect the time spent
on it. Our hourly charging rates are as follows:
Solicitors with more than 8 years post-qualification experience - £420 plus VAT
Solicitors with 4-8 years post-qualification experience - £310 plus VAT
Solicitors with up to 4 years post-qualification experience - £280 plus VAT
Trainee Solicitors and Paralegals - £175 plus VAT
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Costs Draftsperson £162 plus VAT
Our charges are reviewed annually and may be increased from time to time. We will let you know if
there is any change during the time that we are dealing with your claim. We will also incur
disbursements which are fees that we have to pay to other parties, included but not limited to court
fees, doctors’ fees, engineer’s fee, accident reconstruction fees, and the costs of instructing other
experts as applicable in your case.
Routine letters and e-mails that we write, and routine telephone calls that we make and receive will
be charged as units of 1/10th of an hour. Routine letters and e-mails received will be charged as units
of 1/10th of an hour. Other letters and calls will be charged on a time basis.
In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors which include the
complexity of the issues, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise or specialist
knowledge that the case requires and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter
involved. On the basis of the information currently available, we expect these factors to be
adequately covered by the hourly rates set out above, but we will notify you if it becomes apparent
that this is not the case.
Any budget for costs or estimate given at the outset of any matter is indicative only and we will not be
bound by this. We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example,
due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances significantly change during
the course of the matter). We will also inform you of its estimated cost in writing before any extra
charges and expenses are incurred.
We are required to provide you with an estimate of our total charges and expenses. While at this
stage it is difficult to give an accurate indication of the likely costs, because the amount of work
required depends upon how the matter proceeds, doing the best that I can on present information, I
take the view that our fees are unlikely to exceed £7,000 plus VAT and disbursements (expenses) of
£3,000.00. If the claim goes to court this could easily increase threefold or more. We will update you
periodically with our ongoing estimate of costs.
We will add VAT to our charge at the rate that applies when the work is done. Our VAT number is
971605512. At present, VAT is 20%. There may be certain other expenses, including payments we
make on your behalf and VAT is payable on certain expenses.
Billing arrangements
Other than in Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) Untraced Driver Cases and Criminal Injuries Claims
Authority (CICA), we will usually act under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement, under which we
will charge a success fee. Where we do this, the success fee is set out in the terms of our Conditional
Fee Agreement with you.
Other than in Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) Untraced Driver Cases and Criminal Injuries Claims
Authority (CICA) cases the success fee, plus VAT at the prevailing rate, is capped at 25% of the
compensation obtained or awarded and is limited to past pecuniary loss and general damages and
exclusive of compensation received for future pecuniary loss. The 25% cap is net of any sums
recoverable by the Compensation Recovery Unit of the Department for Work and Pensions.
In Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) Untraced Driver cases and Criminal Injuries Claims Authority (CICA)
cases we will act under a Contingency Fee Agreement and the percentage of damages payable as
costs is set out in the agreement relevant to your claim. This percentage is not limited to past
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pecuniary loss and general damages. In the case of a disputed bill please note that you can ask the
Legal Ombudsman to investigate the matter.
Interest payments
Any money received on your behalf will be held in our Client Account. You agree that we may retain
the interest subject to an accrued level of £50 after which we will account to you for such interest.
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. We will keep our file papers (except for any of your
papers which you ask to be returned to you) for 7 years. You agree that we may destroy it 7 years
after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will not destroy documents you ask us
to deposit in safe custody.
No claims to be made against individual directors, partners and employees of the firm
Subject to the qualification set out below, no director, partner or member of staff of Your Solicitor will
have any personal liability for work undertaken for you. You agree not to bring any claim personally
against any individual director, partner or member of staff in respect of any loss which you suffer or
incur, directly or indirectly, in connection with our services. This will not limit Your Solicitor’s own
liability for its acts or omissions. This provision is intended to benefit such directors and members of
staff, who may enforce this clause pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
Subject to the qualification set out below, we shall have no liability to any parties except you and any
third parties to whom our advice is expressly addressed.
Proportionate liability
Subject to the qualification set out below, if we are jointly, or jointly and severally, liable to you with
any other party we shall only be liable to pay you the proportion of your losses which is found to be
fairly and reasonably due to our fault. We shall not be liable to pay you the proportion which is fairly
and reasonably due to the fault of another
party.
We could be affected by any limitation or exclusion of liability which you agree with another of your
advisers or any other third party in connection with a matter on which we are acting for you. This is
because such a limitation or exclusion of liability might also operate to limit the amount which we
could recover from that other person, for example by way of contribution. Subject to the qualification
set out below, you agree that we shall not be liable to you for any increased amount thereby payable
by us, or for any amount which we would have been entitled to recover from another of your advisers
or other third party by way of indemnity, contribution or otherwise, but are unable to recover
because of that limitation or exclusion of liability.
Making a claim against another person who is or may be liable, subject the qualification set out
below, if there is another adviser or person who is liable (or potentially liable) to you in respect of the
same loss as you claim from us then you will at our request join that person in any proceedings
brought against us as soon as reasonably practicable following our request. This is subject to any legal
prohibition against your joining them in that way.
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Severance
Each of the limitations set out above constitutes a separate and independent limitation so that if one
or more are held to be invalid for any reason or to any extent whatever or does not accord with any
professional obligation, then the remaining limitations or the limitations as varied shall be valid to the
extent they are not held to be invalid or incompatible with any professional obligation.
Subject to the qualification set out below, our liability for losses arising out of, or in connection with,
our retainer (including legal costs you incur in pursuing recovery of the losses, and including interest)
shall be limited to the sum of £10 million in respect of any claim against us. In defining what a claim is
for the purposes of this clause, all claims against us arising from one act or omission, one series of
related acts or omissions, the same act or omission in a series of related matters or transactions,
similar acts or omissions in a series of related matters or transactions, and all claims against us arising
from one matter or transaction, shall be regarded as one claim.
We believe the limitations on our liability we have set out are reasonable having regard to the likely
level of the loss we would cause to you in the event that we incur a liability to you, and the availability
and cost of professional indemnity insurance and possible changes in its availability and cost in the
future. But should you consider them inappropriate we invite you to discuss the limits with us and we
will then investigate the options with you, including the option of providing further cover at additional
cost.
You agree to provide us with such evidence of your identity and if relevant, that of Directors, Partners,
Trustees and Controllers of your Company or Firm and of all connected Shareholders and Parties as
we may reasonably require in order to comply with our obligations under the legislation and
regulations against money laundering and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. We may cease to act for
you if you fail to comply with any such request.
Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of the client confidential.
This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception; 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
disclosure. If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make such a disclosure, we may
not be able to inform you that it has been made, or of the reasons for it, because the law prohibits
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‘tipping-off’. Where the law permits us, we will tell you about any potential money laundering
problem and explain what action we may need to take.
It is the firm’s policy not to accept cash payments in any one transaction which exceed in aggregate
£200. We require cleared funds before completing a transaction and these should be by way of
banker’s cheque or draft, building society cheque or banker’s payment such as BACS or CHAPS.
Money paid by personal cheque draft or banker’s payment must be cleared into our Client Account
before we can draw against it. This may delay a transaction if cleared funds are not available.
We reserve the right (without being liable for any consequent loss that you may suffer) to delay the
progress of a transaction at any stage, even at completion, if we need to check the source of any
payment received from you or on account of you.
If during this transaction you need 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 doing for you.
If you have any problem with the service we have provided for you then please let us know. We will
try to resolve the problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to
resolve the problem between ourselves. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem
between us, then we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and complaints and redress
mechanisms are provided through the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Legal Complaints Service.
The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000 but responsibility for the regulation and complaints handling has been separated
from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the
independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Complaints Service is the independent
complaints handling body of the Law Society.
Cyclinglawyer is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, we are included on the
register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on insurance mediation
activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This is part
of our business, including making arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is
regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial
Conduct Authority website at www.fca.gov.uk/register.
If you require taxation advice then you must consult an appropriately qualified accountant. We are
under no obligation to advise you of any change in the law as it may affect you in the future.
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.
In some circumstances, we may consider that we ought to stop acting for you, for example, if you
cannot give clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed, or if it is clear that you have lost
confidence in how we are carrying out your work.
We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example, if you do not comply with
our reasonable requests and responsibilities as set out in the “Your Responsibilities to Us” section
above. Should this come to pass, we must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
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If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you, you will pay our charges as set out above.
Limited Companies
When accepting instructions on behalf of a limited company, we may require a director and/or
a form of personal guarantee in respect of
the charges and expenses of
controlling shareholder to sign
this firm. If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate
payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier in these termns.
We are confident of providing a high quality service in all respects. If, however, you have any queries
or concerns about our work for you, please raise them with Jon Edwards.
All solicitors must attempt to resolve problems that may arise with their services. It is therefore
with We value you and would
you immediately raise any concerns you may have
us.
important that
not wish to think you have reason to be unhappy with us.
If you have any problem with the service we have provided for you then please let us know. We will
to help us to
tryto resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system
resolve the problem between ourselves. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem
between us, please request a copy of our formal complaints procedure.
Confidentiality
Our firm may be subject to audit or quality checks by external firms or organisations. We may also
outsource work. This might be for example typing, photocopying, costings, research or preparation to
assist you with your matter. Information from your file may therefore be made available in such
circumstances.
Data Protection
We care about your privacy. In compliance with The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
please tick the below authority for us to collect and process your data (use it) for the lawful purpose
of investigating and pursuing your legal case. Our full data and privacy policy can be found at
www.bikelawyer.co.uk
l agree that Bikelawyer may collect, process and use my personal information.
Pleasetick( V
Agreement
Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and
conditions of business.
This is an important document: please keep it in a safe place for future reference.
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