Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership
("LLP") incorporated under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act
2000. Your contract and/or retainer will be with the LLP. No
Member and/or Consultant of the LLP nor any member of its staff
undertakes a personal duty of care.
No Member or Consultant of the LLP nor any member of its staff
is authorised to accept instructions on any terms inconsistent
with these terms. These terms may be amended only with our express
agreement in writing.
Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP is regulated by the Solicitors
Regulation Authority and complies with the Professional Indemnity
Insurance Rules.
Work on your case will be carried out by an experienced Member
or Consultant of Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP or with your agreement
by one of our assistants under the supervision of such a Member.
We charge on a time basis. We will keep accurate time records
of the time spent on your case. Those time records will be
summarised for you as part of our normal billing arrangements.
The hourly rate applicable to your work will be agreed with you
at the commencement of our instructions and will be reviewed
annually. We reserve the right to ask you to make a reasonable
payment on account of the costs and disbursements that are likely
to be incurred on your case. In the event of substantial
disbursements such as Counsel or Expert fees, these will normally
be incurred by us as your Agent and you will be directly
responsible for the payment of these fees and any applicable VAT.
We will normally render our charges on a monthly or quarterly
basis, as may be agreed with you at the commencement of our
instructions. In certain types of matter, we may have to insist on
monthly billing if particularly large commitments of time are
required. We may also render "disbursement only" invoices as and
when significant amounts of disbursements are incurred on your
behalf.
Routine office expenses are included in our charges but in
addition, you will be charged for any substantial additional office expenses
such as bulk photocopying.
VAT at the appropriate rate will be charged on our fees and on
chargeable disbursements.
We will endeavour to give cost estimates where practicable but
the type of work in which we specialise does not usually lend
itself to precise estimation as so much depends on the conduct of
other parties, official agencies and the court system.
Our invoices are payable within 28 days of receipt. We reserve
the right to charge interest at 2% above Nat West base rate in the
event of late payment.
If you win your case and we are able to recover all or part of
your legal costs and disbursements from another party or from
public funds, we will of course account to you for the
monies so recovered, but subject to our right to deduct from that
sum any costs and expenses which are still owed to us, together
with interest. If the matter concludes without proceedings, it is
unlikely that you will be able to recover any part of the legal
costs you incur.
If your case is unsuccessful, it is most likely that in
addition to your own costs you will be ordered to pay other
parties' costs. Whether and if so in what circumstances your own or other parties'
costs might be covered by your insurance arrangements we do not
know and we suggest you seek the advice of your insurance
department or brokers on that question.
After completing the work and upon payment of any costs owing
to us we will return the case papers to you. If you prefer we will
retain the papers for no more than six years. Upon the expiry of
six years from the date of our final bill we will become entitled to
destroy such papers unless you give us notice that you wish to
collect them and do so within a reasonable time. We have the right
to charge a reasonable fee to cover storage costs.
You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any
time but we will usually be entitled to retain the case papers
until our outstanding fees and expenses have been paid.
In some circumstances, we may take the view that we cannot
continue to act for you, but we can do so only for good reason. We
will give you reasonable notice and an explanation if such
circumstances arise, though in very rare instances we may be under
a legal duty not to provide you with the reason for our being
unable or unwilling to act further for you.
If we cease to act for you in any matter, whether as a result
of your decision or ours, you will have to pay the fees and
expenses incurred up to that date, such fees being calculated and
payable on the basis explained above.
To the extent allowed by law, Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP only
accept instructions on the condition that:- i) our maximum
liability in respect of any claim howsoever arising (including but
not limited to negligence and/or any breach of duty) is limited to
the sum available under our then current Professional Indemnity
Policy and ii) our liability shall not exceed such loss as is
directly caused by our own negligence and/or breach of duty.
iii) we shall not in any circumstances be responsible for the
negligence and/or breach of duty of any barrister, expert or agent
instructed on your behalf.
A copy of our current Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy
is available for inspection upon request
The limitation of liability set out above shall so far as the
law allows also apply to any liability that may be found against
any Member, Consultant, Officer, Agent or Employee of Fisher
Scoggins Waters LLP.
The law requires us to have confirmation of your identity
before we can proceed to act for you. We will advise what
documentation is required from you on receipt of instructions.
Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP is committed to promoting equality
and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties
and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our
equality and diversity policy.
Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP complies with all data protection
laws applying to the firm. We will use any information you provide primarily for
the provision of legal services to you. Our use of that
information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection
Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our
work for you may require us to give information to third parties
such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have
a right of access under the data protection legislation to the
personal data that we hold about you.
Any money received on your behalf will be held in our client
account. Interest will be calculated and paid to you at the rate
set by our bank which is Natwest. The payment of interest is
subject to certain minimum amounts and periods of time set out in
the Solicitor's Accounts Rules.
In the unlikely event that you have cause for complaint about
our service, please raise the matter promptly with the Solicitor
dealing with the matter and ask him or her for a copy of our
complaints procedure, which explains our quality control,
complaints and customer service systems.