STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1.0 TMC Solicitors Ltd is a Private Limited Company. Its registered number is 636580.
1.1 For all regulated work, TMC Solicitors Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority England and Wales- SRA No, 10559300. The professional rules, relating to solicitors, can be accessed on the SRA website at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page.
1.2 Please note that your contract is with TMC and any work done for you by a director, practitioner, consultant, or employee of TMC is given or done by that individual on behalf of the TMC. No such individual will owe a personal duty of care to you. Unless instructed to the contrary, TMC shall be entitled to assume that any of your directors, employees, partners, consultants, agents, or professional representatives who give instructions to TMC, are authorized to do so and that TMC may act upon such instructions.
1.3 The contract is governed by and construed in accordance with English law. Any disputes or claims arising shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
1.4 Unless otherwise agreed or our agreement is for a fixed fee, we shall charge you for work carried out as follows:
(a) time spent – we charge hourly rates for any time spent dealing with your work. We use ten, six minutes, units per hour and charge for each unit or part thereof;
(b) routine letters, emails, and telephone calls – each routine letter, email, and the telephone call is charged as a unit of one-tenth of the hourly rate. Letters, emails, and telephone calls that take longer than six minutes are charged on a time spent basis;
(c) disbursements – we charge for all disbursements incurred. Disbursements may include, for example, court fees, experts’ fees, and counsels’ fees;
(d) expenses - we charge travel and subsistence costs, transaction fees (including bank fees), courier fees, external copying and document production, and other similar expenses, necessarily incurred by us, at cost or appropriate standard rates. We also charge for internal document production and copying at our current rates which will be provided on request; and
1.5 Our professional costs are calculated on an hourly basis. Hourly rates vary depending upon the experience and seniority of solicitor, consultant, adviser, or paralegal and complexity of the work undertaken. Typically, at TMC Solicitors, all work undertaken by Principal Solicitor is charged at £350 per hour, Associate Solicitors at £300, Assistant Solicitors at £250 per hour, and trainee solicitors or caseworkers at £200 per hour.
We split each hour into 10 units of 06 minutes and when we calculate our fees on an hourly rate, we follow the unit calculation. If a particular work was less than 06 minutes, this is rounded up to one unit.
At the outset of the matter, we provide an estimate of our costs, based on the confirmed instructions, and these estimated costs are then entered into our formal client care letter, that we send to you.
The initial consultation fee is billed separately and is non-refundable. However, as our goodwill for potential clients, we may adjust the consultation fee in our professional fees for a substantive matter, upon confirmed instructions.
We have qualified solicitors, caseworkers, and paralegals who may work on your matter. A qualifying solicitor supervises the work of caseworkers and paralegals.
1.6 Although, primarily, our fees are based on time spent, they may be adjusted by reference to certain factors such as value, urgency (including any need to carry out work outside our normal office hours), and the level of expertise involved.
1.7 You may place a limit on the number of fees that may be incurred without your prior approval. This will limit the work we will be able to do for you. If you wish to do so, please tell us in writing.
1.8 Any estimates of fees are not intended to be fixed or binding.
1.9 Where our terms of engagement are for an agreed fixed fee and charged in advance of work undertaken, any work we carry out outside our normal office hours will be charged at a flat hourly rate of £200.
2.0 Consultation Fee:(a) Your consultation with a solicitor at TMC Solicitors is chargeable at £300 for a maximum of one hour. This consultation fee is non-refundable. However, if following the consultations, we receive and accept your instructions, it is at our discretion to adjust the consultation fee already paid in our professional fee for your subsequent legal work. This applies to any reduced consultation fee that we may have agreed with you.
Interest will be calculated on your money held on account in relation to regulated services, in accordance with professional rules. It may be paid gross in which case you will need to pay any tax arising. You agree that interest amounting to less than £20 will not be paid to you. A copy of our interest policy is available on request.
2.1 We reserve the right to suspend or terminate work for you:
(a) if any invoice is not paid, in whole or part, when due; or
(b) if a payment on account is not made when requested; or
(c) if we consider that we are professionally or otherwise obliged to do so.
(d) If our duty towards the court is being compromised due to your actions.
2.2 Our contract with you, in respect of any Engagement, shall not be treated as a whole contract. If we:
(a) suspend or terminate the Engagement; or
(b) The Engagement becomes abortive.
2.3 We will invoice you for work carried out up to the date of suspension, termination, or when that Engagement becomes abortive. We reserve the right to charge you for any work required to be undertaken as a consequence of suspension or termination (including removing our name from the court record, if appropriate). Any such invoice shall be payable immediately.
2.4 The law requires solicitors, as well as many other institutions, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of clients and information concerning the source of client funds. If you are requested to do so you must provide us with documents to verify your identity and must provide details concerning the source of your funds. If we are not given satisfactory information at the appropriate time, we will be obliged to terminate the contract.
2.5 To ensure that we comply with money laundering legislation, we may validate your name, address, and other personal information supplied by you against appropriate third-party databases. By accepting these terms, you consent to such checks being made. In performing these checks, personal information provided by you may be disclosed to a registered credit reference agency which may keep a record of that information. This is done only to confirm your identity. A credit check is not performed and your credit rating will be unaffected. All information provided by you will be treated securely and strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
2.6 If you are unable to come in to see us so that we can check your identity document, we can accept copies. However, those copies will need to be certified by a trusted third party such as a solicitor, chartered accountant, or doctor. They should write “This is a true copy of the original and true likeness of the person”, or “This is a true copy of the original”, as appropriate, on the copy document(s), and then sign and date it/them. They should include their name, occupation, and contact details. Alternatively, you may be able to use an identity-checking service offered by the Post Office. The Post Office will be able to tell you the procedure and cost involved.
2.7 We are obliged to keep records relating to your identity and a record of transactions relating to you for at least five years.
2.8 Solicitors are under professional and legal obligations to keep the affairs of clients confidential in respect of regulated work. 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 National Crime Agency. Where any member of our staff knows or suspects that a transaction, on behalf of a client, involves money laundering the staff member may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If this happens, we may be prohibited from informing you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it.
2.9 You agree that we will not be liable for any costs, claims, penalties, damages, or other losses incurred by you resulting from or in connection with the compliance by us with these professional and legal obligations.
3.0 We owe you a duty of confidentiality but may be required to make exceptional disclosure as required by statute, court order, regulation, the SRA, or as set out below.
3.1 We may hold confidential information about a former, current, or prospective client which might reasonably be expected to be material to an Engagement. In those circumstances, we owe you no duty to disclose such information to you.
3.2 Where we hold confidential information about you, we shall not be precluded from acting or continuing to act for another client or prospective client where that information might reasonably be expected to be material to it and it has an adverse interest to you provided that it is reasonable for us to act. In those circumstances, all proper steps will be taken to ensure that confidential information about you is safeguarded, protected, and not disclosed including, if appropriate, by the establishment of internal information barriers, in accordance with professional regulations.
3.3 You agree that we may disclose our files to regulatory bodies, our auditors, courts, or other bodies working with us, as appropriate, in the exercise of their powers or in order to carry out work for you.
3.4 If we are required, for any reason (whether during the course of an Engagement or after it has terminated), compulsorily to disclose documents or to give information, orally or in writing, relating to a matter or your affairs pursuant to a court order, notice or demand served by an entity or person with the authority to compel such disclosure, then we shall comply. If any documents or information are subject to legal professional privilege, then, if possible, we will let you know and advise you of the opportunity to claim privilege. Unless you confirm any claim to privilege, we reserve the right to treat it as waived. Should you decide to claim privilege, we shall be entitled to charge you for consequential work, including any disbursements.
We retain all copyright and other intellectual property rights in all materials and know-how developed or created by us, either before or during the course of carrying out any work for you, although you may freely distribute copies of these materials within your own organization for the purposes of the Engagement.
3.5 We hold professional indemnity insurance which, in accordance with the Solicitors Indemnity Insurance Rules, provides a compulsory minimum level of cover of £3 million. Our total liability to you does not exceed £3 million. We will not be liable to the extent that any mistake results from acts or omissions of the client. (such as giving us the wrong information, or failure to disclose material information) If a third party has contributory negligence, the TMC Solicitors liability is limited to a fair share, whether or not you are able to recover the costs from the third party. These limits apply to the extent that they are permitted by law. The full details of professional indemnity details are available on request.
3.6 If you incur any expenses, damages, losses, or liabilities whatsoever (including legal fees), in connection with or arising from the provision of our services, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise, and it is found that we are liable to you, as a result, then our total aggregate liability to you shall, in no circumstances, exceed the sum of £3 million.
The firm is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees, and is required to produce a written equality and diversity policy. Please contact us if you would like us to send you a copy of that equality and diversity policy.
3.7 This section is applicable to individuals only.
3.8 It applies to distance and off-premises contracts and includes information about your cancellation rights.
3.9 You have the right to cancel your contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day you received our Client Care Letter. In any event, initial consultation fee will not be refunded.
4.0 To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel your contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax, or e-mail).
4.1 If you cancel this contract:
(a) and you had requested us to begin the performance of services during the cancellation period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been performed until receipt of the cancellation of your contract. This will be calculated on an hourly rate basis, even if the original contract was for an agreed fixed fee. Our minimum costs, including any administrative costs, would be £750 which will be deducted from payment on account made in lieu of the instructed legal work. If the money we hold is less than £750, we reserve our right to recover the balance payment from you.
We will issue a refund of any payment due after deduction of our minimum costs hourly costs or minimum costs (whichever is applicable), without an undue delay and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel your contract.
4.2 Force Majeure: TMC shall bear no liability for loss, damage, or delay whatsoever that arise from circumstances beyond its control.
1- TMC Solicitors may accept instructions in some Immigration cases and Citizenship cases on a conditional agreement i.e. win no fee basis, if the case meets our free merit test carried out by senior solicitors and/or barristers.
2- The client will still be liable to pay our initial admin charges of £500 and relevant Court fees, if applicable.
3- If in the process of Judicial Review, the Respondent has proposed a settlement and/or reconsideration remedy, this will be considered as a win for the purposes of conditional fee agreement even if the Respondent decides to serve a fresh refusal decision.
4- Client is liable to pay Counsel fees when or if the case proceeds to hear, whether oral permission or substantive.
5- TMC solicitors will recover the costs from the respondents in case permission is granted and/or consent order is agreed. In such a case, the counsel fee may be recovered from the Respondent and returned to you.
