The following are the Terms on which Bramhalls will accept instructions:
Bramhalls is a Solicitor’s practice authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and will accept instructions to provide Employment Law; support, advice, representation and training for clients, on the terms set out below, save where and to the extent that they are varied as recorded in the covering letter with this statement.
1. We ask that you carefully read and consider these Standard Terms of Engagement and the attached Engagement Letter. Your continuing instructions in this matter and generally will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
2. Please note that this letter may have to be disclosed to a Court or Tribunal as evidence of the terms of our retainer with you if applicable.
3. Bramhalls is the trading name of Bramhalls Limited registered in England and Wales under number 6973007. Registered office at The Old Reading Room, 76 Eastham Village Road, Eastham, Wirral CH62 0AW. Solicitors Regulation Number 567737.
4. We are generally instructed on an ad hoc basis, as and when issues arise. We will review your matter regularly and advise you of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware that could affect the outcome of your matter. You should provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions and all documentation which is required for disclosure.
5. The scope of the work and the source of instructions, together with any timeframe or other specification shall be agreed for each separate instruction or project.
6. You will be provided with details of the solicitor responsible in relation to a particular case. Phil Bramhall will supervise and will be ultimately responsible for all matters. Should you have any queries, therefore, whether regarding the progress of a matter, our relationship or otherwise, these can be directed to the appropriate solicitor or directly to Phil Bramhall.
7. Unless agreed otherwise, our fees will be calculated on an hourly rate which will be set out in the attached Engagement Letter
8. Time will be aggregated, for billing purposes, and an appropriate proportion will be charged for any remaining parts of an hour. We will normally issue an invoice each month to cover work on all matters in that month. It is not our practice to require money for costs in advance as we prefer to work on a basis of mutual trust with our clients. We will be happy to discuss fixed fees for projects, or other ways to manage your budget. It is difficult to estimate fees in matters such as this, but we recommend that a dialogue is maintained so that costs do not get out of control.
9. Our fees are reviewed on an annual basis, generally at the end of July each year unless agreed otherwise.
10. Invoices will be raised monthly covering all the work undertaken and disbursements in respect of each current matter. Invoices are payable immediately upon delivery. We reserve the right to charge interest at 8 per cent in respect of any monies outstanding on an invoice after 30 days from the date of the invoice.
11. If Public Transport is necessary, this will normally be Business or First Class and will be recharged to you.
12. Any substantial copying charges will be recharged to you at cost.
13. We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services. Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 2018 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 data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you.
14. We will keep our file of your papers for up to 7 years after any particular matter is concluded, after which they will be destroyed; excluding any papers that you ask to be returned to you.
15. External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice from time to time. They may wish to audit/quality check your file and related papers for this purpose. It is a specific requirement imposed by us that these external firms or organisations fully maintain confidentiality in relation to any files and papers which are audited/quality checked by them. Your files may also be reviewed in a due diligence exercise relating to the sale or transfer of all or part of our business, the acquisition of another business by us or the acquisition of new business. If you do not wish your file to be used in this way, please let us know as soon as possible.
16. You may end your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
17. We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
18. If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point.
19. (1) Nothing herein shall be taken to exclude or limit Bramhalls’ liability:
(2) Subject to 18(1) above, the liability of Bramhalls (including for this purpose its Directors and any of its employees) for any and all loss or damage caused by its negligent or wilful acts or omissions in connection with its’ services pursuant to these terms shall be limited to £3,000,000 per event or series of connected events.
20. Details of our professional indemnity insurance are available upon request.
21. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality service to our clients at all times. If, however, you have any queries or concerns about any aspect of the service you have received or about the bill, please raise them immediately with Phil Bramhall. We operate a Complaints Procedure which complies with the requirements of Solicitors Regulation Authority (by which we are regulated) and which you can see upon request. You also have the right to apply for assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. You may also have recourse to the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, about your complaint. As of April 2023, time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:
However, Rule 4.7 allows an Ombudsman to exercise discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so remains in force. For further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.
22. If you have any questions before you continue to instruct us on this matter or generally, please do not hesitate to contact Phil Bramhall so that these can be resolved without delay and without any risk to the progress of our instructions.