Skip to contentCrown Law Solicitors LLP – Terms of Business
The following document sets out in more details our general Terms of Business. If you have any queries regarding the contents of this or any other documents please do not hesitate to contact a member of our staff.
Our responsibilities include:
Your Responsibilities include:
At your first appointment with us we aim to:
After your first appointment, we will confirm all these points, and anything else we tell you, usually in writing.
Please remember to bring all relevant papers to the first appointment. If you are not sure which papers are relevant, bring anything you think will be helpful. This will make it much quicker and easier to find out what your problem is and how we can help you with it. Proof of your identity is also required in every case.
When we finish dealing with your case, we will:
Our normal hours of business are Monday to Friday 0930 hours (9.30am) to 1730 hours (5:30pm).
During the course of our business with you Crown Law Solicitors LLP may use e-mail as a means of communication, either with you or other parties in connection with your case. We would point out that, due to the nature of e-mail communication and despite our best efforts: –
Whilst the chances of interception are unlikely we feel it is our duty to advise you of the above. Should you NOT wish us to communicate via e-mail regarding your case, please notify us in writing.
Crown Law Solicitors LLP are 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.
We comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR) in regard to information held on our clients. Our use of that information is subject to the DPA and GDPR and our duty of confidentiality. Maintaining the security of your data is a priority of Crown Law Solicitors LLP, (S&S) and we are committed to respect your privacy rights. We undertake to handle your data fairly and legally and be transparent about what data we collect from you and how we use such data. This privacy notice aims to explain the types of personal data CL may collect about you when you interact with us whether you visit our offices, use your mobile device or go online. It also aims to explain how we process, share and keep your data. We gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection legislation. CL is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Office. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and obligations, and explain how, why and when we collect and process your personal data.
Why We collect your personal Data
We may collect and process your personal data for various reasons, these reasons include: –
Our legitimate Interest
The normal legal basis for processing personal data, is that it is necessary for the legitimate interests of CL including: –
The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data
Unless we notify you, we will not process your personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) as it is currently defined. Detailed below are examples of when we would collect, process and in some cases share your personal data:
How long will we keep your data
We only retain your data for as long as it is necessary and for the purposes specified by this notice. We have retention periods in place to meet these obligations. We are required under some cases and regulations to retain your personal data for a specified time, for example our minimum retention period for a client file is 7 years. Individual matter types have different retention periods, these are stipulated below. After this time, we will confidentially destroy all information that we hold about you (please see info above in regard to our procedures relating to file retrieval and storage) other than your name, address and a date of birth which we are obliged to continue to hold for the purposes of ensuring that we never act for another client were doing so would conflict with our obligation of confidentiality to you.
How we will share your data
We do not share or disclose personal information without consent other that for the purposes specified in this notice or as required by Law. We sometime use trusted third parties to provide professional services and carry out business functions, however, all third-party processors acting on our behalf only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and have provided sufficient guarantees that the minimum requirements of the DPA and GDPR will be met so that your rights as a data subject are protected.
We may disclose or share your data in the following circumstances:
The third parties aforementioned may include, but are not limited to : –
What are your rights over your personal data
You have the right to access your personal information that we process about you and to request information about:-
If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to update/correct it as quickly as possible unless there is a valid reason for not doing so. At which point you will be notified. If you would like your personal data to be removed or the use to be amended, you have the right to request the following:
If we receive a request to exercise any of your rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the relevant request, this is to ensure your data is protected and kept secure. If you would like to make a request around the processing of your data, please contact us as enquiries@crownlawsolicitors.com Further information about your rights under the data protection legislation can be found at www.ico.org.uk
If you send us personal data about anyone other than yourself you will ensure you have any appropriate consents and notices in place to enable you to transfer that personal data to us, and so that we may use it for the purposes for which you provide it to us.
At the end of the matter, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses. We will keep our file of your papers for a period of no more than 7 years, except those papers that you expressly ask to be returned to you. We will retain your Will for an ongoing period up until the document is revoked or the death of the testator. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them after this period has expired after the date of the final bill. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them after this period has expired after the date of the final bill. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody. If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or renewing instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent producing stored papers or documents to you or another or making copies of any documents at your request. If you request a file to be retrieved from storage for reasons other than continuing or renewing instructions we may make a charge of £40.00 plus VAT. We may also charge for reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with the instructions given by you, or on your behalf. Our charges would be based on our hourly rate applicable at the given time and we would always discuss this with you beforehand.
Certain aspects of our administrative work such as but not limited to secretarial resources, IT support and file archive storage may be outsourced to reputable organisations. Where we do so each supplier would be bound by strict confidentiality agreements to preserve client confidentiality at all times. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible, in writing.
External firms or organisations such as our indemnity insurers or regulatory bodies may conduct audits or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.
Any dispute or legal issue arising from our terms of business will be determined by the law of England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts.
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. This right of retention is known as a “Lien”. We may decide to stop acting for you but only with good reason to do so, e.g. if you do not pay an interim bill, if there is a conflict of interest or you fail to provide timely and reasonable instructions. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you. If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point. These are calculated as set out in the client care letter you have been provided.
In order to comply with the law on money laundering, we may need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable. Your Solicitor will advise you if your instructions would be subject to Money Laundering regulations and if so we should be grateful, if you would provide us with documents to verify your identity and address as set out as below. We require evidence of your full name and current address, including your postcode. If you are a UK resident, examples of suitable evidence include:
We may receive personal data from you for the purposes of our money laundering checks, such as a copy of your passport. These will be processed only for the purposes of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, or as otherwise permitted by law or with your express consent. You consent to us retaining such data for longer than the five-year statutory period, unless you tell us otherwise
We accept cash, and cheques (supported by a banker’s card) and electronic bank transfer.
Any money received on your behalf will be held in our client account. Payments in lieu of interest will be calculated and paid to you unless the interest is £100 or less. Payment in lieu of interest will be calculated by reference to the prevailing rate available on an HSBC Instant Access Account, which may be less than the rate at which you could have invested the money yourself.
We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. If, while we are acting for you, you need advice on investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised to provide the necessary advice.
Crown Law Solicitors LLP take every precaution possible to safeguard any funds held on account, however we cannot accept responsibility for any funds which may be lost as a result of the collapse of a financial institution.
Our standard complaints procedure is also applicable if you wish to complain about your bill, you may also object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, and/or by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; and however, if all or part of the bill remains unpaid the solicitor may be entitled to charge interest.
Crown Law Solicitors LLP will in certain circumstances enter into agreements with third parties to act as referral agencies, these payments may be an amount of money paid for each referral or potential referral or an annual payment to be included within a referral scheme.
Crown Law Solicitors LLP comply with the above regulation by displaying the required details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance in each of our offices.
We are 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 distribution activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including 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.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.
Should you require any further information please speak to your solicitor who will be happy to assist you.
