BladeLaw Logo - Terms 

  1. Retainer
    By instructing BladeLaw, you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms. This agreement will be referred to as our retainer. These terms will be effective in relation to any matter in which you instruct BladeLaw.

  2. Requirement to Provide ID
    Solicitors are under a regulatory obligation to positively identify their clients. BladeLaw will require you to provide two pieces of original (or certified copy) ID showing your name, address, date of birth and a photograph.

  3. Basis of Charging
    Where no fixed fee has been agreed, BladeLaw will charge £250 per hour +VAT. Where fixed fees are offered, this is based on an assumption that you will promptly provide instructions and other input where reasonably required. Any additional work as a result of your failing to do so will be chargeable at £250 per hour +VAT. Where the retainer is terminated prior to the completion of work under a fixed fee agreement, BladeLaw will charge for the work done at £250 per hour +VAT up to a limit of the amount of the fixed fee agreed.

  4. Invoicing
    Invoices may be rendered from time to time and will generally be rendered monthly in respect of work done in the previous month. In every case, it is agreed that the invoices are to be treated as final invoices in respect of the work mentioned in them, notwithstanding the fact that further work may be ongoing and therefore further invoices may be rendered in future months. You agree to receive such invoices by email to the address shown above or to another address which you may provide from time to time for this purpose.

  5. Terms of Payment
    Except in exceptional circumstances, funds will be required on account before work commences. Invoices must be paid within 7 days of issue unless sufficient funds are already held by us on account for you. Where funds are held on account, you agree that these may be withdrawn, in payment (or part payment) of that invoice, 7 days after an invoice has been sent to you.

  6. Interest on Late Payments
    Where any payment is received late, BladeLaw will be entitled to charge simple interest on a daily basis at the rate of 4% per annum over the Bank of England base rate for the time being.

  7. Interest on Funds Held
    BladeLaw will pay you interest on funds held by it for you at the Solicitors' Reserve Bank Rate for the time being so long as the total interest payable exceeds £20 in any one quarter. Otherwise no interest will be payable.

  8. Funds on Account
    BladeLaw will generally require funds on account in advance of work being started. Such monies are held on a separate client account and only accessed by BladeLaw once the relevant work has been done and an invoice raised.

  9. Alternative Funding Methods
    Legal expenses can be met in a variety of ways. At our first meeting, we will discuss these with you. Not all funding options are available through all solicitors, but any solicitor can advise on what might be available and we will endeavour to do that.

  10. Document Retention
    BladeLaw will generally return all original documents to you for safe storage. All documents will be scanned and will not, generally, be kept in hard copy. The electronic copies that are kept will be kept for six years. You agree that BladeLaw is entitled to retain documents, including those containing your personal information, for this period, in order to protect its own interests.

  11. Authority to Instruct Experts, Locums, Counsel etc
    If there is a need to instruct experts or other professionals, BladeLaw will discuss the costs with you, unless there is no cost to you. By agreeing to these terms of business, however, you expressly give permission for BladeLaw to act as your agent in providing documents to professionals on a confidential basis in order to establish what help they may be able to provide at what cost and, subject to your instructions on costs where required, to instruct them, on your behalf to provide their services where appropriate.

  12. Tax Advice
    BladeLaw is unable to provide any advice on tax. Most commercial legal advice will affect your tax position and you hereby agree that you will seek independent advice in this respect from a suitably qualified professional as required.

  13. Complaints Procedure
    In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with the service we provide, in the first instance, please contact Alexander May in writing, marking your letter or email "Complaint". Before exhausting this route, you agree not to publish negative reviews on any forum. Should you remain unhappy, you may be entitled to contact the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk). This is not available to businesses, large charities or trusts. You may lose any right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman if you do not complain within one year. Alternative complaints bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We do agree to use such services in principle but reserve the right to review the terms of any service that you propose to use. You may also be entitled to use the EU Online Dispute Resolution service available at: ec.europa.eu/odr. Details of the professional obligations on all solicitors are available at: sra.org.uk/handbook.

  14. Risks of Litigation
    If you are contemplating litigation, you should be aware that the costs can be very significant and difficult to control. This is because, in litigation, the costs incurred can depend on the other side and the court and, in some cases, the actions of either can be difficult to predict. Once a claim is brought to court, if it is withdrawn without a formal settlement agreement being in place, the court will normally order the claimant to pay the defendant’s costs just as it would normally order the loser to pay the winner’s costs at the end of a trial. Having said that, the costs awarded to the winner generally only amount to about 60% of their true costs. There are other limits on what is recoverable from an opponent also. The rest, you have to pay yourself. There are ways to improve the percentage and we will advise on those where appropriate.

  15. Limitation of Liability
    You agree that BladeLaw’s liability to you shall be limited to £2,000,000 (in line with the limitation of our insurance coverage). Also, BladeLaw shall not be liable for malicious or fraudulent emails purportedly coming from the firm, and it is your responsibility to ensure that any emails apparently coming from the firm are genuine before relying on anything contained within them. These limitations shall not exclude liability for death or personal injury or for any other risk where such limitation of liability would be unlawful. BladeLaw’s professional liabilities are underwritten by Endurance Worldwide Insurance Ltd of 2 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, 1st Floor, London EC3R 7BB.

  16. Emails
    You must be aware that it is possible for emails to be forged. You must therefore take responsibility for checking that any email which appears to come from BladeLaw really does. For example, you should speak to us on the telephone before relying on any critical advice received by email. In particular, we do not change bank account details and always advise that these are checked by phone or through our website.

  17. Notice of Right to Cancel
    You have the right to cancel this retainer within 14 days without giving any reason. To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform BladeLaw in writing of your decision to cancel by a clear statement. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired. If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you. We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract. If you requested 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 you have communicated us your cancellation, in comparison with the full coverage of the retainer.

  18. Storage of Personal and Other Data
    By agreeing to this retainer, you expressly acknowledge that BladeLaw will store your personal and other data (in paper and/or electronic form which may be accessible through automated means). You hereby authorise BladeLaw to perform that storage and to disclose your data for legitimate reasons to any authority having the right to demand it or where BladeLaw considers it to be in your interests to make such disclosure. You also acknowledge terms relating to document retention above. For more information see https://BladeLaw.co.uk/privacynotice.pdf.

  19. Third Party Rights
    This retainer is not intended to provide any rights to third parties.

  20. Waiver
    It is agreed that no delay in the enforcement of obligations under this retainer shall be construed as a waiver of any right to such enforcement.

  21. Assignment
    The parties agree that the rights and obligations agreed in this retainer shall not be capable of being assigned to any other without the other party to this agreement expressly agreeing that assignment in writing.

  22. Intellectual Property Rights
    BladeLaw expressly reserves all its rights in relation to the intellectual property that it creates, utilises and/or passes on to clients for their use or information be that in emails, letters, other documents (hard-copy or electronic), through its website, social media or in any other way. Nothing done or said should be construed as in any way transferring any such rights unless an explicit, written contractual term is agreed between us otherwise. The client shall be entitled to use documents provided in the normal course of business.

  23. Foreign Law
    No advice will be given on any law other than the law of England and Wales. Where appropriate, if required, we will attempt to assist you in obtaining such advice from foreign lawyers but will, under no circumstances, be in any position to advise you ourselves.

  24. Law and Jurisdiction
    This retainer and any dealings between us shall be subject to English law and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to decide any dispute that might arise between us.

  25. Company Ownership
    By signing these terms, you are confirming, where the client is a company, that the beneficial ownership of the company has been accurately reported to and registered at Companies House, including the register of Persons with Significant Control and that you will inform BladeLaw of any changes.

  26. Joint Instruction
    Where the client is more than one person, you each agree that any one of you is authorised to give instructions which can be accepted as if they had been received from all of you.