Terms & Conditions of Business

Our Responsibilities

  1. We aim to offer all our clients an efficient, effective and confidential service at a fair cost
  2. Our commitment to you is to represent your interests to the best of our ability. We will explain to you the legal work which may be required, and the prospects of achieving your desired outcome, and where necessary explain the likely degree of financial risk which you may be taking on.
  3. We will review your matter regularly, keep you updated and informed of progress, and deal with your enquiries promptly. We will advise you of any changing circumstances and risks affecting your matter.  We will explain the legal work required, but avoid using technical legal language where possible.  We will reply to all communications received as soon as we can.

Our Retainer

  1. We will not however advise you in areas in which we are not properly qualified, for example in relation to some aspects of tax, planning law or other areas outside our expertise. If you have any concerns as to the extent of our qualifications and experience, please raise them with us immediately.  We may be able to resolve any such issue but if not we may be able to identify and recommend a suitable source of further advice.
  2. Work that we do for you may have tax implications or give rise to tax planning considerations on which we may not be able to advise. We will not give you tax advice unless you instruct us to do so, and we agree in writing to do so.

Communications

  1. Our normal office hours are between 9.00 and 5.15 Monday to Friday. Appointments outside these hours may be available by arrangement if requested.  Fax and e-mail are readily available.
  2. We will try to communicate with you by such method as you request including post, fax, telephone and e-mail. We will try to respond to all communications received as soon as we can.  We will virus check e-mails and all other electronic communications sent to us.  However we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by fax or by e-mail.
  3. We do not have encrypted e-mail. E-mails are received centrally and are therefore not private, and will be monitored by management as part of our internal e-mail policy.

Your Responsibilities

  1. Your responsibility to us is to provide us with accurate, clear and prompt instructions, and keep us fully informed and your instructions up to date throughout the matter. You must provide us promptly with all information and documents requested, and comply with these terms and conditions of business.

Storage Facilities

  1. We have a limited facility to store Deeds, Wills, Powers of Attorney and other documents of security on site. If you would like to use this facility, then please do not hesitate to ask the solicitor in charge of your case.  Storage of client files is off site in a commercial storage facility, and the recovery process, if required, takes a few days.
  2. We do not currently charge for storage of deeds and documents and or files, and we do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored deeds or securities if in response to new or continuing instructions to act for you.  We will make a charge of £45 plus VAT in all other circumstances to recover any deeds, documents, securities and/or files from archive
  3. We cannot undertake long-term storage of the file of papers relating to your case. We will arrange to keep them for at least six years after the date on which your case is closed.  If you wish to retain the file yourself, you should notify the solicitor in charge of your case.  Otherwise, we shall take it (unless you notify us in writing to the contrary) that we have your consent to destroy the file after that time by way of confidential shredding.

Our Fees

  1. Our fees are calculated largely by reference to the time spent by the solicitor dealing with your case. This includes not only meetings with you, but also with others, preparation and checking of documents, correspondence – including emails – and telephone calls both with you and with other parties, and any necessary travelling and waiting time.  All our work is charged in six minute units of time.
  2. Fees are calculated by reference to hourly rates that are reviewed periodically. If a review is carried out before your case has been concluded, we will inform you of the change and the date on which it will take effect
  3. If we do not complete the work for any reason, we will charge you for the work actually done and any expenses incurred.
  4. We are often required to pay out expenses on your behalf, known as disbursements. We have no obligation to make any such payments unless and until you have provided us with funds for that purpose.
  5. VAT will be added to our fees, as will disbursements and other expenses that we have incurred on your behalf.
  6. We may have given you an estimate of the likely costs of your case at the outset, on the assumed basis that there will be no unusual complications. Any such estimate is not intended to be fixed. We will do our best to adhere to any such estimate, whilst reserving the right to make revisions where necessary.  Any changes will be notified to you. We will also inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example, due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances significantly change during the course of the matter).
  7. We reserve the right to deduct from monies held on your behalf the amount of any monies owing by you to us, but we will notify you in advance if we intend to do so

Financial Matters

  1. In some cases a client may have arranged for or be entitled to payment of costs by some other person. It is important that you understand that in such circumstances the other person may not be required to pay your costs in full.  You are responsible to pay all our charges and expenses in the first place.  Also, the other person may not pay the VAT element of your costs if you are able to recover it yourself.
  2. There may be times when a case is concluded unexpectedly, e.g. a court case is dropped, or a party to a proposed transaction withdraws. In that event, our charges will reflect the amount of work done up to that stage.
  3. It is our normal practice to ask clients to make advance payments on account of anticipated costs and disbursements. A request for such a payment will usually be made at the outset of the case, and may be repeated at appropriate stages.
  4. We may deliver bills at periodic intervals during the course of your case. This assists our cash flow and enables you to keep track of costs.  All accounts should be settled within one month.  You have the right to challenge or complain about our bill under our complaints procedure.  We reserve the right to charge interest on the unpaid amount of any bill that is not paid within that time, at the current statutory rate prescribed by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
  5. We reserve the right to stop work if any account remains unpaid or any request for payment in advance on account of our charges and/or disbursements is not met in full. In that event, we accept no responsibility for work which becomes delayed, or is not completed.
  6. We are happy to arrange for fees to be paid by way of standing order, if it will assist your cash flow. If you would like to make use of that facility, then please do not hesitate to contact the solicitor in charge of your case.
  7. We cannot pay out any monies until we hold cleared funds. Any cheques received from you or from other people can take up to seven days to clear, and if we incur interest charges, we shall pass them on to you. We shall be happy to give you our bank details if you wish to make a same day bank transfer to avoid this risk, but you should be aware that this usually involves a fee payable to your bank.
  8. We will not accept payments of cash in excess of £1,000 (whether by single payment or otherwise) from any person or directly into our Bank account. If monies are deposited directly into our Bank account we reserve the right to charge for all additional checks which we deem necessary regardless of the source of those funds.
  9. We reserve the right not to accept monies from any person or organisation, other than you. Where any payment from a third party is proposed, we reserve the right to require compliance with our identity verification procedures in relation to that third party, and to return monies so received to the sender and not to a source nominated by you.
  10. If we hold money on your behalf, interest will be payable in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules 2019 and the firm’s policy on the payment of interest, a copy of which is available on request, and will take into account the amount held, and the period of time involved. Rates used will reflect the need for instant access, and minimum cost, and will therefore be low, in market terms.
  11. We are happy to accept payments from known sources by electronic bank transfer. Please ask the solicitor in charge of your case for our bank account details, if required.
  12. We may be able to accept payments from known sources by way of debit card and/or credit card. Where we will incur bank charges for accepting such payment, those charges will be added to the account and will be payable by you in addition.
  13. In the event of a banking failure, it is unlikely that the firm would be held liable for any losses of client’s monies. A corporate body client will not be eligible to claim, unless defined within the scheme as a small company.  We currently hold client monies in Virgin Money. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme indemnity limit applies to monies held by us on your behalf in our client account.  The limit (presently £120,000) applies to each client (as opposed to each transaction) and so the total sum which is protected by the scheme for you is £120,000, regardless of how many matters or the total amount of monies we may be holding on your behalf.  In the event of bank failure, you agree to us disclosing relevant details to the Scheme.

Termination

  1. You may terminate your instructions to us, in writing, at any time. For example, you may decide you cannot give us clear or proper instructions.  We will only stop acting for you if we have good reasons and after giving reasonable notice.  In either case, you will pay our charges and expenses as set out above.  We are entitled to keep all your papers and documents whilst money is owing to us.

 

Financial Advice and Insurance Services

  1. Sometimes, legal work involves investment. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority nor are we qualified to give independent financial advice. It is our policy not to do so.  We may refer you to someone who is so authorised.  However, we can provide certain limited services in relation to investments, provided they are closely linked with the legal services we are providing to you because we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
  2. 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.
  3. The Law Society is a designated body for the purposes of the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000 but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of The Law Society.  The Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints handling body.

Legislation

  1. We operate procedures for reporting suspected cases of fraud and/or money laundering to the appropriate authorities. In cases where we judge it to be necessary, client information may be revealed by us to those authorities in relation to any such suspicions.  In those circumstances we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it.  Where the law permits us to do so, we will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what action we may need to take.
  2. You must supply all information and documentation we require to enable us to comply with anti-money laundering and other regulations. We are entitled to refuse to act without it.  We may conduct electronic verification of your identity if we deem it expedient to do so.  In such cases, we will pass on to you any costs so incurred.
  3. Solicitors are not allowed to disclose information about client’s affairs without the client’s authority. By accepting these terms and conditions of business you authorise us to disclose information about your affairs to others where required or in our judgement it is appropriate to do so and in particular, if your client file is chosen to be subject to an external audit by Lexcel, the SRA or some other regulated body.  You may withdraw this authority at any time, but if you do, you should appreciate that we may need to advise others that you have done so.
  4. Data Protection laws require us to advise you that information you have supplied to us may be held and retained on our database. It may also be necessary, on occasion, to remove a client file from the premises for the purpose of meetings, court attendances or for work to be completed by the fee earner. We will ensure that great care is taken with client data and that the removal and transportation of the file is secure. We will also record the removal internally for audit purposes. By your acceptance of these conditions, you agree that we may do so. We may, from time to time use these details to send you information that we think may be of interest to you. Any details we retain will not be transferred to any third party unless in accordance with current regulations. Details are stored on our systems in a manner which is accessible by all partners and staff of this firm. Details of the information we hold will be provided to you on written request at any time, and will be deleted on receipt of a request from you to do so at the conclusion of your matter.
  5. You may have a right of cancellation of the contract between us under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. If so, you may cancel the contract under the DSR by notifying us no later than 14 working days after the contract is formed that you are cancelling it. We strongly recommend that you do this by notifying us in writing.
  6. This firm is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, employees and third parties and has a written policy dealing with these issues, which is available on request.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

  1. We maintain professional indemnity insurance to at least the minimum professional standards. Details are available on request.  We comply with the Provision of Service in the Solicitors Regulation Authority Standards & Regulations 2019 by displaying the required details in our offices.

Limitation and Exclusion of Liability

  1. The partners of Newstead & Walker hereby expressly limit their total liability to you in respect of any one claim to a maximum of £2m in any and all circumstances, unless otherwise agreed by the firm in writing and in advance of accepting your instructions. It is a condition of this firm undertaking any work or providing advice to you that you accept this limitation and partial exclusion of our liability to you.

Complaints

  1. We aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service, and we are confident that we will be able to do so. However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy, including the amount of your bill, which cannot be resolved direct with the solicitor dealing with your case, you may raise the matter with the Senior Partner who is responsible for Client Care within the practise, or any of the other Partners, setting out full details of your concerns.  The firm operates a formal complaints procedure, you can obtain a copy of our complaints procedure here https://www.newsteadwalker.co.uk/contact-us/complaints/complaints-procedure/. Your concerns will be dealt with as a priority.  It is important that any such query is raised with us as quickly as possible.
  2. If we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must contact them within six months after the date on which we have finally responded to you under our internal complaints procedure.  You can contact them via their website at legalombudsman.org.uk or by post to PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH. Alternative complaints bodies such as Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should you wish to use such a scheme. Further details are available on their website www.cedr.com. Newstead & Walker are under no obligation to use an ADR scheme.
  3. Part III Solicitors’ Act 1974 may give you the right to apply to court for an assessment of your bill.

Further Instructions

  1. Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of the then current hourly charge out rates, these terms and conditions of business will apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.

(rev: 01/04/26)