Terms & Conditions
Thank you for instructing this firm to handle your matter. We aim to offer you a high-quality legal service at a fair cost, and we shall do our best to ensure that everything proceeds as smoothly as possible.
This document should be read in conjunction with your Client Care Letter and, if applicable, any separate funding agreement we have entered into with you. These documents together form the agreement between us, which we refer to in these Terms and Conditions as the “Agreement”. We may agree changes to the Agreement with you from time to time. Any such changes will be confirmed in writing.
These documents contain important information, so we ask that you read them carefully and keep them together in a safe place for future reference.
1. CONDUCT OF YOUR CASE
1.1. Your Client Care Letter will identify the individual lawyer who has overall conduct of your case (referred to in these Terms and Conditions as “your lawyer”). It will also identify your lawyer’s supervisor, and for each of them it will confirm their role, which may be a Partner, Senior Associate, Associate, Solicitor, Legal Executive, or Paralegal.
1.2. Your lawyer will personally have responsibility for the work carried out on your case. When your lawyer is not available, for example because they are on leave, an alternative point of contact will be provided, and necessary work will be delegated.
1.3. To ensure you receive an efficient service, your lawyer may work on your case with junior support staff or other lawyers.
1.4. Your lawyer may also instruct external barristers to assist with drafting certain documents, providing advice, or representing you at hearings which require attendance on your behalf. Your lawyer will be happy to discuss the choice of any instructed barrister with you, but you should be aware that we cannot guarantee a particular barrister will be able to represent you. We will take care in the appointment of any barristers, but we will not be liable or responsible for their performance.
2. KEEPING IN CONTACT
2.1. You can email, call, or visit us at our offices. You can find contact details for your lawyer at the head of your Client Care Letter. If your lawyer changes, you will be provided with updated contact details.
Email
2.2. If you have made contact with us by email or provided a contact email address to us, we will assume you are happy for us to use electronic communication, and this will normally be our default means of communication unless you request otherwise. We may also, at our discretion, use email to communicate with others in connection with your case.
2.3. We are able to send emails, email attachments, and/or download links securely using password protection and will do so at our discretion or upon request. Please do alert us to any unusual circumstances or confidential information for which you feel password protection is necessary, or for which you feel correspondence by email would not be appropriate at all.
2.4. To protect our computer network from viruses and hackers, our software automatically filters potentially harmful or malicious material. Please do not send us emails with attached executable files or scripts and advise us separately if you need to send us material which you believe may be misidentified as harmful or malicious.
2.5. Please make arrangements with us in advance if you need to send emails with large attachments. Our server automatically rejects emails sent with large attachments. However, where required we can send you Mimecast Large File Upload links.
2.6. The firm’s general enquiries email address is hja@hja.net.
Telephone
2.7. Voicemail facilities are available when contacting us by telephone if the person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Alternatively, you may call the firm’s switchboard on 0207 874 8300.
Visiting our offices
2.8. If you visit us at our offices, this should be arranged in advance.
Main office: 180 North Gower Street, London, NW1 2NB (a short walk from Euston Station and Euston Square or Warren Street undergrounds).
Normal opening hours: between 9.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
Your contact details
2.9. Please ensure that you provide us with up-to-date contact details (address, email, telephone, or any other contact details) and let us know immediately if these change during the course of your case, so that we are able to reach you and so that correspondence is sent to the correct address.
2.10. We shall not be held responsible for sending documents to a previous (postal or email) address you have provided, where we have not been informed of a change.
3. KEEPING YOU INFORMED
We will provide regular updates and advice to you as your case progresses and we aim to do so in ordinary English. Sometimes there will be quiet periods, such as when we are waiting for documents, reports, or court dates. At other times there may be work happening behind the scenes, but little to report back to you, for instance when we are reviewing or working on long documents. However, please never be afraid to ask if you want to know what is happening. Our objective is to keep every case moving forward without unnecessary delay.
4. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND ACTING FOR CLIENTS JOINTLY
4.1. In accordance with our regulatory obligations, we carry out conflict checks at the outset of every matter, and we will not act for you where a conflict of interest exists or arises between you and any other current or former client we have acted for, or between you and us. If a potential or actual conflict emerges during your matter, we will inform you promptly (though we may be unable to provide detailed information) and discuss how it should be managed and whether we must cease acting.
4.2. We may agree to act for more than one party on the same matter. In these circumstances, unless we agree otherwise, we will act for you all jointly.
4.3. When acting for clients jointly, we are unable to keep information received from one of you confidential from the others. You should be aware that in any case where we act for more than one client jointly, there is always a possibility of a potential conflict of interest. We will agree to act if we are satisfied that there is a common interest which outweighs any potential conflict. However, if an actual conflict of interest arises between you at any time then we will have to stop acting for all of you, at least in relation to the issue over which the conflict has arisen.
4.4. If the case is privately funded, each of you will be responsible for payment of our total fees and not just your share. This does not change even if we only issue an invoice to one of the parties and we may, at our discretion, reissue invoices and address them to one or more of you.
4.5. If we cease to act for one party, the remainder will remain bound by the Agreement.
4.6. Any documents returned to one joint client will be assumed to be returned to you all.
5. UNDERTAKINGS
During your case we may be asked to give an undertaking (a legal promise) on your behalf, for example to send documents or money to a third party. Once given, an undertaking is binding upon us, and we will be unable to follow subsequent instruction from you to breach it. You agree to do everything you can to allow us to comply with any undertaking we give on your behalf.
6. DISCLOSURE OF ADVICE AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS
6.1. Your communications with us, and certain other documents connected with your case, are subject to ‘legal privilege’. Legal privilege is a fundamental legal right protecting communications between a lawyer and their client, and certain other documents, from disclosure to others – importantly including opponents in any legal proceedings.
6.2. It is very important that you do not share these privileged documents, and any advice received from us, with anybody else (including family and close friends, treating professionals (e.g. a GP or hospital) and organisations (e.g. the DWP)), without discussing it with your lawyer first. If you share the advice or privileged documents with third parties, this may have the effect of ‘waiving’ privilege generally, so that it is no longer protected from disclosure to others.
6.3. It is important that you do not upload privileged documents to public/consumer versions of ChatGPT or other AI tools, since doing so may also waive legal privilege. These tools may use your input data for model-training, breaking the confidentiality necessary to maintain privilege.
6.4. It is also very important that you do not share documents received from opponents or third parties in the context of litigation (such as evidence they disclose) with anyone not directly involved in the case, without discussing it with your lawyer first. Strict rules apply, and using documents disclosed in litigation for another purpose may amount to contempt of court and could have serious legal consequences for you. This would include, for example, seeking publicity by posting a disclosed video clip on social media.
7. DOCUMENTATION
7.1. You will receive numerous documents during the course of your case. We strongly suggest you retain copies of these and keep them organised so that you can refer back to them easily, especially as the files retained by us are only kept for a certain period before they are destroyed. This will also help you keep track of the progress on your case.
7.2. We highlight the importance of preserving evidence in any legal matter. Even documents or objects that might not at first seem relevant could turn out to be helpful. The term ‘documents’ includes both hard copy and electronic documents, and not only written or photographic records but also video and audio recordings.
7.3. Depending on the nature of your case, photographs, videos, letters, agreements, records, pay slips, bank statements, your own diaries, notes, or other documentation may all provide vital information, and without receipts it is likely to be difficult to recover expenses or financial losses related to your case which might otherwise have been recoverable. You should take photographs of objects you believe may be relevant before throwing them away.
7.4. Be aware that any video or audio recordings that you make, or which third parties provide to you, will likely be disclosable to your opponent in the course of litigation if they relate to your case. This is true even if they are more helpful to your opponent rather than to you. This can lead to problems, for example if you make recordings covertly without the other person being aware. It is therefore important not only that you preserve all documents, but also that you take care in relation to what documents you create. You should discuss anything of this nature with your lawyer, preferably in advance. In particular, please be aware that anything relevant to your case that you post on social media, or that is available about you online, is likely to become a part of the case.
7.5. You should provide copies to us of all relevant documents to keep on file for you, but you should also retain copies yourself.
8. DATA PROTECTION
8.1. We will collect and use certain types of information (“personal data”) about you as our client in order to fulfil our contractual duties to provide a legal service to you, and for related purposes, such as complying with our legal and regulatory obligations, record-keeping and managing risk, and generally operating our legal practice.
8.2. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) as a data controller under registration number Z4785246. If you have any questions about how we use personal data, or wish to exercise your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing dataprotection@hja.net or by writing to our Data Protection Officer, Edward Sharp, at our office address. Further information about our data protection arrangements is set out in our Privacy Notice at www.hja.net/privacy. We will provide a hard copy on request.
8.3. In summary, we will process your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection law and our professional obligations in relation to confidentiality. We may share personal data where appropriate with third parties involved in your matter or in the running of our practice, such as courts, barristers, experts, opponents and their representatives, regulators, auditors, insurers, the Legal Aid Agency, IT and document management providers, and other professional or support services.
8.4. We will retain your matter file for the minimum period set out in your Client Care Letter and/or file closing letter. Some documents, such as original wills or documents held for safekeeping, may be retained for longer or indefinitely.
8.5. You have rights under data protection law, including the right of access to your personal data, and the right to erasure. Our Privacy Notice contains further details about your data protection rights, including details about how you can exercise them. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to exemptions or restrictions, including where information is protected by legal professional privilege, confidentiality, legal claims, regulatory obligations, or the rights and freedoms of others.
8.6. In addition to your rights under data protection law, as a client or former client you will also have a common law right to receive documents or copies of documents on our file that belong to you. Documents that belong to you typically include original documents you supplied, correspondence received from third parties in connection with your case, and final versions of documents prepared for you. This right is subject to restrictions, including legal professional privilege, confidentiality, the rights of others, and any lien we are entitled to exercise where costs or disbursements remain unpaid (see below, 19. Termination). We will normally provide documents electronically unless agreed otherwise. Where a request falls outside the statutory subject access framework, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee where it is appropriate to do so.
8.7. For details about how to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data, please see the below under the subheading ‘Data protection complaints’ (12. Making a complaint).
9. USE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TOOLS
9.1. Subject to strict safeguards, we may make use of AI tools to assist us with certain tasks. This may include activities such as summarising documents, transcribing audio, locating information within your matter file, generating draft text, preparing chronologies, or helping with internal document organisation.
9.2. Using these tools can help us work more efficiently and identify relevant information more effectively. However, AI tools can produce inaccurate or incomplete suggestions (sometimes called ‘hallucinations’), which is why all outputs are reviewed by a human and never relied on without professional judgment.
9.3. Any AI tools we use are carefully vetted for their security and compliance with our policies and professional obligations, including in particular for data protection and confidentiality, ensuring that inputs are not used for model-training. We do not use potentially unsafe AI tools such as consumer versions of Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.
9.4. Any outputs produced by AI tools used or relied on in connection with your matter will be checked carefully by a human, and professional judgment will always be applied.
9.5. We will only use AI tools where they are helpful, appropriate, and consistent with our legal and regulatory obligations, including confidentiality and data protection laws.
9.6. Any staff using AI tools in connection with your matter must first complete mandatory training and adhere to the firm’s policy to ensure secure, responsible use. The use of AI tools does not replace legal expertise or human decision‑making.
9.7. If you have any questions about how we use AI tools, let us know and we will be pleased to discuss this with you.
Use of AI Tools by you
9.8. We recognise that AI tools can help clients to organise information and generate ideas. If you choose to use them, please note the following:
9.8.1. You must notify us if you have used AI tools to generate correspondence or documents that you send to us.
9.8.2. As discussed above (5. Disclosure of advice and legal documents), do not upload our advice or other privileged/confidential material to consumer AI tools. Doing so may waive privilege or compromise confidentiality which may have serious consequences. If you wish to use AI with privileged/confidential material, please discuss this with us so we can agree safe parameters for doing so privately and securely.
9.8.3. AI chatbots and similar tools can produce content that, while looking convincingly authoritative, is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, or from the wrong legal jurisdiction. Any ‘advice’ they generate should not be a substitute for our legal advice. We are not responsible for decisions you take relying on AI output.
9.8.4. AI tools can generate fabricated case citations, statutory references, or quotations. If you provide us with research or references sourced from AI, we will need to verify them carefully. Time spent checking and correcting AI‑sourced material will be chargeable in the normal way and may lead to costs becoming disproportionate.
9.8.5. AI tools can produce extensive, rapidly‑iterated task lists and arguments. Again, there is a risk that the time required to work through these may unreasonably increase costs or delay progress.
9.8.6. It is important that your instructions to us must come from you (or an authorised representative). There may be important decisions that you need to make for which you will be responsible. If you use AI to create summaries, chronologies or datasets for our use, you are responsible for ensuring they are accurate and complete.
9.8.7. If you use or you ask us to use AI-generated material in connection with your matter, you confirm that doing so will not infringe third-party rights and that you have any necessary permissions.
10. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
We are actively committed to equal rights and the promotion of diversity in all our dealings with our clients, our employees and third parties. A copy of our diversity and inclusion policy is available at www.hja.net/about-us/#item5 or on request.
11. SERVICE QUALITY AND STANDARDS
11.1. At the conclusion of your case, we may seek your feedback about how your case was handled and the service you received. We may use a third party to collect your views, but those parties will be vetted by us and will not have any access to your file and work (the firms we use adhere to the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct). Any views you express will be handled centrally within the firm.
11.2. You may choose to provide your feedback on an anonymous basis. We hope, however, to hear directly from you so we can follow up on any concerns expressed. You are also able to submit your comments on-line at www.trustpilot.com/review/hja.net.
11.3. We may record telephone calls for training and monitoring purposes.
12. MAKING A COMPLAINT
12.1. We are committed to maintaining the highest professional standards and to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If something goes wrong, we want to know about it and put it right as soon as possible. All complaints are considered carefully as they can show us how to do things better.
Initial resolution
12.2. If you have concerns about how your case is being handled, please raise them with your lawyer in the first instance. They may well be able to resolve the problem, but if you remain dissatisfied, you should contact your lawyer’s supervisor (you will find their name in your Client Care Letter).
Formal complaint
12.3. If you have a complaint that you have not been able to resolve informally with your lawyer and/or their supervisor:
• Please contact Bree Knight, our Complaints Coordinator, or email bknight@hja.net.
• Your complaint will then be considered by our client care partner, Chun Wong, or another appropriate partner in certain circumstances.
• We will provide a formal response to your complaint within a reasonable timeframe. This will normally be within 8 weeks, but some complaints take longer than others to resolve.
• If you have special needs which we should take into account due to language or disability, please let us know.
12.4. Details of our full complaints procedure are available at www.hja.net/about-us/customer-feedback-complaints/ or upon request.
Legal Ombudsman
12.5. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.
12.6. The Legal Ombudsman requires 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 the date you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:
Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Data protection complaints
12.7. If you wish to make a complaint about how we have used your personal information, you may do this by contacting our Data Protection Officer, Edward Sharp, or by emailing dataprotection@hja.net. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and we will provide a full response without undue delay. If you remain dissatisfied with the firm’s handling of your personal data, you also have the right to complain to the ICO (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).
Complaints about a barrister
12.8. If in the course of your matter you wish to make a complaint about a barrister we have engaged, you will be able to do so via the barrister’s own complaints procedure which you can obtain directly from their chambers.
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
12.9. We are authorised and regulated by the SRA, the independent regulator of solicitors in England and Wales. The SRA does not deal with service complaints, and you should use the complaints process described above for concerns about the level of service you have received. However, the SRA can help with concerns about our behaviour or our professional conduct, which can be reported using the details below:
Address: SRA, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Website: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor
Our SRA registration number is OC336075.
13. REGULATION OF INSURANCE MEDIATION ACTIVITY
13.1. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, we are included on the register maintained by the FCA so can carry out insurance mediation activity. Broadly, this activity involves 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 SRA. The register is accessible via the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk/register.
13.2. We do not provide tax advice and clients requiring advice on the tax implications of their situation must seek independent tax advice.
14. MONEY LAUNDERING, FINANCIAL CRIME AND TERRORISM
14.1. We are obliged to comply at all times with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the 2017 Regulations). In compliance with these regulations, the firm has the following policies in place which are kept under review and updated as necessary:
• Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Policy
• AML risk assessment
• Sanctions firm-wide risk assessment
14.2. Money laundering includes any activity involving the concealment, conversion, acquisition, use, or control of criminal property. This could include benefit fraud (for example claiming benefits when knowingly failing to meet the qualifying conditions) or tax evasion.
14.3. The 2017 Regulations apply to certain types of legal work, including conveyancing, certain probate matters, the formation or management of companies, tax work, and trust services. These rules do not normally apply to litigation work.
14.4. Where required, we must carry out Customer Due Diligence (CDD), and in higher risk situations, Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD). We are also required to conduct ongoing monitoring of our business relationship with you. These checks help prevent fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing, and protect both you and the wider financial system. Any information we obtain for CDD/EDD purposes will be handled confidentially and used only for compliance, risk-management and related legal or regulatory purposes, or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
14.5. We normally carry out identity checks, at the beginning of your case using an online database, but you may still need to provide physical identity documents, and a small fee may apply. Electronic checks leave a ‘soft footprint’ on your credit file and do not impact your credit rating. We may be required to obtain evidence of the source of funds and, where appropriate, source of wealth relating to any transaction.
14.6. We may be unable to act for you, or we may have to stop working on your matter if you do not provide the information we require to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations.
14.7. If we know or suspect that you, or anyone involved in your matter, is engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing, we may be required to submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency (NCA). In some circumstances we must cease work until we are legally permitted to proceed. We are prohibited by law from informing you if a report has been made or if an investigation is under way. We may not be able to explain why work has paused or why further questions are being asked.
15. PAYMENTS TO US
15.1. If you need to make payments to us, we request that you do so by debit/credit card or BACS (bank transfer). At our discretion, we may also accept payment by cheque or cash.
15.2. Please quote your file reference number when making payment, so that the funds can be allocated to the correct file. This is particularly important if you have multiple open matters with us. You can find your file reference number at the head of your Client Care Letter.
Debit/credit card
15.3. You may make payments using our online portal here:
https://hja.legl.com/pay/checkout/
BACS
15.4. Our BACS details are below:
Bank: Barclays Bank
Account name: Hodge Jones & Allen LLP Client Account
Sort Code: 20-67-45
Account No: 90469084
15.5. We do not anticipate that we will be changing our bank account details during the running of your case. If you receive any communication advising you that our bank details have changed, please treat this as suspicious and contact us using the contact methods described above (see above, 2. Keeping in contact).
Cheque
15.6. Cheques should be made payable to Hodge Jones & Allen LLP.
Cash
15.7. In order to comply with our Anti Money Laundering obligations (see above, 14. Money laundering, etc.), we do not generally accept cash payments, but we may agree to do so on request and at our discretion. Permission is not normally granted for large sums, and you are likely to be asked for a full explanation as to why payment in cash is necessary.
16. PAYMENTS TO YOU
16.1. Where we need to make a payment to you, this must be paid into a bank account in your name as verified by you, or by cheque. We will not pay out cash or make a payment to any third party.
16.2. If we are reimbursing funds which you have paid to us, these will normally need to be returned to the bank account from which they have been paid or returned to the debit/credit card used to make the transfer.
17. SECURE MAINTENANCE OF CLIENT MONEY
17.1. Damages or other money we hold for you will be held separately from ours in our client account. It is protected under the SRA Account Rules and the Solicitors Compensation Fund. Subject to the SRA Account Rules, we are not responsible for any loss arising from the insolvency of any bank where client funds are held.
17.2. Where we hold money in our client account, which is due to be paid to you, we will pay you interest at the percentage rate set by Barclays Bank on balances held over £1,000 provided the interest to be paid exceeds £50.
18. LIABILITY
18.1. We hold professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules which currently requires cover of at least £3,000,000. Details of our professional indemnity insurance are available on request.
18.2. This Agreement is between you and the firm. No member, partner, employee, or consultant of the firm has any personal liability to you for the services provided under it.
18.3. Where we and another party are responsible for the same loss, our liability is limited to the proportion of the loss that is just and equitable having regard to our relative responsibility.
18.4. We are not liable for any delay or failure to perform our obligations caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
18.5. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for anything which cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.
19. TERMINATION
19.1. You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our costs or disbursements (known as a ‘lien’).
19.2. In some circumstances, we may stop acting for you. We will only decide to stop acting for you with good reason, for example if:
• We cannot obtain sufficiently clear instructions from you to enable us to proceed;
• It is clear there has been a breakdown of trust/confidence, including where it is clear you do not accept our advice or where we do not consider your case to have sufficient merits to pursue;
• We reasonably believe you may be unwilling or unable to pay our current, past or future fees;
• A conflict of interest has arisen;
• You ask us to break the law or any other professional requirement;
• There is a reputational risk to us;
• We are no longer able to provide you with an adequate service; or
• You behave in a manner that is considered discriminatory, abusive, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate towards any member of staff (any criminal acts may be reported to the police).
The above list is provided to give you a sense of the types of situation that may prevent us from continuing to represent you, but is not an exhaustive list.
19.3. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you, except in exceptional circumstances. For example, if you fail to put us in funds by a date set by us, we reserve the right to stop acting immediately.
19.4. If you, or we, terminate this Agreement before our work on the matter has concluded, or the matter does not proceed to a conclusion for any other reason, then subject to our funding arrangement with you we may charge you for the work done and the expenses incurred up to the date that our instructions are ended.
Death
19.5. If you die, our authority to act for you will end when we become aware of your death. Your estate will remain responsible for any costs, disbursements, or other sums which have become payable under this Agreement with you. The treatment of costs which have not yet become payable will depend upon the terms of your Client Care Letter and any separate funding agreement forming part of this Agreement.
19.6. If the matter is capable of being continued, we may agree with your personal representatives to act for them under a new agreement. Neither we nor your personal representatives will be obliged to enter into such an agreement.
19.7. If you have entered into an additional funding agreement with us, its provisions concerning death, termination, costs, and any success fee will apply. We may offer your personal representatives a funding agreement. That agreement may provide that, if the matter is successful, costs and any success fee are to be calculated by reference to work carried out both before and after your death.
19.8. If we act for you jointly with another client, your death will not necessarily end our retainer with the surviving client, although we will consider whether we are able to continue acting and whether any new or additional agreement is required.
20. NON-WAIVER AND SEVERABILITY
20.1. Any delay or failure by us to exercise any right or remedy under this Agreement does not constitute a waiver of that right or remedy. No waiver will be effective unless it is in writing and expressly stated to be a waiver.
20.2. If any provision of this Agreement (or any part of it) is found by a court or other competent authority to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, the remainder of the Agreement will continue in full force. The invalid or unenforceable provision will be replaced, to the extent permitted by law, with a valid provision that most closely reflects the intended commercial effect.
21. CONCLUSION
21.1. Unless otherwise agreed, these Terms and Conditions apply to any future instructions you give us in connection with this matter. Your continuing instructions in this matter amount to your acceptance of the terms of this Agreement but please sign and date the enclosed Client Care Letter and return it to us promptly. We can then be confident that you understand the basis on which we act for you.
We hope that by sending you this document we have addressed your immediate queries about the day-to-day handling of your work and the basis on which we act for you. If you still have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your lawyer.