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Rostra Solicitors
[Date]
Dear [Client\’s name],
You have asked us to act as your solicitor in relation to the following.
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The following pages explain our terms and conditions of business while we are working for you. To prevent any misunderstandings at a later stage, it is important that you know what to expect and understand what our service involves. Please read the following terms and conditions carefully. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
We will discuss your expectations with you and tell you if we think they are realistic. It is important that you always understand what is happening in your case.
We will give you general information and explanation of any procedures to do with your case as it progresses.
Our terms and conditions also apply to any extra work we do for you in relation to this case as well as any extra work we do for you over, above and beside your case.
These terms and conditions will come into effect when you instruct us and we notify you in writing of our legal charges. This notification will be one of the following:
We look forward to working with you. You should be aware that it may not be possible to achieve everything you wish. We may encounter difficulties during the transaction. We will try to overcome these as much as possible.
Once again, if you have any further questions, please contact us.
Yours sincerely,
Name of firm: Rostra Solicitors (Marcin Szulc trading under style and title of Rostra Solicitors)
Legal status: We trade as a solicitors\’ firm that provides legal services.
Address: 78 Benburb Street, Smithfield, Dublin 7, D07 HW61
Phone number: +353 1 64 000 30
Fax: +353 1 54 744 78
Email: info@thesolicitor.ie and/or info@polskiprawnik.ie
Website: www.theSolicitor.ie and www.PolskiPrawnik.ie
Each solicitor member of our firm, who provides legal services, has been admitted to the Roll of Solicitors held by the Law Society of Ireland and holds a current practising certificate, unless they have qualified abroad. We will give you information about the qualifications of other lawyers and support people on our staff, if you would like that information too.
Our firm number is F7972
Our VAT number is IE6467424P
Solicitors in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Law Society of Ireland as detailed in the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015 and by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (the Authority) under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
The Law Society website is www.lawsociety.ie. And the website for Legal Services Regulatory Authority is www.lsra.ie.
Assets
Under anti-money laundering regulations, we need to be sure of your identity and where you have got your assets from before we can take on your case.
Identity
Anti-money laundering regulations mean that you will need to give us evidence that proves your identity, like your driving licence or passport, even if we already know you. We will also need you to give us a document showing your permanent address, for example an electricity bill or a bank statement, which has been sent within the last three months. In the event that you live outside the jurisdiction, and we have not met in person then your identification documentation will need to be certified as true copies by an authorised person in the jurisdiction you reside.
Source of assets
If you ask us to deal with any funds or property, you must have obtained them legally. If we become aware or suspect that these assets come from an illegal source, we must notify the Gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners without telling you, except in limited circumstances. Even if you have not done anything that we must report to the authorities, we cannot transfer any assets or property funded by the proceeds of crime. This includes funds that have not been declared for tax purposes or that have been obtained by false means.
We may not be able to act for you if there is a conflict of interest, or potential conflict between us, or between you and another client of the firm. For example, if it comes to our notice that, before we accepted your instructions, we had already accepted instructions from a person that you now want to sue, then we could not act for you.
We have internal procedures in place which are designed to identify a conflict before we accept your instructions.
If, during the course of your matter, we become aware of a potential conflict of interests we will tell you about it. We can then agree whether or not it would be appropriate for us to continue to act on your behalf. In certain circumstances we may be prohibited from identifying the reason for the conflict.
If our contract for legal services was not made with you at the firm\’s offices, you have the right to cancel the contract within 14 days, without giving any reasons. The cancellation period will expire 14 days from the date, following your instructions to us, that we agreed to act for you. You must inform us of your decision to cancel within this deadline. To meet this deadline, it is sufficient for you to send us a clear statement in writing before the cancellation period has expired. This statement can be sent by letter, sent by post, by fax or by email. You already have our contact details.
If you wish to use a cancellation form, see the sample form in the Section for Details at the end of this document. It is not obligatory to use a form.
In any other case, when the contract for legal services was made in our office, and in order to give you time to consider this notice, we shall not provide any legal services in relation to your matter for a period of 10 working days unless:
We agree to carry out the work on your case or transaction with care and skill, in line with good professional standards.
We will always respect the confidentiality of your affairs, but it is important to point out that in the normal course of running a solicitor\’s practice, we may be required to provide access to some of your data to certain entities, for example:
We also use professional and other service providers in the proper management of our firm, which may involve those firms being given some access to our files, including:
This allows us to manage our firm properly. We always try to make sure that the provider of the service is reputable and, where appropriate, we will require them to sign letters of confidentiality.
We also reserve our right to share the confidential information to protect our good name and good reputation if you publicly post defamatory information about us or our employees, servants and/or agents.
When we store files offsite, whether electronic or hard copy, we will take all reasonable steps to make sure that we keep your information confidential.
We will not be liable for failure or delay in the performance of our obligations under these Terms & Conditions of Business, if such performance is delayed or hindered by the occurrence of an unforeseeable act or event which is beyond the reasonable control of either you, the client, or us (“Force Majeure Events”). Force Majeure Events include but are not limited to Acts of God, government intervention, riot, civil or military insurrection, infectious disease epidemics such as Covid 19, natural disaster, contamination, strikes or similar acts, events or occurrences. If we are affected by a Force Majeure Event, we shall notify you within a reasonable time of being prevented or delayed in the performance of our obligations and will make reasonable efforts to mitigate the effect of the Force Majeure Event.
It is important that you give us clear and accurate instructions from the very beginning so we may advise you fully, and that you give us any new information as your matter develops. When you tell us your requirements, we will explain your options to you. If there is anything you do not understand, please tell us right away so that we can answer your questions. We will then advise you on the actions to take.
Please refrain from using generative artificial intelligence when instructing us. We reserve the right not to consider any instructions, questions, or queries prepared by you using Generative Artificial Intelligence for the purposes of creating the substantive content.
We may need to update your instructions from time to time, for example if:
It is important that you give us instructions when they are needed. If you fail to do this, we cannot progress your matter. This may affect the outcome and, in some cases, may mean we have no choice but to stop acting for you.
It is important to note that under section 25(2) of Civil Liability Act 2004 it is a criminal offence to dishonestly provide a solicitor or an expert with misleading instructions.
We will estimate how long your case or transaction is likely to continue. As your case proceeds we will let you know what stage we have reached and what and when the next steps will be. This will save you having to inquire about your case. If any event occurs that will delay your case, we will let you know and give you our best estimate of a new timescale.
Please note that time limits may apply in the following two situations, so please make sure that we have all the correct information in good time to take any necessary actions. Certain actions must be taken by you or by us within a particular period or else your case will fail.
Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004
If you are making a claim under this Act, you must write a letter outlining the details of your claim within one month of the date of the accident. If you fail to do this, it may have a bad impact on your case and may also lead the court to award you only part, or none, of your costs.
If we need you to give us specific permission to do something we will ask you to sign a separate document for the particular purpose or one of the relevant forms in the section for details at the end of this document. Otherwise, when you give us instructions, you are giving us permission to take various actions on your behalf, as set out below.
If you instruct us to repay money or to give a certificate of title to a bank or Building Society and we have promised them we will do so, you cannot change these instructions later. Likewise, if you instruct us to do any act on your behalf and we make a professional promise to a third party that we are going to do this, you cannot change your mind later.
The Injuries Board is the independent government body which assesses the amount of compensation due to a person who has suffered a personal injury. By instructing us to handle an Injuries Board case and to deal with the Injuries Board for you, this means you are giving us permission to do this. You will be responsible for our fees and expenses, even if you are successful.
From time to time, it may be necessary to engage barristers and other experts on your behalf. You will be directly responsible for any fees imposed by such barristers and experts. We will suggest professionals, whom we believe are competent in the area of practice relevant to your matter, but the choice of barrister or other professional is ultimately your decision. They will be directly responsible to you for the quality of their work.
When you employ us to handle a litigation case, the case may be settled between the parties before it comes to court, on the basis that the other side will pay your legal fees and expenses. Another possibility is that your case will proceed to court and the court will order the other side to pay your legal fees and expenses. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances of thecase, the offer does not include payment of the legal fees and expenses by the other side; in such cases the legal fees and expenses will have to be paid from the compensation.
If the case proceeds in either of these ways, you are giving us permission to pay any barrister or expert whom we employ on your behalf, from the money received from the other side for their fees.
When you engage us to handle your matter, you are giving us permission to get information from third parties to help us with your case or transaction, without asking for your permission again.
When you employ us to handle your case or transaction, you are giving us permission to hold information for our records, including \’sensitive data\’ such as your:
We will only use any personal or \’sensitive\’ information to help your case. If you have any queries about how we retain, store or use your data, please contact us and we will give you further information.
By asking us to handle your case or transaction, you are allowing us to store your data and other information abroad, for example, when we employ the services of electronic storage companies who use IT storage abroad. If you have any queries, please contact us and we will give you further information. By asking us to handle your case or transaction, you agree that we are not responsible for any loss of, or corruption of, information by any off-site electronic storage service that we use. We will try to make sure that the company we use is reputable.
We will keep your information for no longer than is required or permitted by law, at which point your file will be destroyed. We will retain files in accordance with the statutory requirements and in line with current best practice guidance provided by the Law Society of Ireland. However, we never destroy original deeds or wills. We reserve the right to charge you a fee for safe-keeping or storage of original deeds or documents.
We will hold any money we receive on your behalf strictly in line with the Solicitors\’ Accounts Regulations. By asking us to handle your legal case, you agree that we may hold any money you give us, or which we receive on your behalf, in any bank, which is a bank approved by the Central Bank. We will just hold your money. We do not have any additional responsibilities around the protection or investment of your money.
You also agree that we are not legally responsible for a loss or reduction in the value of the money because the bank at which the money is held becomes insolvent and does not have the money to pay back the full amount.
By asking us to handle your case or transaction, you agree that if we have given a professional promise or undertaking on your behalf, which, because of the insolvency of the bank at which we had placed the money, we cannot carry out, you will refund us in full any loss we suffer if we are forced to carry out our promise at our own expense.
You also agree that we are not legally responsible for a loss or reduction in the value of the money if the government were to legislate, empowering it to take part of deposit funds.
When we receive cheques made out in your name, we need your authority to sign the back of the cheques so that the bank will then accept these cheques for lodgement to our firm\’s client account. A form giving us the authority that you have to sign is in the section for details at the end of this document.
If we act for you in the sale of a property, and you are not resident in this country, because we handle the proceeds of the sale, we are legally responsible for the filing of a capital gains tax (CGT) return. We must discharge this on your behalf. We do this on the basis that you indemnify us. This means that you agree to pay us back in full for any loss we suffer due to something you do, or omit to do, or some wrong-doing on your part.
If we act for you as a non-resident beneficiary of an estate, we are legally responsible for the filing of a capital acquisitions tax (CAT) return and payment of any tax. We must discharge this on your behalf. We do this on the basis that you indemnify us. This means that you agree to pay us back in full for any loss we suffer due to something you do, or omit to do, or some wrong-doing on your part.
When you employ us to handle your case or transaction, we may ask you to give us permission to re-sign documents already signed by you. This is just for convenience. It would happen if we needed to make typing or clerical amendments or other small changes, after you had signed the document. We would not make any changes that change the meaning of the document. If we need this permission, we will ask you to sign the form in the section for details at the end of this document.
It is important that we carefully explain to you how we calculate our fees and that you fully understand this. Our solicitors and other staff may have to spend a considerable amount of time to provide you with the legal services you need. This is the service for which you pay.
In the section for details at the end of this document, or in a separate letter, we will outline our fees and the other expenses that you may have to pay for your particular case or transaction. This is required by law. If we fail to agree the fees for our services to you, we will not act on your behalf.
If we agree to charge you based on the time spent on your case, remember that we will charge for everything we do for you, including letter writing, phone calls and so on. We will tell you if we believe that you could appropriately carry out some of these tasks yourself.
If our fee is based on an hourly rate, we will give you a record of the hours spent on your case on request.
In litigation cases, as in any other case or transaction, when we send you a bill for fees and expenses, you are responsible for paying that bill. This is still the position if you are successful and win your case and the judge orders the other side to pay your legal costs. Even if you are successful in the proceedings and the court awards costs to you, you remain primarily liable to pay our costs irrespective of whether you recover any costs ultimately from the other party.
There are two types of costs in litigation – one type is known as party and party costs. Party and Party costs are those costs which are most often awarded by the Court and are the minimum costs necessary to bring your case including part of the solicitor\’s fees, barrister\’s fees, and outlay. Legal Practitioner and Client costs are the other type of costs. These include the party and party costs, and all other or additional work carried out by your legal team including outlay. You may still be responsible for a portion of the legal costs even where a court has made an order for costs in your favour.
Likewise, if there is a settlement of the case in your favour, which includes an agreement that the other side will pay your costs, you will still be responsible in the first instance to discharge your bill. We will try to recover as much as possible from the other side. Sometimes, however, this may not be enough to cover our bill. You are responsible for paying any balance due to us.
If we must do extra work to recover fees from the other side to the litigation, you will incur additional costs. If all or part of your costs or the other party\’s costs cannot be agreed with the other party, costs will have to be assessed by a court official called a Legal Costs Adjudicator, and this is likely to mean that additional work is required for which additional fees will become payable.
In litigation cases, there is always a risk that, in addition to paying our fees and expenses, you will also have to pay the legal fees and expenses of the other party to the litigation. This might happen if, for instance, you lose the case, or it was part of a settlement agreement. It is important that you fully understand this risk.
By engaging our services, you agree that we have your permission to pay any third party, whom we have engaged on your behalf, from money we receive from the other side in respect of legal costs. Barristers and expert witnesses are examples of such third parties. We will not make such payments until you have agreed the invoiced amounts of such third parties.
We may require you to pay us a deposit towards our fees when we first start working on your behalf. We will agree this amount with you then.
We may bill you for costs at intervals during your case or transaction. We will usually do this when cases or transactions are likely to take a long time to finish.
If there is a disagreement about any bill we send you, we will try to resolve the matter by agreement with you. If the matter cannot be resolved, we may have to stop acting for you. You have the right to refer the bill for review by a court official called a Legal Costs Adjudicator, or to make a complaint to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority about the bill.
In the course of a case or transaction, an unexpected issue may arise. This may mean we have to do considerable extra work on your behalf that is more than we expected when we first gave you information about our charges. If this happens, you must pay extra fees for this work, and you may also have to pay more expenses. If this happens, we will give you new information in writing about the fees and expenses for the additional work. It is a good idea for you to budget for this possibility.
We will issue our final bill of costs to you without delay.
The law allows us to keep your original file, and not to provide you with a copy, as security for any costs until we have been paid for our services. This is called the \’Solicitor\’s lien\’.
You must pay all our bills within 30 days following the issue of our bill. We reserve the right to charge interest on overdue accounts at the rate of 8% each year. In litigation cases, even if you win your case or your case is settled, our bill must be paid within our normal credit terms of 30 days.
In relation to property transactions, you should pay our fees on the date the property changes hands.
If we are dealing with the estate of a deceased person for you, we may send you bills at different stages in the process.
Good communication between us will guarantee the best possible outcome. However, if you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of our service, please send it in writing to us. We have set out our internal complaints procedure in the section for details at the end of this document. We will review your file without delay. We will then send you a written reply within 14 days, including replies to any requests for information, and advising you of any actions that we will take in relation to your case.
We hope that any complaint made to us will be resolved. However, if you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the Complaints and Client Relations Committee of the Law Society. You can get more details about making a complaint from the Law Society website www.lawsociety.ie.
Our liability (and that of our present and former partners and employees) to you arising out of, or in connection with, our engagement (whether for breach of contract or of statutory duty, negligence, or otherwise) will be limited to the minimum amount of the professional indemnity insurance cover from time to time required to be maintained by us under applicable law. Any advice we provide is confined to Irish Law unless we give details of a broader service in the section for details at the end of this document.
We confirm that we have the appropriate level of professional indemnity insurance in place, as required by law. We are insured for all advice given in the Republic of Ireland. In the event of a situation arising where you feel it is necessary to institute a case for professional negligence against the Firm, the total amount which you can recover cannot exceed, (by virtue of the limitation set out in this clause which constitutes a contract between the Firm and you) THE MINIMUM AMOUNT SET BY THE LAW SOCIETY IN RESPECT OF WHICH WE HAVE TO HAVE INSURANCE COVER FOR EACH AND EVERY CLAIM, WHICH IS CURRENTLY €1,500,000.00. If you have any queries in relation to this, you should contact us immediately. Otherwise, you are deemed to accept this clause as binding on you. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall limit our liability to you(a) for fraud or fraudulent concealment or(b) to the extent that under any applicable law liability may not be limited.
We hope to reach a successful result on your behalf. If you decide for any reason to transfer to another solicitor\’s firm, you must pay us for any work done up to that point, together with any expenses we have paid on your behalf. This requirement will apply even to litigation cases where we might have agreed to charge a fee only if your case was successful. If you change to another solicitor, this agreement automatically ends and we will require payment for the work we have actually done. We will issue a bill as soon as possible. Our fees must be discharged prior to the release of the file.
By law, we are obliged to keep your file for a certain time period. If you are transferring to another solicitor, we will give you, or your new solicitor, the originals of all documents that we hold, once all fees and outlay are paid. If we are required to remove the file from storage or schedule documents from an old file, we may charge an administration fee to you. By asking us to handle your case or transaction, you are agreeing to accept a photocopy only of the correspondence file if you later want it. By law, we are entitled to keep a copy of the file, or the original, if you have agreed that we may have the original.
You can end this contract at any time, but we must first carry out any undertakings or professional promises we have made on your behalf to third parties. For instance, if we promised to pay money to a third party, we must do this before the contract can end. You must pay our legal fees for doing this work, as well as for any work done to date.
We are also free to end the contract for good reason, and on reasonable notice to you. Examples of circumstances where we may have to terminate our agreement include, but are not limited to:
For the avoidance of doubt in the event that we end our contract our legal fees for the work carried out are payable by you.
If a court decides that any part of this agreement between us is invalid, this will not affect the remaining terms of this agreement. We require these terms and conditions to be signed by you. Irrespective of whether they are in fact signed, these terms and conditions become binding once you give us instructions to proceed.
The following is our firm\’s complaints procedure:
We do not provide advice about law in countries outside Ireland unless specific countries are listed below:
We will only fill this section in, if we are not writing to you separately about our legal charges.
Professional indemnity insurance
Our professional insurance details can be found on the Law Society website at: https://lawsociety.ie/find-a-solicitor/Firm-PII-Search/
At Rostra Solicitors, our team of experienced solicitors is dedicated to providing exceptional legal services tailored to your needs. With a focus on client satisfaction and a commitment to excellence, we are here to guide you through every legal challenge.
Address: 78 Benburb Street, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Phone: +353 1 64 000 30
Email: info@thesolicitor.ie
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