Kim Partners Solicitors
1. Our status and these terms
“KPS”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Kim Partners Solicitors. We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”), SRA number 8012322, and are subject to the SRA Standards and Regulations. These terms apply to each matter on which we accept instructions unless we agree otherwise in writing.
Your engagement letter, these terms and any agreed schedules together form our retainer. Changes must be agreed or notified in writing where appropriate. We may update these general terms for future instructions; a material change affecting an existing matter will be brought to your attention.
2. Instructions, client and scope
We will act only for the person or entity named as the client in our engagement letter. No director, shareholder, employee, family member, affiliate, beneficiary or other person may rely on our work unless we expressly agree in writing.
Our work is limited to the scope described in the engagement letter. Unless expressly included, we do not advise on foreign law, tax, investment, accounting, financial planning or the commercial merits of a transaction. Where another jurisdiction or specialist discipline is involved, we may recommend independent advice. Advice is based on the facts, documents and law available at the time and is given for the purpose of the particular matter only.
We cannot guarantee an outcome, timetable, court decision, decision of a public authority, counterparty response or recovery of costs.
3. Responsibility for your work and service standards
Your engagement letter will identify the person with day-to-day conduct of the matter and, where applicable, the supervising solicitor. Other lawyers, paralegals or support staff may assist. We aim to communicate clearly, keep you informed of material developments, explain legal and practical options, and provide the best information reasonably available about likely costs and timescale.
We normally communicate during business hours and will tell you if an urgent deadline requires a different arrangement. Estimated times are not guarantees and may be affected by courts, public bodies, counterparties, experts and events outside our control.
4. Your responsibilities
You agree to:
- give us complete, accurate and timely instructions, information and documents;
- tell us promptly about material changes, deadlines and communications from other parties;
- preserve relevant evidence and not alter, destroy or conceal documents;
- review our communications and drafts promptly and raise anything that appears incorrect;
- remain responsible for commercial and personal decisions;
- pay invoices and requested payments on account when due; and
- not ask us to act unlawfully, improperly or contrary to our professional duties.
We are entitled to rely on information and documents supplied by you or on your behalf unless there is reason not to do so. Delay or incomplete information may affect the advice, costs, timetable or outcome.
5. Identity, source of funds and financial crime
We must comply with legal and regulatory obligations relating to identity verification, anti-money laundering, sanctions, fraud prevention and source of funds or wealth. We may use electronic verification providers and may request original or certified documents and further evidence at any stage.
We may decline to act, pause work or end the retainer if satisfactory evidence is not supplied or if required by law or professional obligations. We may be legally required to make a report to an authority and prohibited from telling you that we have done so. We do not accept cash. Payments should come from the client or another source approved by us in advance.
Our client account is not a banking facility. We will not receive, hold or transfer money unless it relates to an underlying legal service we are providing and the transaction is proper.
6. Conflicts of interest
Before and during a matter we assess actual and potential conflicts and confidentiality risks. We may be unable to accept or continue instructions if a conflict or significant risk of conflict arises, except where the SRA rules permit us to act and the necessary safeguards and informed consent are in place. If we cease acting for this reason, we will take reasonable steps to protect your position while complying with duties owed to all affected clients.
7. Confidentiality, legal privilege and personal data
We keep client affairs confidential and protect legally privileged material, subject to disclosure authorised by you or required or permitted by law, regulation, our insurers, auditors, banks or professional advisers. Confidential information may also be shared within the firm and with service providers where reasonably necessary to conduct the matter, operate the practice, maintain security or meet legal obligations, subject to appropriate protections.
We process personal data in accordance with applicable data-protection law and our Privacy Policy. Legal duties may require us to retain or disclose information without consent. Using email, cloud systems, identity-verification services and other technology involves unavoidable operational and security risks; we apply reasonable safeguards but cannot guarantee that all communications will be error-free or immune from interception.
8. Communications and cyber-security
We may communicate using the postal address, telephone number, email address or other channel you provide or approve. You must tell us promptly if contact details change or a channel is insecure or unavailable.
Cyber-fraud is a serious risk. Our bank details will not change during a transaction without formal verification. Do not rely on an email or message purporting to change bank details. Verify any payment instruction by calling a known KPS telephone number. We are not responsible for loss caused by payment to an incorrect account where our systems and staff were not at fault.
9. Fees, expenses, VAT and billing
The basis of our charges is set out in your engagement letter and may be a fixed fee, hourly rates, staged fees, a conditional fee arrangement or another agreed basis. VAT will be added where applicable. You are also responsible for disbursements and third-party charges such as court fees, counsel, experts, searches, translators, couriers and verification fees.
Any estimate is a good-faith indication based on information then available, not a fixed quotation unless expressly stated. If the scope, complexity, urgency, volume of material or assumptions change, costs may increase. We will seek to inform you of a material change and may require a revised estimate or further payment on account.
We may issue interim invoices. Invoices are payable within the period stated on the invoice or engagement letter. Where permitted, we may charge interest on overdue sums, suspend work, retain papers to the extent allowed by law, or cease acting after reasonable notice. You may have rights to challenge or seek assessment of legal costs; applicable procedure and time limits depend on the matter.
Unless agreed otherwise, you remain responsible for our charges even if another person has agreed to pay them or you expect to recover costs from another party. Any costs order or contribution may be less than the amount you owe us.
10. Payments on account and client money
We may ask for money on account of fees or expenses before starting or continuing work. Money held as client money is handled in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules and kept separate from the firm's money. We may apply money held for you towards billed costs after giving the required written notification.
Where we hold client money, our interest policy will apply and a fair sum of interest will be paid where required, taking account of the amount held, the period, the applicable rate and reasonable administrative considerations. We may verify the destination of outgoing funds and ordinarily return money to its source unless there is a lawful and documented reason to do otherwise.
11. Counsel, experts, agents and outsourcing
With your authority where required, we may instruct barristers, experts, foreign lawyers, agents, translators, process servers, search providers and other third parties. We will take reasonable care in selection but are not responsible for an independent provider's acts or omissions unless the law provides otherwise. You are responsible for their charges, and we may require funds before instructing them.
Administrative, technology, storage, transcription or other support may be outsourced under appropriate confidentiality and data-protection arrangements. Tell us at the outset if you have a reasonable objection to a particular arrangement.
12. Reliance and limitation of liability
Our advice is provided solely to the named client for the agreed purpose. It may not be disclosed to or relied on by anyone else without our prior written agreement, except where disclosure is required by law.
Any matter-specific limitation or cap on liability will be stated in the engagement letter and applies only so far as lawful and reasonable. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or restricts your statutory or regulatory rights. We are not liable for losses caused by inaccurate or withheld information, decisions outside the agreed scope, changes in law after our work concludes, or events outside our reasonable control.
13. Files, documents and retention
Original documents supplied by you remain yours, subject to any lawful lien. Our working papers, internal notes, templates and know-how belong to us. At the end of a matter we may keep the file electronically or physically for the period required by our retention policy, legal obligations, insurers or legitimate business needs, after which it may be securely destroyed without further notice unless we have agreed otherwise.
You should arrange safe custody for documents that must be retained permanently. Retrieval, copying, transfer or storage requested after closure may be charged at a reasonable rate where permitted.
14. Suspending or ending our retainer
You may end our retainer in writing at any time. We may stop acting where there is good reason and after reasonable notice where practicable, including non-payment, failure to provide instructions or verification, loss of confidence, a conflict, unlawful or improper instructions, abusive conduct, inability to meet professional obligations or another serious breakdown in the relationship.
When the retainer ends, you remain responsible for fees and expenses incurred up to that date and for work reasonably required to protect your position or transfer the matter. Court or tribunal permission may be required before we can cease acting in proceedings.
15. Questions and complaints
If you are concerned about our service or an invoice, please first contact the person handling your matter. If the issue is not resolved, write to our Client Care Partner at info@kpslaweu.com or Kim Partners Solicitors, 25 North Row, London W1K 6DJ. We will provide our complaints procedure on request, acknowledge and investigate the complaint, and aim to issue a final response within eight weeks. Complaining will not affect how we handle your matter.
If we do not resolve a service complaint within eight weeks, or you remain dissatisfied with our final response, you may be entitled to contact the Legal Ombudsman: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH; telephone 0300 555 0333; email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
Ordinarily, a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within six months of our final written response and no later than one year from the act or omission complained about, or one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint. Eligibility and time-limit rules apply.
Concerns about professional conduct—such as dishonesty, misuse of client money or discrimination—may be raised with the SRA. The SRA does not normally resolve complaints about poor service or fees.
16. Governing law and general provisions
Our relationship and these terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Subject to any mandatory right or applicable dispute procedure, the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in effect. A delay in enforcing a right is not a waiver. No person other than the client and KPS may enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. Electronic acceptance and counterparts may be used where legally effective.