Terms and Conditions of Business
The Law Society’s Guidance and Ethics Committee has produced an updated template Terms and Conditions of Engagement.
The updated Terms and Conditions of Engagement are intended to operate in conjunction with the compulsory fee notice that must be issued under section 150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act.
It is recommended that practitioners would issue a Section 150 notice – which, by its nature, must be tailored to the specific instruction – and the Terms and Conditions of Business would be appended as a static document, outlining the basis on which the issuing firm provides its service.
As a general rule of thumb, practitioners are recommended to ensure that the Section 150 Notice contains the information that is compulsory under section 150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act, and any other terms, conditions or information governing the firm’s relationship with its client should be outlined in the Terms and Conditions.
By its nature, the document is a template, suitable for many situations, but should be tailored by each individual solicitor’s practice to reflect the terms and conditions on which it conducts its business.
Practitioners should note that certain elements of the Terms and Conditions of Business must be populated by details that are specific to each firm and should be read carefully before being appended to a Section 150 Notice. As with any such document, responsibility for the content lies with the issuing practitioner.