LD Reach Terms & Conditions
TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR LD REACH
LD Reach is a free legal telephone helpline service provided by Lyons Davidson (“we” or “us”) available for new and existing clients (“you” or “caller”) of Lyons Davidson and the following terms & conditions shall apply to the relationship between you and us.
- LD Reach is open to take calls from 08:00 to 20:00 (GMT) Monday to Friday and 10:00 to 16:00 (GMT) on Saturdays excluding bank and public holidays and our Christmas closure period.
- LD Reach covers the following areas of law in England & Wales:
- Employment issues;
- Problems related to the sale and purchase of goods and property;
- Damage to property (land and goods);
- Family related issues;
- Accidents and injuries.
- We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority to provide advice and cannot advise you on any tax consequences of your enquiry or the merits of investment transactions or exercising investment rights or act as an arranger or broker of transactions. You should ask your accountant to advise on such matters.
- Callers are requested to be ready with a concise summary of their enquiry and the legal question they wish to ask. We will, where possible and appropriate, provide initial basic information related to your enquiry on any of the above areas of law (in paragraph 2) based on what you tell us. If your enquiry relates to any other area of law, or work not normally undertaken by Lyons Davidson, or if there are other circumstances giving us reason not to give you information (for example, a conflict of interest), we are under no obligation to provide any information or advice.
- When callers first contact LD Reach they will be put through to our helpline reception team who will try to relay the call to an appropriate claims handler with experience of the subject in question. If at the time of your call, that person is engaged with another caller or otherwise unavailable, we will try to arrange to call you back when it is convenient to you and when we have had the opportunity to consider your enquiry. Should you contact us by mobile phone text message or email, we will call you as soon as possible when we have reviewed your enquiry.
- We may ask you for information to help us with your enquiry. You must give us information we ask for as soon as possible, and tell us if you think it is not complete or accurate. It is also your responsibility to carry out any action that we suggest you should do. We will not be responsible for anything that happens because you have not done something we suggested you to do promptly.
- Any information provided through LD Reach is given as a general preliminary guide only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for formal legal advice given in the context of full information (including documentation) provided by you to us in a properly defined engagement. If you would like formal legal advice then please let us know (see paragraph 8 below).
- Where we believe formal legal advice is required, we will tell you. We are able to refer you to one of our legal representatives at Lyons Davidson who will discuss next steps with you so you can decide if you would like Lyons Davidson to assist you further. You are under no obligation to use Lyons Davidson for further formal legal advice.
- You should contact LD Reach personally and not via a third party. If you are a director or other representative acting on behalf of a company, we are entitled to assume that you have been authorised by the company to call us. Any information given is provided to and for your benefit alone and not for the benefit of family, friends and other third parties. If you are a consultant or professional advisor, LD Reach does not give information for you to pass on to your clients.
- Information is given by telephone only and not in writing. Documents (including letters and other written communications) cannot be considered or drafted. We are under no obligation to take any action as a result of your call until Lyons Davidson is formally instructed in writing in accordance with paragraph 9. We may monitor e-mails in accordance with the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.
- The LD Reach service is free. We cannot receive or deal with any funds for you or on your behalf.
- Excessive use of LD Reach is not permitted and may result in the service being withdrawn for particular callers. Telephone calls may be ended by LD Reach if they are considered excessive e.g. over 30 minutes long or if an excessive number of calls are made.. We reserve the right to withdraw LD Reach from you or generally at any time without notice.
- We search our records to protect you from conflicts of interest. Where a conflict arises or may arise (for example, where we find that your opponent is or has been our client), we may not be able to accept or continue to work on your enquiry.
- Our partners and staff will not reveal confidential information about you or your enquiry to other people unless you agree. We may be required by law to reveal certain information about you to authorities such as the Police or HM Revenue & Customs in relation to matters such as tax, fraud and money laundering. In the unlikely event we may have to share such information with colleagues within Lyons Davidson and third parties, in this respect you agree to waive our duty of confidence to you and the ‘legal professional privilege’ that attaches to your communications with us and in particular to the communications between you and the person in Lyons Davidson handling your enquiry.
- We shall not be responsible for any losses whatsoever suffered, sustained or incurred by you or any third party by reason of our compliance with obligations imposed on us by 1) The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and/or 2) The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and/or 3) other legislation relating to or connected with the prevention of crime and/or 4) the instructions of any law enforcement agencies.
- The Data Protection Act 1998 imposes obligations on us as we will obtain and process personal data relating to you. We are required to inform you that personal data we receive about you or from you about other persons may be processed by us in order to provide a service to you.
- If a person requests in writing access to personal data relating to him or her which is processed by us we are legally required to grant such a request unless the data is legally privileged. The right of access includes the right to information on the purposes of the processing, the recipients, the source and substance of any disclosed data. If we are required to provide data in response to a request relating to your enquiry, the work involved will be treated as part of our services to you. We will inform you about our services from time to time unless you notify us otherwise.
- All telephone calls made through LD Reach shall be recorded for data protection and training purposes for a limited period of time which will depend on the nature of the enquiry. Unless you notify us in writing otherwise, you consent to the exclusive electronic storage by us (or by third parties on our behalf) of all such telephone recordings. You may request a copy of the telephone recording subject to a reasonable charge.
- Our total liability in respect of breach of contract or breach of duty or fault or negligence or otherwise arising out of or in connection with any information given to you through LD Reach shall be limited in total to £2 million which covers claims of any sort whatsoever (including but not limited to interest and costs). This provision shall have no application to any liability for death or personal injury or any other liability for which exclusion or restriction is prohibited by law or to liability as a result of fraud or reckless disregard of professional obligations on our part.
- Our liability to you shall further be limited to that proportion of the loss or damage (including interest and costs) suffered by you which is ascribed to us by a court of competent jurisdiction allocating proportionate responsibility to Lyons Davidson having regard to the contribution to the loss and damage in question of any other person (loss or damage having the same meaning as in the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978). This provision shall have no application to any liability for death or personal injury or any other liability for which exclusion or restriction is prohibited by law or to liability as a result of fraud or reckless disregard of professional obligations on our part.
- We expect that you will receive an efficient and effective service. In the unlikely event of a problem arising or you being dissatisfied with the service provided, we have a comprehensive complaints procedure. If you wish to make a formal complaint you should contact our Complaints Partner, Mrs Alex Hewitt at the address below.
- If any provision of these terms & conditions is found by any court, tribunal or administrative body of competent jurisdiction to be wholly or partly illegal, invalid, void, voidable, unenforceable or unreasonable it shall to the extent of such illegality, invalidity, voidness, voidability, unenforceability or unreasonableness be deemed severable and the remaining provisions of these terms & conditions and the remainder of such provision shall continue in full force and effect.
- Failure or delay by either party in enforcing or partially enforcing any provision of these terms & conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of any of its rights under these terms & conditions.
- Any waiver by either party of any breach of, or any default under, any provision of these terms & conditions by the other shall not be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default and shall in no way affect the other terms of these terms & conditions.
- These terms & conditions are not intended to and do not confer any rights on any third party under the Contracts (Right of Third Parties) Act 1999.
- The formation, existence, construction, performance, validity and all aspects of these terms & conditions shall be governed by English law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
51 Victoria Street Bristol BS1 6AD
Telephone 0117 904 6000
Fax 0117 904 6006
Email info@lyonsdavidson.co.uk
Web www.lyonsdavidson.co.uk
DX 7834 Bristol
A full list of partners names is available on request or for inspection at our offices. Lyons Davidson is regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority. Copyright © Lyons Davidson 2009. All rights reserved.