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1.1 Who we are
Invicta Legal is a private limited company registered in England and Wales (company number 13476252), with its registered office at Manchester Business Park 3000, Aviator Way, Manchester, M22 5TG. We are a recognised body, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 827230) since 3 November 2021, and authorised to provide all legal services. You can check our entry on the SRA register.
Our VAT number is 388177936 and covers work carried out from our offices in England and Wales.
1.2 Regulation and professional standards
We are bound by the SRA Standards and Regulations, including the SRA Principles, the Code of Conduct for Firms and the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs. You can read these on the SRA website. We also comply with the law on money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions, which affects how we take instructions and receive money.
1.3 Our services and your instructions
We will confirm the scope of our work, who will handle your matter, and who supervises them, in our engagement letter.
We will act with skill and care, keep you informed of progress, and explain your options in plain language so you can make informed decisions.
You agree to give us clear, complete and timely instructions, and the documents and information we reasonably need.
We will act only on instructions from you, or from someone you have authorised in writing. If we receive conflicting instructions from joint clients, we may have to stop acting.
Our advice is for you alone and relates only to the matter described in the engagement letter. Please do not share it with others or rely on it for a different purpose without speaking to us first.
1.4 Identity checks and anti-money laundering
The law requires us to verify the identity of clients, and in some cases the source of funds and wealth, before we can act. We may use electronic verification services for this. We may be unable to start or continue work until checks are complete, and we may have to report suspicions to the authorities without telling you.
1.5 Fees, disbursements and VAT
Our fees are set out in the engagement letter. Depending on the matter, they may be a fixed fee, an hourly rate or another agreed basis. Current hourly rates and fee information are available on request.
Fees are normally subject to VAT at the prevailing rate.
Disbursements are costs we pay on your behalf, such as court fees, search fees, stamp duty land tax, Land Registry fees, barristers' fees and expert reports. You are responsible for them, and we may ask you to pay them in advance.
We will tell you promptly if we expect the total cost to exceed an estimate we have given you, and we will agree any increase with you in advance.
We may ask you to pay money on account of costs and disbursements before we start work or at stages during the matter.
Where relevant, we will tell you about any referral arrangements and any fee we pay or receive for referring a matter.
1.6 Invoices and payment
Unless the engagement letter says otherwise, our invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice. We may charge interest on overdue sums at 20% a year, as permitted by law. If an invoice stays unpaid after we have reminded you, we may stop work, and we may keep your papers and property as the law allows, subject to our professional obligations. You have the right to ask for your bill to be assessed under the Solicitors Act 1974 where that right applies.
1.7 Client money
We hold client money in a client account with an authorised bank or building society, in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules. Interest is paid to you where it is fair and reasonable to do so, in line with our client money interest policy, which is available on request. We never ask you to pay money into our client account for anything other than a matter we are handling. Payment fraud warning: we will not change our bank details by email. If you receive an email asking you to pay money to a different account, please telephone us on 0161 523 201 before paying.
1.8 Confidentiality and data protection
We keep your affairs confidential, except where the law requires or permits disclosure, or where you consent. We explain how we handle personal data in our Privacy Policy.
1.9 Conflicts of interest
We will not act where we have a conflict of interest with you, or a significant risk of one, unless the SRA rules allow it and you have given informed consent. If a conflict arises during a matter, we will tell you and may have to stop acting for one or both clients.
1.10 Communications
Unless you tell us otherwise, we may communicate with you by post, telephone, email and secure online portals using the contact details you give us. Email is not completely secure, so please tell us if you want us to use another method for sensitive information. Please keep your contact details up to date.
1.11 Storage and retention of documents
We will keep your file for six years after the matter ends, unless a longer or shorter period applies by law or we agree otherwise. After that we may destroy it without further notice. We keep original documents, such as wills and deeds, safe for you only where we have agreed to do so in writing, and we may charge for retrieval. Papers belonging to you are returned on request, subject to any right we have to keep them until our fees are paid. We do not keep copies of title deeds once a property is registered.
1.12 Ending our relationship
You may end our instructions at any time by notifying us in writing. You will remain responsible for fees and disbursements up to that point.
We may stop acting for you for good reason, for example if you do not pay our bills, give instructions we cannot properly accept, or there is a conflict of interest or loss of trust. We will give you reasonable notice and take care not to leave you at a disadvantage.
Unless we agree otherwise, our instructions end when the matter described in the engagement letter is complete. We have no continuing duty to update you on later changes in the law.
1.13 Limitation of liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Subject to that, our total liability to you for any one matter is limited to [amount, which must not be less than £3 million, the SRA minimum cover for a recognised body that is a company], including interest and costs. [Confirm the figure against your policy. SRA rules do not allow a firm to limit its liability below the minimum insurance cover.] We are not liable for loss caused by events beyond our reasonable control, or by your failure to follow our advice or provide accurate information.
1.14 Your right to cancel
If you are a consumer and instruct us at a distance or away from our offices, you may have a right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If you ask us to start work within that period, you will have to pay for the work done before you cancel. Your engagement letter will include a cancellation notice where it applies.
1.15 Complaints
We aim to give you a first-class service, but if you are unhappy, please tell us.
Contact the person handling your matter, or write to our complaints team at 3000 Aviator Way, Manchester M22 5TG, or telephone 0161523201 or email complaints@invicta-legal.co.uk.
We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to send you a full response within eight weeks. If we cannot resolve your complaint, our final written response will tell you that the Legal Ombudsman is available if you remain dissatisfied, give you its contact details, and warn you that you must go to the Ombudsman within six months of that response.
There is no charge for making a complaint.
If we cannot resolve it, you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH, telephone 0300 555 0333, minicom 0300 555 1777, email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, website www.legalombudsman.org.uk. You must normally complain to the Ombudsman within six months of our final response, and no more than one year from the act or omission you are complaining about, or one year from when you should reasonably have realised there was cause for complaint. The Ombudsman can extend these limits in exceptional circumstances, and only deals with complaints from certain types of client, which its website explains.
You can also report concerns about our conduct to the SRA through www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems.
If you are not eligible to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, we will tell you what other options you may have.
1.16 General
These terms, together with your engagement letter, are the entire agreement between us for the matter. If they conflict, the engagement letter takes priority.
We may change these terms. The version in force when we accept your instructions applies to that matter, unless we agree a change with you in writing.
Only you and we have rights under these terms. Nobody else can enforce them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, unless you are a consumer with rights to use the courts of another part of the UK.