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Providing professional legal advice, notarial services, advocacy and mentoring support to individuals, families and businesses.
Get in TouchProviding professional legal advice, notarial services, advocacy and mentoring support to individuals, families and businesses.
Get in TouchThis document sets out the terms and conditions on which City & Co Solicitors will provide legal services to you. It is intended to provide you with important information about your matter, whatever the type of work involved, and to explain the terms of our business relationship.
We are committed to providing a high standard of legal service. We recognise that dealing with legal matters can be stressful, and we will work with you to make the process as straightforward as possible. We aim to build long-term relationships with our clients and to ensure that your legal requirements are dealt with in accordance with these Terms of Business.
City & Co Solicitors provides legal services in a range of areas, including:
Other legal matters, where appropriate
We will advise you on the law, facts and procedure relevant to your instructions. It is important that you provide us with full and accurate instructions and that you notify us promptly of any change in your circumstances which may have a bearing on your matter.
A member of our legal team, whose name will be notified to you at your first meeting and subsequently in writing, will have day-to-day conduct of your matter.
All matters are conducted under the supervision of the Principal Solicitor, Safina Bi Din. To provide an efficient service, you may also have regular contact with another member of our legal team who has been assigned to assist with your matter.
Our reception staff and secretaries will be happy to take messages and arrange appointments with the lawyer responsible for your matter. We try to avoid changing the people handling your work; however, if a change is necessary, we will notify you promptly and explain, where appropriate, why the change was necessary.
It is our general policy to write to you at the beginning of your matter setting out our fees and other anticipated costs. These details will normally be included in our Client Care Letter. We are always happy to discuss our fees with you.
Our fees may reflect the time spent on your matter, including liaison with you and others, telephone calls, correspondence, consideration of documents, legal research and attendances at court, including travelling and waiting time. Where work is charged on an hourly basis, the applicable rates are as follows:
Fee Earner |
Rate (per hour) |
Principal Solicitor |
£300 |
Associate Solicitor |
£200 |
To ensure that your case is conducted economically and efficiently, it may sometimes be necessary for a colleague to deal with certain aspects of the work. In such circumstances, that colleague's applicable hourly rate will be charged. Our hourly rates are reviewed from time to time.
Unless otherwise agreed, we do not pay interest on amounts held in our client account. It is our policy in all transactions to request payment on account. Where appropriate, we may submit interim bills for work carried out to date or invoices on account of costs.
In litigation matters, if you lose your case, you may also be required to pay your opponent's costs. In the event of non-payment of our fees, we reserve the right to decline to undertake further work on your behalf, subject to our professional obligations. Work undertaken up to that stage will remain payable.
At the conclusion of your matter and any related proceedings, a final account showing the balance due, if any, will be provided for settlement. Please note that the total charges may be greater than any advance payments made. Our accounts are due for payment within 7 days of the date they are raised. We reserve the right, where permitted, to charge interest on overdue sums at a rate of 8% per annum, calculated on a daily basis.
Wherever possible, we will tell you in advance how much our services are expected to cost. This information will normally be set out in your Client Care Letter.
VAT maybe added to our charges at the prevailing rate where applicable. We will also provide details of other fees and expenses which we may need to pay on your behalf, together with information about when those sums are payable.
If we have quoted a fixed fee but do not complete the work, we may charge a reduced fee reflecting the stage reached in the matter, together with VAT where applicable and any expenses actually incurred.
If unforeseen work becomes necessary and this is likely to result in additional costs, we will inform you and, where practicable, seek to agree the additional costs with you before carrying out that work.
In most cases, clients are responsible for their own legal costs. If it is agreed that you will also pay the costs of another party, we will, where possible, seek to agree a maximum figure at the earliest opportunity.
Our disbursements may include a credit check carried out for the purposes of complying with applicable anti-money laundering and regulatory requirements.
In court proceedings, circumstances may arise in which one party is required to pay another party's costs as well as their own. We will advise you separately if this applies to your matter.
If your matter is not straightforward, we will provide as much information as reasonably possible about anticipated costs at the outset, including applicable hourly rates where relevant.
Where appropriate, we may agree a limit on the costs of our work. If that limit is reached, we may not undertake further work unless a revised arrangement is agreed.
We may request payments on account of costs and it is our normal practice to request payment in advance of certain fees and disbursements which we are required to pay on your behalf.
Although ultimate responsibility for payment of our charges will remain with you, if proceedings are issued and you are successful, you may be entitled to recover some or all of your legal costs from another party. A court order requiring another party to pay costs does not, however, guarantee that those costs will be recovered. You remain responsible for our charges unless and until payment is actually received. This is a complex area and we will be happy to explain it further if required.
City & Co Solicitors are registered with the Information Commissioners Service (ICO) under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Our ICO registration number: ZC164457
We take the protection and security of your personal data seriously. Our data protection and privacy policy provides information on how we collect, use, store, and protect personal information.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal information, please contact us using the details provided on our Contact Us page.
City & Co Solicitors use your personal information to do the following:
Our use of your information is subject to your instructions, applicable data protection legislation and our duty of confidentiality. Our work for you may require us to provide information to third parties, such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers, where this is necessary or appropriate in connection with your matter.
You have rights of access and other rights under applicable data protection legislation in relation to personal data that we hold about you.
We may from time to time send you information which we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive such information, please notify us in writing.
This firm is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to provide financial advice. We are therefore unable to provide financial advice and strongly recommend that you seek advice from an appropriately authorised independent financial adviser where necessary.
Solicitors and lawyers are under professional and legal obligations to keep the affairs of their clients confidential. These obligations are subject to statutory and regulatory exceptions. In particular, legislation relating to money laundering and terrorist financing may require solicitors, in certain circumstances, to disclose information to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, a disclosure may be required. In certain circumstances, we may be prohibited by law from informing you that a disclosure has been made or from explaining the reasons for it.
City & Co Solicitors would refer you to our Anti-Money Laundering Policy attached hereto, which we adhere to strictly in compliance with our legal obligations under the law.
We strive to provide a high-quality service to all our clients. If there is any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy and you are unable to resolve the matter directly with the solicitor or caseworker dealing with your matter, you should raise your concerns with Ms Safina Bi Din, Principal Solicitor and the person responsible for client care within the firm.
You are referred to the City & Co’s complaints’ policy, attached hereto.
Our firm maintains professional indemnity insurance in accordance with applicable requirements. Full details of our current cover may be inspected at our office by prior arrangement.
Our Equality and Diversity Policy is intended to prevent discrimination in our dealings with staff, clients and third parties. You are referred to this policy attached hereto for further details and information.
We recognise that some clients may be unable to visit our offices. Where appropriate, we are willing to visit clients at home or at another convenient location at no additional charge, subject to suitable arrangements being made.
Your continuing instructions to us will amount to acceptance of these Terms of Business. Please contact us if you have any questions. This is an important document and we recommend that you keep a copy in a safe place for future reference.
At the conclusion of your matter, we are entitled to retain your file and any documents while there is an amount owing to us in respect of our charges and disbursements.
Any papers not returned to you may be archived on the understanding that we have authority to destroy them after six years. We will not ordinarily destroy documents held in storage before the expiry of that period.
If you require access to your file after it has been archived, a retrieval fee of £75.00 will be charged.
You may terminate your instructions to us at any time. We are entitled to retain papers and documents while money is owing to us, subject to our professional and legal obligations.
We reserve the right to cease acting for you where there is good reason to do so and, where appropriate, on giving reasonable notice. If our instructions are terminated, we will charge for work carried out up to the date of termination.
The firm's total liability under or in connection with this matter, including any claim for contribution or indemnity, shall not exceed £2,000,000, subject to applicable law and professional requirements.
Your continuing instructions to us will amount to acceptance of these Terms of Business. Where requested, please sign and date the relevant acceptance form and return it to us.
We reserve the right not to commence or continue to act for you if we are not satisfied that you understand and agree to these Terms of Business, or until any payment requested from you has been received.
If you have any questions about the contents of this document, please do not hesitate to contact us. We recommend that you keep a copy of these Terms of Business in a safe place for future reference.