Terms and conditions

Swinburne Maddison LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership incorporated in England and Wales with registered number OC356032.

Our Registered Office is:

Swinburne Maddison LLP
Venture House
Aykley Heads Business Centre
Durham
DH1 5TS.

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority under number 551177. A list of Members may be inspected at our Registered Office. We use the term ‘Partner’ to refer to a Member of Swinburne Maddison LLP or an employee or consultant who is a Solicitor of equivalent standing and with similar qualifications. We use the term ‘Legal Director’ to denote an employee who is recognised for their advanced experience and expertise. A Legal Director is not a Member, Owner or Manager of Swinburne Maddison LLP.

Where we say ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ in these Terms and Conditions, we mean Swinburne Maddison LLP.

Where we say ‘you’ or ‘your’ in these Terms and Conditions, we mean the client identified in the client care letter and anyone authorised to give instructions on that client’s behalf.

Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of the then-current hourly rates, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.

Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business.

These Terms and Conditions of Business, together with our Client Care Letter, form the contract between us. We do not require you to sign these; your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these Terms of Business.

Our commitments to you

• We will treat you fairly and with respect.
• We will explain to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome.
• We will make sure that you understand the likely degree of financial risk which you will be taking on and will keep you updated on the likely costs of your matter and any changes to the expected timescales or costs.
• We will try to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you – tell us when we fail in this aim!
• We will deal with your queries promptly. For example, we will always try to return your telephone calls on the same day.
• We will review your matter regularly.
• We will advise you of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware or consider to be reasonably foreseeable that could affect the outcome of your matter.
• We will advise you of any changes in the law that affect your matter, whilst you are instructing us in relation to this matter.

Your responsibilities to us

• You will provide documents when we ask for them and respond promptly when we ask for instructions or information.
• You will notify us if your contact details change.
• You will notify us of any vulnerabilities, needs or circumstances we need to be made aware of.
• You will tell us immediately if your expectations change or if you are not sure you understand what we have discussed.
• You will inform us of any time limits or objectives that might not be obvious to us.
• You will notify us immediately if you receive any e-mail or other communication purporting to be from this firm stating that we have changed our bank details or payment arrangements.
• You will let us know about any other changes that may affect the way we deal with your matter, including any changes that may affect your tax status in any jurisdiction or any changes that have legal implications for you and/or us, e.g. sanctions or becoming a Politically Exposed Person.

Scope of our legal services

The scope of the services we will provide is set out in the Client Care Letter that accompanies these Terms and Conditions.

These Terms and Conditions (as updated from time to time) apply to all work we do on your behalf.

It is an important document – please read and keep it in a safe place. If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and the client care letter, the client care letter will take priority.

We will provide legal advice and services to you with reasonable care and skill. However, the nature of many types of legal work means that it is not possible to guarantee a particular outcome.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, we will advise only on English Law.

We will not advise on surveying, valuation, commercial viability, trading or marketability issues.

We only advise on tax when we have expressly agreed in writing to do so. Any questions that you may have regarding your tax obligations (even if discussed with us) must be raised and/or checked with your accountant or financial adviser.

If you ask us to obtain advice from another law firm on a specific part of your overall instructions, that firm will be responsible for the service and advice they provide.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, our advice and any documents we prepare:

• are for use only in connection with the specific matter on which we are instructed and can only be relied on by you; and
• reflect the law in force at the relevant time.

Our hours of business

We are normally open between 8.45 am and 5.00 pm on weekdays. Messages can be left on the answer-phone outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

We are closed on all Bank and Public Holidays.

Service standards

We will regularly update you by telephone or in writing (including by e-mail) with progress on your matter and explain to you the legal work required as your matter progresses.

We will update you at appropriate intervals on the likely timescale for each stage of your matter and any important changes in those estimates. Whenever there is a material change in circumstances associated with your matter, we will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks.

We will update you on the cost of your matter at appropriate intervals. If appropriate, we will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded.

We are committed to acting in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion in all our dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our Equality and Diversity Policy.

People responsible for your work

The member of staff responsible for dealing with your work will be Gemma Wilkinson who is a Head of Legal Compliance in the firm. The assistant who may be able to deal with your queries and who will be pleased to take any message for you is. We will try to avoid changing the people who handle your work but if this cannot be avoided, we will tell you promptly of any change and why it may be necessary.

The Partner with final responsibility for work done in this department is a Solicitor.

From time to time, the person acting on your behalf may be assisted by a Trainee Solicitor, a CILEx Advanced Paralegal or a Paralegal. They will always act under the supervision of someone fully qualified.

• Our current Trainee Solicitors are Grace Ridsdale, Adam McWilliams and Imogen Bosanko.
• Our current CILEx Advanced Paralegal is Laura Duff.
• Our current CILEx Paralegal is Grace Robinson.
• Our current Paralegals are Alison Dunn, Lauren Willcox, Georgia Ismay, Siân Thurkettle and Isabella Lake.

Charges and expenses

Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time spent by our Employees in respect of any work which they carry out on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and others, reading and working on papers, correspondence, preparation of any detailed cost calculations, and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary.

The current hourly rates are set out below. We will add VAT to these at the rate that applies when the work is done. The VAT rate is currently 20%.

Routine letters and emails sent and received are charged as 6-minute units of time (1/10th of an hour). We charge for the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in 6-minute units.

These hourly rates are reviewed periodically to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation. Normally our rates are reviewed with effect from 1st May each year. If a review is carried out before this matter has been concluded, we will inform you of any variation in the rate before it takes effect.

We reserve the right to increase the hourly rates if the work done is particularly complex or urgent or if the nature of your instructions requires us to work outside normal office hours. If this happens, we will notify you in advance and agree on an appropriate rate.

In property transactions, in the administration of estates and transactions involving substantial financial consideration or benefit to the client, fees may be calculated both by reference to the time spent and also by reference to a value element based on the price of the property, the size of the estate or the value of the financial benefit. The value element reflects the importance of the transaction and the consequent responsibility falling on the firm. If this term is to be relied upon, full details will be provided to you at the outset of a transaction or upon any review of a costs quote.

Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses (some bearing VAT) on behalf of clients, including Land and Probate Registry fees, court fees, experts’ fees, and so on. We have no obligation to make such payments unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose. We refer to such payments generally as ‘disbursements’. We will require a payment in advance from you in respect of any searches or fees payable concerning any disbursement.

If we send any money out on your behalf by way of a CHAPS bank transfer, our costs for arranging the transfer will be £30 plus VAT at the current rate of 20%. This guarantees same-day payment – as long as the instructions are received by 3:30 pm on a working day.

If we send money out on your behalf by way of a same-day bank transfer (the amount has to be less than £100,000), our costs for arranging the transfer will be £20 plus VAT at the current rate of 20%. This can be made the same day, as long as both banks are part of the Faster Payments Service.

Although most electronic payments sent through Faster Payments will arrive at the recipient bank on the same day, this isn’t guaranteed.

If we send money out on your behalf by way of a BACS bank transfer, the amount must be less than £100,000. These payments take a maximum of 3 working days to clear.

If, for any reason, a transaction does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge for work we have done and expenses incurred.

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a company, we may require a Director and/or controlling shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this firm. If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis with expenses as set out earlier.

Our VAT registration number is 708571622.

Payment arrangements

You are liable to pay all the legal costs as set out in our client care letter that accompanies these Terms and Conditions. The billing arrangements are detailed in this section of the Terms and Conditions. We will discuss the likely level of costs with you at the outset of your matter and on an ongoing basis if our original estimate of costs changes for any reason.

We may deliver our invoices to you electronically. Please let us know if you have any particular requirements for the delivery of our invoices.

Please inform us if you would like a third party to be responsible for paying our invoices or any part of them. We must approve this in advance, and we will need the party’s name, contact details and any other information or identification documents we request. It is your responsibility to pay our invoices even if someone else has agreed to pay some or all of them, and our invoices will always be addressed to you. If someone else does pay some of our invoices, you are responsible for paying the rest. If someone else is to pay on your behalf, the invoice can be marked as “Payable by ‘X’”, but the invoice will be addressed to you.

Property transactions:

• We will normally send you our invoice following the exchange of contracts.
• Payment will be required concerning any purchase before completion and in for any sale on completion. If sufficient funds are available on completion and we have sent you an invoice, we will deduct our charges and expenses from those funds.

Administration of estates:

• We will normally submit an invoice at regular stages during the administration, starting with the obtaining of a Grant of Probate. The final account will be prepared when the Estate Accounts are ready for approval.

Other cases or transactions:

• It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following weeks or months or to send interim invoices. We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses which are being incurred.
• If such requests are not met with prompt payment, a delay in the progress of a case may result. In the unlikely event of any invoice or request for payment not being met, we reserve the right to stop acting for you.

Payment is due to us within 14 days of our sending you an invoice. Interest will be charged daily at 8% per annum from the date of the invoice if payment is not made within 14 days.

Payment may be made using cash, cheque, debit/credit card, bank transfer or online. Cheques should be made payable to “Swinburne Maddison LLP”. To pay by card, or to pay by bank transfer, please telephone our Accounts Department direct on 0191 3755078 or telephone our main switchboard on 0191 3842441 and ask to speak to the Accounts Department. Please also note the next paragraph, which applies to any payments by cash. To pay online, please visit https://swinburnemaddison.legl.com/pay/.

Our policy is only to accept cash up to a total of £500 per transaction. If you try to avoid this policy by depositing cash directly with our bank, we may decide to charge you for any additional checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of the funds. It may also cause a delay whilst we carry out those checks.

If we receive money concerning your matter from an unexpected source, there may be a delay in your matter, and we may charge you for any additional checks we decide are necessary.

Where we pay money to you, it will be paid by bank transfer, or if that is not possible, by cheque. It will not be paid in cash or to a third party.

Please be aware that we will never notify you of changes to important business information, such as bank account details, by e-mail.

You have the right to challenge or complain about our invoice. Please see the “Complaints” section below for details of how to complain about our invoice.

You have the right to challenge our invoice by applying to the Court to assess the invoice under the Solicitors Act 1974. The usual time limit for applying to the Court for an assessment is one month from the date of delivery of the invoice.

Banking

We hold all client money in NatWest Bank plc, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We are not liable for any losses you suffer as a result of any bank in which we hold client money being unable to repay depositors in full. You may, however, be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The FSCS is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of banking institutions. The FSCS can pay compensation up to £85,000 if a banking institution is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it.

The limit is £85,000 per banking institution. If you hold other personal money in the same banking institution as our client account, the limit remains £85,000 in total.
Some banking institutions have several brands. The compensation limit is £85,000 per institution, not per brand. You should check with your banking institution, the FCA or a financial adviser for more information.

The FSCS also provides up to £1,000,000 of short-term protection for certain high balances, e.g. relating to property transactions, inheritance, divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, unfair dismissal, redundancy, and personal injury compensation (there is no financial limit on protection for personal injury compensation). This is called a Temporary High Balance Scheme, and if it applies, protection lasts for a maximum of 6 months.

The FSCS (including the Temporary High Balance Scheme) will apply to qualifying balances held in our client account. In the unlikely event of a deposit-taking institution failure, we will presume (unless we hear from you in writing to the contrary) we have your consent to disclose necessary client details to the FSCS.

We will never tell you of changes to important business information, such as bank account details, by e-mail. Please notify us immediately if you receive any e-mail or other communication purporting to be from the firm stating that we have changed our bank details or payment arrangements.

Interest payment

We will pay a fair sum of interest to clients or third parties on client money we hold on their behalf.

We will not pay interest:

• on money we are instructed to hold outside a client account in a manner that does not attract interest, e.g. cash in our safe;
• where the amount is less than £20.00;
• where we agree otherwise, in writing, with you or the third party for whom the money is held.

Please ask us if you would like to see our written payment of interest policy.

Other parties’ charges and expenses

You are personally responsible for all the legal costs set out in our client care letter.

In some cases and transactions, a client may be entitled to payment of costs by some other person.

It is important to understand that in such circumstances, the other person may not be required to pay all of the charges and expenses which you incur with us. Any amounts which can be recovered will be a contribution towards your costs but the primary obligation to pay all costs remains yours.

If the other party receives legal aid, no costs are likely to be recovered.

The other party will not be liable to pay the VAT element of your costs if you can recover VAT yourself.

If a Court orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, interest can be claimed on them from the other party from the date of the court order. We will account to you for such interest to the extent that you have paid our charges or expenses on account, but we are entitled to the remainder of that interest.

You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs that the Court orders the other party to pay to you.

A client who is unsuccessful in a Court case may be ordered to pay the other party’s legal charges and expenses. That money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses.

Arrangements may be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. Please discuss this with us if you are interested in this possibility.

Storage of papers and documents

We may create and hold client files in hard copy (paper), electronically or a combination of both.

After completing the work for you, we will usually keep your file for at least 6 years in our archive.

After destruction of the paper file (if any) we may store your file electronically only for as long as is reasonable to do so. We will not charge for this storage. We will not destroy documents that we agree to deposit in safe custody, for example, Wills or Deeds, but we may, on reasonable notice, send them to you for safe keeping.

If we retrieve papers or documents from storage concerning continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent producing papers or documents or additional copies for you or another at your request. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.

Terminating your instructions

You may terminate our appointment at any time by giving us notice in writing. We can keep all your papers and documents while there is money owed to us for our charges or disbursements.

We will only decide to stop acting for you with good reason, e.g. where we feel that the relationship has broken down, if you do not pay an invoice, if you provide us with misleading information, or if you act in an abusive or offensive manner. We will give you reasonable notice before we stop acting for you.

If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, we will charge you for the work we have done. This will be calculated on the basis set out in our letter confirming your instructions.

We are not responsible for reminding you about important dates and/or any deadlines after our appointment has been terminated.

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, for some non-business instructions, you may have the right to withdraw your instructions without charge or providing any reason, within 14 working days of the date on which you formalised your instructions. However, if we start work with your consent within that period, you lose that right to withdraw your acceptance of these terms of business.

Full information will be provided to you in the client care letter that accompanies these Terms and Conditions if those Regulations apply to your matter.

Consumer credit services

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) concerning consumer credit services. However, because we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), we may be able to provide certain limited consumer credit services where these are closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you. This is because we are members of the Law Society of England and Wales, which is a designated professional body for the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Tax advice

Please note that we are not tax advisors or accountants. Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies. If you have any concerns in this respect please raise them with us immediately, and we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.

Investment advice services

We are not authorised by the FCA to provide investment advice services.

If you need advice on investments, we may refer you to someone who is authorised by the FCA to provide the necessary advice. However, because we are regulated by the SRA, we may be able to provide certain limited investment advice services where these are closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you.

Insurance distribution activity

We are not authorised by the FCA, however, we are included on the register maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance distribution activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the SRA. The register can be accessed via the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.

Complaints relating to financial services

The SRA is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints against lawyers. If you are unhappy with any consumer credit, investment advice or insurance distribution activity, you should raise your concerns with the SRA or Legal Ombudsman.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

Unless expressly indicated in our client care letter, we will not advise concerning US or UK reporting obligations as a result of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). We may, however, ask you to confirm your reporting status, for instance, by requesting your Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN), if you have one.

To comply with the law, we may have to share some of your information, including your FATCA status and, if applicable, your GIIN, with financial institutions. We must keep your information current at all times. You are responsible for communicating to us any changes in circumstances that may alter your FATCA status.

Prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing

To comply with anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing requirements, we will ask you for proof of your identity, and we will conduct searches or enquiries for this purpose. We may also be required to identify and verify the identity of other people, such as directors or beneficial owners. If you or they do not provide us with the required information promptly, your matter may be delayed.

You agree that we may make checks using online electronic verification systems or other databases as we may decide.

You must not send any money until these checks have been completed.

We will charge you for these identification and verification checks. We will confirm the cost in the client care letter that accompanies these Terms and Conditions.

We may, during the transaction, ask you to confirm the source of any money that you have sent to us or will send to us. If you do not provide us with that information promptly, your matter may be delayed. We will usually conduct checks on the source of funds that are to be used for a transaction using online electronic verification systems, and we will charge you for these checks. The cost will be confirmed in the client care letter that accompanies these Terms and Conditions.

Subject to the “Limit of Liability” section of these Terms and Conditions, we shall not be liable for any loss arising from or connected with our compliance with any statutory obligation which we may have, or reasonable belief we may have, to report matters to the relevant authorities under the provisions of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing or Proliferation Financing legislation.

Privacy and Data Protection

Any personal data we receive from you to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing will only be used for that purpose, with your consent, or as permitted by or under another enactment.

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, Solicitors may be required by statute to disclose to the National Crime Agency (NCA) when they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we are required to disclose information about your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.

By providing us with formal instructions you authorise us to disclose to the parties in the transaction and, if applicable, to all other parties in a chain of transactions, their agents and advisers, all information which we have concerning your involvement in the transaction including any related sale, mortgage or other financial arrangements and your wishes as to dates for exchange and completion. You may withdraw this authority at any time, but if you do so, you should appreciate that we will inform the other party or parties and their agents or advisers that this authority has been withdrawn.

We will use your personal data primarily to provide legal services to you but also for related purposes, such as administration, billing and record keeping, and to inform you of our services and events that may be of interest to you, as described in the attached Privacy Policy.

Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), other relevant UK legislation, and our professional duty of confidentiality.

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read the attached Privacy Policy carefully as it contains important information on how and why we collect, process and store your personal data. It also explains your rights concerning your personal data.

The privacy policy is also available on our website or by clicking the link in any of our e-mails. Our Data Protection Officer is Gemma Wilkinson.

We may record telephone calls and monitor emails for training, regulatory and compliance purposes.

We use third-party service providers (including ‘cloud’ service providers) to help us deliver efficient, cost-effective legal services. This may include document/information hosting, sharing, transfer, analysis, processing or storage. We ensure all third-party service providers operate under service agreements that are consistent with our legal and professional obligations.

If you instruct us to use an alternative provider for storing, sharing or exchanging documents/information, we are not responsible for the security of the data or the provider’s security standards.

Prevention of mortgage fraud

If we are acting for your proposed lender in a property transaction, we have a duty to fully reveal to your lender all relevant facts about the transaction. This includes any differences between your mortgage application and the information we receive during the transaction or any cash back payments or discount schemes that are relevant to the transaction.

Duties to the court

If your matter is one which involves, or may involve, Court proceedings you should be aware that all Solicitors have a professional duty to uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice. We must comply with our duties to the Court, even where this conflicts with our obligations to you.

Concerns and complaints

Our aim is to offer all our clients an effective service at all times. We hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However, should there be any aspect of our service or our charges with which you are unhappy, please raise your concern in the first place with Gemma Wilkinson. If you still have queries or concerns, please contact Gemma Wilkinson, who is our Head of Legal Compliance.

Your concern should be made in writing to her at Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Durham DH1 5TS or by email to gew@swinburnemaddison.co.uk. If you are unable to put your concern in writing, please telephone her at 0191 384 2441.

A copy of our complaints procedure is available upon request. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case or matter.

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently, and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
• no more than one year from the date of the act/omission you are concerned about; or
• no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman by:

• Wisiting www.legalombudsman.org.uk
• Calling 0300 555 0333 between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm
• Emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Writing to Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

The SRA can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristics. Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the SRA at www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.

Confidentiality

We will keep your information confidential unless:

• you consent to the disclosure of that information;
• disclosure of the information is required or permitted by law or regulatory requirements that apply to us; or
• these Terms and Conditions state otherwise.

Unless you instruct us otherwise, we may contact you or others by e-mail. We deploy a range of information security measures, but we cannot guarantee the security of information or documents sent by e-mail.

If you do not wish to receive communication information by e-mail, please let us know.

Sometimes, we ask other companies or people to provide expert legal advice to support the advice we provide to you. We may also ask other companies or people to provide specific business and compliance support, e.g. cloud-based IT services.

We ensure all outsourcing providers operate under service agreements that are consistent with our legal and professional obligations, including confidentiality. For information on outsourcing concerning your personal data, see the attached Privacy Policy.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text, telephone or post) about legal developments that may be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services. You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• writing to Gemma Wilkinson at Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Aykley Heads, Durham DH1 5TS or sending an email to her at gemma.wilkinson@swinburnemaddison.co.uk; or
• using the “unsubscribe” link in emails.

External auditing, due diligence and awards submissions

External firms or organisations such as the Information Commissioner’s Office or Lexcel auditors and the SRA may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice from time to time. They may wish to audit or quality check your file and related papers for this purpose. It is a specific requirement imposed by us that these external firms or organisations fully maintain confidentiality with any files and papers which are audited or quality checked.

Your files may also be reviewed in a due diligence exercise relating to the sale or transfer of all or part of our business, the acquisition of another business by us or the acquisition of a new business. If you do not wish your file to be used in this way, please let us know as soon as possible.

For information on external auditing and due diligence about your personal data, see the attached Privacy Policy.

We may release examples of our work to third parties for awards submissions or accreditations. Any information released will be anonymised or marked as “strictly private and confidential”. If you object to this, please contact Gemma Wilkinson at Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Durham DH1 5TS.

Regulated services

Swinburne Maddison LLP is authorised and regulated by the SRA, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN. The SRA is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society of England and Wales, our professional body.

This means that we are governed by a Code of Conduct and other professional rules, which you can access on the SRA’s website, www.sra.org.uk or by calling 0370 606 2555.

Our liability to you

Your contract is solely with Swinburne Maddison LLP, which has sole legal liability for the work done for you and for any act or omission in the course of that work. No representative, member, officer, employee, agent or consultant of Swinburne Maddison LLP will have any personal legal liability for any loss or claim.

Unless explicitly agreed otherwise, in writing:

• We do not owe, nor do we accept, any duty to any person other than you; and
• We do not accept any liability or responsibility for any consequences arising from a reliance upon our advice by any person other than you.

We are not responsible for any failure to advise or comment on matters falling outside the scope of our instructions as set out in our client care letter and these Terms and Conditions.

Our maximum liability to you (or any other party we have agreed may rely on our services) concerning any single matter or any group of connected matters which may be aggregated by our insurers will be £12,000,000, including interests and costs unless we expressly state a different figure in our client care letter.

We will not be liable for any of the following (whether direct or indirect):

• losses not caused by any breach of contract or tort on the part of the firm;
• loss of revenue;
• loss of profit;
• loss of or corruption to data;
• loss of use;
• loss of production;
• loss of contract;
• loss of opportunity;
• loss of savings, discount or rebate (whether actual or anticipated); and
• harm to reputation or loss of goodwill.
• Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall exclude or restrict our liability in respect of:
• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
• any losses caused by wilful misconduct or dishonesty; and
• any other losses which cannot be excluded or limited by applicable law.

Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms above.

We have professional indemnity insurance giving cover for claims against us. Details of this insurance, including contact details of our insurer and the territorial coverage of the policy, can be provided on request.

It is a condition of our professional indemnity insurance that we notify our insurer and/or broker of any circumstances which may give rise to a claim against us. In doing so, we may disclose documents and information to our insurer, broker and insurance advisers on a confidential basis.

Our insurers and brokers are contractually obliged to keep all information we pass to them strictly confidential.

Applicable law

Any dispute or legal issue arising from your retainer with us will be determined by the laws in England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts.

Last updated: September 2025