Legal and privacy notices
Terms of Use
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, REMEDIES AND OBLIGATIONS.
Introduction
The LegalAde website (Website) is provided by Epoq Legal Ltd (ELL), company number 3707955, whose registered office is at 2 Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JN. ELL is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 645296).
Our VAT number is GB247994645.
These terms of use form part of the conditions (Conditions) that govern your use of the Website, and the services provided or offered to users of the Website (Services).
Our notice of ownership of intellectual property rights (Intellectual Property Rights Notice) as detailed on the Website forms a part of the Conditions. It is important that you read and understand the Conditions before you start to use the Website. You can print and keep a copy for your reference.
Reference to our, us and we on the Website is a reference to ELL.
Reference to you on the Website means the individual or business that has registered to use the Services.
By using the Website, you indicate that you accept the Conditions and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to the Conditions, please refrain from using the Website.
Privacy Notice
We respect your privacy and permit you to control the treatment of your personal information. Please refer to the Privacy Notice on the Website for information about how we collect and deal with your personal information when you use the Website.
Licence
We grant to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited licence only to use the Website, and the Services, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Conditions. In particular: (1) the Services available on the Website for consumers are for use by you only in connection with your direct personal legal needs or for use by you in connection with the direct personal legal needs of a Household Member. A Household Member means an adult living, otherwise than on a basis that is intended to be temporary, under the same roof as you; or (2) the Services available on the Website for businesses are for use by you and your authorised personnel only in connection with your direct business legal needs. You may not use or exploit the Website, or any of the Services, for any professional or commercial purpose (including use of the Document Preparation Service to create legal forms or documents for resale). All rights not expressly granted to you in the Conditions are reserved by us and, if applicable, our licensors.
Legal capacity
You represent and warrant that you possess the legal right, capacity and ability to agree to the Conditions and use the Website in accordance with them. Individuals using the Website (whether on their own behalf or on behalf of a business) represent and warrant that they are at least 18 years old. Authorised personnel using the Website on behalf of a business represent and warrant that they have the ability to agree to the Conditions on behalf of that business.
Minors are not eligible to use the Website and we ask that they do not submit any personal information to us.
Website limitations
We do not in any way recommend that the products and services available on the Website are suitable for you in your particular circumstances.
Reasonable efforts will be made to keep the Website available for use and functioning efficiently and reliably; however, we cannot guarantee any minimum levels regarding the performance, speed, reliability, availability, use or consistency of the Website because the Website depends on the internet, including networks, cabling, facilities and equipment that are not within our control. We will not be liable for any damage or loss suffered as a result of any interruption in the availability of the Website or reduction in performance levels.
Due to the nature of the internet and the possibility of third-party interference, the Website is not guaranteed to be free of all viruses and technical defects of any description or any forms of computer misuse. We will not be liable for any damage or loss caused by such third-party interference as a result of your use of the Website. You acknowledge that you are responsible for taking back up copies of your data and taking appropriate precautions to protect your computer systems against technical defects, viruses or computer misuse. In particular, without limitation, we will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Website or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.
Non-legal Website content
We may change the non-legal content on the Website at any time. Any of the non-legal content on the Website may be out of date at any given time and we are under no obligation to update such material. The non-legal content displayed on the Website is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy.
Website use
You warrant to us that you will not use the Website for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by the Conditions, and any other notices appearing on the Website.
Without limitation, you must not, directly or indirectly:
- misuse the Website by knowingly introducing viruses, Trojans, worms, logic bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, Adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware;
- attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which the Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Website or disable or circumvent any access control or related process or procedure established with respect to the Website;
- scan or probe another computer system, obstruct or bypass computer identification procedures or engage in unauthorised computer or network trespass without the express permission of the owners of such computer systems;
- forge headers or otherwise manipulate any protocols or identifiers used in any system or protocol in such a manner to disguise the origin of any data transmitted using the Website;
- impersonate or falsely represent your association with any person, including a representative of ours;
- disrupt or threaten the integrity, operation or security of any website, any computer or any internet system;
- extract, gather, collect, or store personal information about others without their express consent;
- attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack;
- use the Website in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation, or which is in any way unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect; or
- use the Website to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
Website access arrangements and security
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you and (if applicable) your authorised personnel to have access to the Website. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Website through your internet connection are aware of the Conditions, and that they comply with them.
You are responsible for the security of any usernames, passwords or access codes that are required for you and (if applicable) your authorised personnel to access the Services and for ensuring that they are not misused. You must treat such information as confidential and you must not disclose it to any third party (or, if you are a business, to anyone other than an authorised person within your business). If you are a business, you must ensure that your authorised personnel do likewise. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your access information and to provide assistance to us, as requested, to stop or remedy any breach of security related to your access information.
We shall not be liable for any losses you incur as a result of an unauthorised person's use of your access information, either with or without your knowledge. You may be held liable for any losses incurred by us, our affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents and representatives due to someone else's use of your access information.
On no account should access information be used for gain - for example, by selling access to others to our services.
You may not use a third party's access information at any time.
You agree to provide true, current, accurate and complete customer and (if you are a business) user information as requested by us from time to time and you agree to promptly notify us of any changes to this information as required to keep such information held by us current, complete and accurate.
Our Remedies
Without limiting any of our other rights, we may suspend, restrict or terminate your use of the Website and disable your access information without notice if, in our sole and absolute discretion, we determine or believe that you have failed to comply with any of the Conditions.
We will have no responsibility to notify any third party, including any third-party providers of services, merchandise or information, of any suspension, restriction or termination of your access to the Website.
Third party websites
If there are links from the Website to other websites operated by third parties, these are provided as a convenience only and we do not guarantee you will be able to access those other websites via any link on the Website. We are not responsible for and do not endorse or accept any responsibility for the availability, contents, products, services or use of any third-party websites or any changes or updates to such sites. We make no guarantees about the content or quality of the products or services provided by such sites, nor do we accept any responsibility for any damage or loss you may suffer as a result of your use of any third-party websites. You acknowledge that you bear all risks associated with access to and use of content provided on a third-party website.
You may not establish a link to this Website from any other website without our prior written consent.
Website access facility
We have a facility that enables us to access your user account, or any documents you have created or started, and perform actions as if we were you. We will only ever use that facility when it is necessary in order to action a support request that you have made to us, whether by email or by telephone. You consent to us using this facility in this way when you accept the Conditions. By accepting the Conditions, you also agree to comply with the instructions we may give you to ensure that the use of this facility is effective. For the avoidance of doubt, we shall not ever, unless you are on a telephone call with us at the time and specifically provide your consent, use this facility to accept any contractual terms or other legal acknowledgements, or to make any payments, on your behalf.
The Services
The services that may be available are detailed below and comprise a legal information guide (Law Guide); a document preparation service (Document Preparation Service); a document review service (Document Review Service) and a legal advice helpline (Helpline).
You may not have full access to all of these services. Therefore, reference in the Conditions to the provision to you of these services is only to the service or services to the extent to which you do have access.
The Law Guide
The information contained in the Law Guide is provided by us. It provides general legal information only and should not be understood as providing legal advice to be applied to a specific situation.
Although every effort is made to ensure that the Law Guide is accurate and reflects the law at the time of use, it may or may not reflect very recent events or changes in the law. We will endeavour to place a guidance note on the Law Guide to indicate where a change in law has taken place affecting information contained in the Law Guide and we will endeavour to update that information within six weeks of the change in law. However, we do not promise, warrant, or guarantee that the Law Guide is correct, complete, or up-to-date. We are not responsible for any errors or omissions in the information provided in the Law Guide. Further, we cannot be held responsible for any action taken or not taken by you as a result, direct or otherwise, of information contained in or accessed through the Law Guide. Before you act or rely on the Law Guide, you should take specific legal advice from a licensed legal practitioner.
Document Preparation Service
The Document Preparation Service does not provide legal advice nor does it represent a legal service; it is an automated software solution provided to persons who choose to prepare their own legal documents. It is designed to collect relevant information and data to assist you in preparing a legal document (Document) online from a document template.
When using the Document Preparation Service, you will be asked a series of questions by a document assembly and drafting system (System). The answers you give will dictate the content of the Document produced automatically by the System from the document template. You alone are responsible for ensuring the answers or any information that you give are correct. You should make sure that all information supplied, including the identity of any parties or signatories, their age and capacity, is accurate. Since it is automated, the System can only use the answers which you supply, to produce your Document. You must carefully check that the Document produced, fully reflects your wishes. If it does not, you should not sign it.
All Documents should be used in conjunction with proper advice as to their suitability for your particular requirements and circumstances. We cannot be responsible if you use a Document, or alter or amend it, without seeking proper advice.
We disclaim all liability for actions taken or not taken based on a Document.
It is your responsibility to ensure that any Document is properly signed.
The document templates available on this Website from which Documents can be created by you using the System have been prepared by us. Please note that these document templates have been prepared to produce Documents that comply with the law of a particular jurisdiction only, as is clearly indicated on every document template or on the Website. A reference in the Conditions to the chosen jurisdiction is a reference to the jurisdiction chosen by you when selecting a template and/or while using the System to create a Document from a template.
If any person or entity that is to sign a Document is outside the chosen jurisdiction, it is your responsibility to ensure that any Document is properly signed in accordance with the requirements of that jurisdiction where those requirements prevail.
Documents are prepared for use in accordance with the law of the chosen jurisdiction. You should not use them in any other jurisdiction, or if property the Document deals with is outside the chosen jurisdiction.
Where we assume responsibility for sending the Document to you once it has been completed, please note the following. In some cases, you may have selected a product that includes a document that is for use by another person. All such documents will, however, be sent to you once completed. Whenever you have selected a product that includes a document that is for use by a third party, you confirm that you are authorised by the third party to receive their document on their behalf.
We recommend that before reusing a Document you check the Website to ensure that it was created from the latest version of the relevant template. If we have replaced the template with a revised version, we recommend that you obtain the latest version.
Documents that you have completed online using any Try Before You Buy service offered on the Website (Trial Documents) will be stored online for a minimum period of two years; other Documents completed online will be stored online for a minimum period of six years. After these periods you may not be able to obtain online access to your Documents or Trial Documents, and they may be deleted. We reserve the right to levy a reasonable recovery charge in respect of any Documents or Trial Documents that are capable of being recovered. If you have not logged in to the Website for a period of 12 months or more, then we reserve the right to store your Documents or Trial Documents offline and levy a reasonable recovery charge for you to access them again.
We will not have any responsibility for the following:
- verifying your authority or capacity to create a Document, or your answers or any information given by you when using the Document Preparation Service, or whether you (or any other person) were subject to undue influence when using the Document Preparation Service;
- proofreading data you have input for typographical errors;
- any alterations made by you or on your behalf to a Document once it has been made available to you;
- supervising or checking the due and proper signing of any Document;
- any use of a Document or signing of a Document by a person or entity outside of the chosen jurisdiction;
- any adverse consequences if you use any Document without taking appropriate legal advice as to its suitability for your particular circumstances; or
- undertaking any future review of any document or for providing any ongoing advice, legal or otherwise, as to the continued effectiveness for legal, taxation or any other purpose of any Document.
Where the Document is a will:
There is no obligation or duty to supervise its signing.
Also, with respect to a will, we have no responsibility and will accept no liability for verifying:
- the identity of the testator;
- that the testator is of sufficient age;
- the testamentary and/or mental capacity of the testator;
- whether the testator knew, understood and approved the contents of their will; or
- whether there were or might be any actual or potential third-party beneficiary or beneficiaries who might have a claim in law against the estate.
We do not assume any responsibility nor will we accept liability for failing to provide later advice on the terms of any will prepared using the Document Preparation Service should future taxation changes or any other changes in the law render their terms inappropriate. The responsibility for future reviews of the terms of your will rests with you.
Where the document is a power of attorney:
We have no responsibility and will accept no liability for verifying the capacity of the donor.
Document packs
A document pack consists of access to a range of Documents that may be created using the Document Preparation Service. The details of what is included in the pack will be outlined on the Website.
Document Review Service
The document templates may be available with Document review. This means that once you have drafted a Document using the Document Preparation Service, you are given the opportunity to send it to us electronically using the Website for review.
When you submit a Document for review, we may telephone you or email you to clarify your requirements.
The Document review is performed by us only as part of a Limited Engagement.
You will be provided with a separate, written engagement letter setting out the terms of the Limited Engagement.
We will exercise all due skill and care when carrying out a Document review in accordance with the Limited Engagement terms. We will perform our work as quickly as is reasonably possible, but shall not be liable in respect of any failure to meet any specified deadline or completion date.
A Limited Engagement is so called because there are limitations on the work that will be done, as follows:
What work will be done
The scope of the work that will be done by us is:
- to indicate to you whether or not we are satisfied, based on the answers that you gave the System, that the Document created by you is effective, so far as has been disclosed, to meet your requirements and suitable for your circumstances; and
- if necessary, to amend the Document to ensure that it is suitable for your disclosed requirements and circumstances.
To that intent, we shall:
- review the answers you gave the System;
- review the Document; and
- engage in reasonable correspondence and/or communications with you that is relevant to our work under the Document Review Service or that is required to clarify your requirements or to resolve ambiguities in information provided by you that is material to the performance of the Document Review Service. Subject to the fair use policy (see below), we will endeavour to respond to your correspondence and communications as fast as we can, but do not guarantee any particular response time.
What we will not do
We will not have responsibility for, and exclude liability for:
- undertaking any investigation of your particular circumstances beyond those that you disclosed in the answers that you gave the System, or that you conveyed via subsequent communications;
- the provision of legal advice about the suitability of the Document to your particular circumstances save to the extent that they are disclosed by the answers that you gave the System and/or in any subsequent communications;
- verifying your answers or any information given by you when using the Document Preparation Service;
- proofreading data you have input for typographical errors;
- any alterations made by you or on your behalf to a Document after it has been approved by us, unless such alteration is approved by us;
- supervising or checking the due and proper signing of any Document;
- any use of or signing of a Document by a person or entity outside of the jurisdiction in which they operate;
- any adverse consequences if you use any Document without taking appropriate legal advice as to its suitability for your particular circumstances from us; or
- undertaking any future review of any Document or for providing any ongoing advice, legal or otherwise, as to the continued effectiveness for legal, taxation or any other purpose of any Document.
Work outside the scope of the Limited Engagement
On first receiving a Document and each time that you provide additional information or make a new request with respect to that Document, we will assess, in good faith, if it will be practical or appropriate for us to provide, or continue our work under, the Limited Engagement, or if any work you want us to do, or request you have made, falls within the scope of the Limited Engagement. If the result of any such assessment is that we consider it appropriate to take any of the steps referred to in the fair use policy below, we will, if possible, consider and discuss with you if and how we might perform a modified Document Review Service with respect to the Document if you change or limit your requirements or requests. If this is not possible, or if you do not agree, we will discuss with you your options.
Fair use restrictions applicable to the Document Review Service
We will aim to complete a Limited Engagement quickly and efficiently. We expect that in most cases the work that we undertake as part of a Limited Engagement will take no more than one hour in total. We reserve the right to manage a Limited Engagement to ensure that, so far as possible, that expectation is fulfilled.
What this means in practice is as follows:
- We will expect that correspondence and communications between you and us will take place by email or by telephone. We are not able to offer face-to-face interviews.
- We may limit the extent to which we engage in communications with you or to which we respond to correspondence from you if we reasonably consider, and have explained to you, that to do so would be incompatible with the efficient conduct of a Limited Engagement.
- You may provide us with additional information about your requirements and circumstances beyond that revealed by the answers that you gave the System, but we reserve the right to terminate a Limited Engagement at any time if, by reason of the volume and/or complexity of that additional information, we reasonably consider, and have explained to you, that it is impractical or inappropriate to continue to work on the Document on the basis of that Limited Engagement.
- We may decline to deal with, as part of a Limited Engagement, any requests, issues or questions made or raised by you if they are not essential to our work on the Document.
Helpline
The Helpline is provided by us during normal business hours (9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays in England).
Outside of normal business hours, the Helpline is provided by Irwin Mitchell LLP. Irwin Mitchell LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales with number OC343897. Its registered office and principal place of business is at Riverside East, 2 Millsands, Sheffield, S3 8DT. Irwin Mitchell LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Their SRA number is 570654.
You will be provided with a separate, written engagement letter setting out the terms of the Helpline where it is provided by us. Other Helpline providers may make their own arrangements with you; we are not responsible for these; or for the performance of the Helpline service or any advice given by another Helpline provider.
The following terms and conditions apply to the Helpline.
All advice is given in good faith and is based upon the information supplied by you during the call. The Helpline provider cannot be held liable for any loss suffered if inaccurate or incomplete information is given. The Helpline provider may ask questions to elicit information to assist them in answering your questions, but they are not obliged to do so and a failure by them to ask questions that may have altered their advice will not incur any liability on their part.
Advice is provided solely by telephone and will not be provided in writing. The Helpline provider will not enter into correspondence with you.
Advice given is specific to the individual issue being discussed and is not intended to be applied to other situations. If you do so then it is at your own risk.
The Helpline does not include:
- drafting or amendment of documents or clauses;
- preparation of letters; or
- advising, supporting or representing you in any further way.
A Helpline call will be discontinued immediately if you are rude or abusive, and your future access to the Helpline may be withdrawn
You must not facilitate the use of the Helpline by unauthorised persons. If you do, your access to the Helpline may be withdrawn.
Fair use restrictions applicable to the Helpline
Your use of the Helpline is subject to fair use in line with its intended purpose. As a guideline, any question asked on the Helpline should be answerable within approximately 20 minutes.
The Helpline provider shall have no obligation to provide advice to you through the Helpline if, in their absolute discretion, a question being asked by you is outside the scope of the service or if it is inappropriate to deal with your question through the Helpline (for example, if it is a complex issue that requires a face-to-face meeting or if you need written advice or a document drafted).
In this event, the Helpline provider will inform you immediately during the call and discuss your options with you.
If, in the Helpline provider's absolute discretion, they consider that you have made, or are making, inappropriate or excessive use of the Helpline, your access to it may be restricted or suspended (either for a fixed period or indefinitely), or conditions may be imposed upon your access to it, which may include a condition of payment or an additional charge.
You will be notified before any such action is taken.
Lawyer/client relationships
A lawyer/client relationship may only be established between you and us with respect to the Document Review Service or (where we are the Helpline provider) the Helpline.
A lawyer/client relationship will only be established between you and us in relation to the above services by your express or implied acceptance of our engagement letter and our confirmation of our agreement to act for you after conflict checking and other verification processes have been completed.
A lawyer/client relationship will not be established at any time between us and a Household Member.
Whether, and the circumstances in which, a lawyer/client relationship is established between another Helpline provider and you is a matter between them and you; we have no involvement in, or responsibility for, that.
No lawyer/client relationship is established by use of the Law Guide; the Document Preparation Service; or any other use of the Website.
The Law Guide provides general legal information only. The Document Preparation Service provides an automated software solution to persons who choose to prepare their own legal documents.
The law is a personal matter, and no general information or automated solution of the sort that we provide can fit every circumstance. Because of this, except in the circumstances where a lawyer/client relationship is established with us, we cannot, and do not, provide legal advice, opinions or recommendations about your legal rights, remedies, defences, options, or strategies, or apply the law to the facts of your particular situation. Nor, when you use the Document Preparation Service (except as part of the Document Review Service), can we provide you with any legal advice about which template to select, whether a template is appropriate for your situation, draw legal conclusions from your answers or review your answers for legal sufficiency.
Therefore, where no lawyer/client relationship is established with us, if you need legal advice for your specific problem, or if your specific problem is too complex to be addressed by our automated solution, you should consult a licensed legal practitioner.
Scope of regulation
Only some of the work we perform will be regulated by the SRA. All work performed by us where a lawyer/client relationship is established with us will be regulated by the SRA, but our other, non-legal activities will not be. For example, the provision by us of the Law Guide or Document Preparation Service will not be regulated by the SRA. However, this will not affect how we must deal with any complaint you make about any service provided by us or your right to take that complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
Intellectual property
Use of the Website and the content on the Website and the Services is subject to the Intellectual Property Rights Notice on the Website.
Liability limitations
We exclude all liability to Household Members.
The following provisions set out our entire financial liability (including any liability for the acts or omissions of our employees, agents and sub-contractors) to you, howsoever arising (except where and to the extent that there is a lawyer/client relationship between us), in respect of:
- any breach of the Conditions;
- your use of the Website or any software accessed through the Website;
- your use of the Services; or
- any representation, statement or tortious act or omission (including without limitation negligence) arising under or in connection with the Conditions, the Website or the Services.
Except as expressly and specifically provided in the Conditions, all warranties, conditions and other terms implied by statute or common law are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, excluded from the Conditions.
Nothing in the Conditions shall exclude or limit:
- liability arising from death or injury to persons caused by negligence;
- liability arising as a result of fraud or gross negligence to which no limit applies; or
- any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
We shall not be liable for:
- any loss for which liability is disclaimed elsewhere in the Conditions;
- loss of profits;
- loss of business;
- depletion of goodwill or similar losses;
- loss of anticipated savings;
- loss of goods;
- loss of use;
- loss or corruption of data or information;
- any special, indirect, consequential or pure economic loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses.
If we are held liable to you for any loss or damage, such liability shall in all cases be limited to the payment of an amount not exceeding £50,000, including costs and expenses in respect of any one claim. For the avoidance of doubt, a claim shall be defined as a claim or a series of claims (whether by one or more claimant) arising from, or in connection with, or attributable to, any one act, error, omission or originating cause or source or the dishonesty of any person or group of persons acting together, and any such series of claims shall be deemed to be one claim for all purposes under this clause.
Modifications
From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts, or all, of the Website.
We reserve the right to change the terms, conditions, and disclaimers under which the Website or any Service is offered. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are binding on you.
This right shall not affect the then existing terms and conditions accepted by you when using the Website or accessing a Service on a previous occasion.
These terms and conditions shall not affect your statutory rights as a consumer (where applicable).
Waiver of rights and remedies
Our failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of the Conditions will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between you and us nor trade practice will act to modify any provision of the Conditions. Our rights, powers and remedies in the Conditions, including without limitation the right to suspend, restrict or terminate any use of the Website, are cumulative and in addition to and not in substitution for any right, power or remedy that may be available to us at law or in equity.
Severability
If any provision of the Conditions is determined to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, such invalidity or unenforceability will attach only to such provision or part thereof and the remaining part of such provision and all other provisions hereof will continue in full force and effect.
Assignment
We may at any time assign our rights or sub-contract our obligations under the Conditions, in whole or in part, without notice to you.
Force majeure
Neither of us will be responsible for a failure to fulfil our obligations under the Conditions or for delay in doing so if such failure or delay is due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, such as acts of nature, acts of government, war, riots, strikes and accidents in transportation, but excluding a lack of financing, cash or credit.
Entire agreement
The Conditions, as amended from time to time, including any and all documents, websites, rules, terms and policies referenced herein constitute the entire agreement between us and you with respect to the matters referred to in the Conditions and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings, whether electronic, oral or written, between us and you with respect to such matters.
English language
The Conditions (and all communications) are in English.
Governing law
The Conditions shall be governed by, and will be construed in accordance with, English Law, and the English courts shall have jurisdiction in any legal proceedings. We retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of the Conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country.Contact us
If you have any questions about the Conditions, please contact us at support@legalade.co.uk. We are committed to providing quality services and products. However, in the event that you have a complaint in relation to services or products available from the Website, please follow the Complaints Procedure.
Your agreement
Your use, or use by authorised personnel on your behalf, of the Website or any Service signifies your consent and agreement to the Conditions.
Updated: 24/03/2022
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Privacy Notice
INTRODUCTION
This is Epoq Legal Ltd's privacy notice.
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will tell you how we look after your personal data when you visit this website (wherever you visit it from), or someone visits it for you, and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
This privacy notice is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. You can also download a pdf version of the notice here.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE
- Who this privacy notice affects
-
This privacy notice affects:
- our registered customers; i.e. those that have created an account to use those products and services offered on our website that are only available to account holders; and
- visitors to our website to the much more limited extent that personal data about such visitors is collected automatically as a result of their interaction with our website.
- This privacy notice also applies to the following. For some services, we treat non-account holders as customers (deemed customers) even though they have not registered as such. This will only be the case where a registered customer purchases a mirror wills template or paired wills templates and one of the wills created from that template or those templates relates to a non-account holder. In these circumstances, that non-account holder will be a deemed customer. In relation to a deemed customer, any reference in this privacy notice to you completing a legal document template or entering information to complete a legal document template includes a registered customer performing these acts for a deemed customer.
- This privacy notice does not, however, apply in the following circumstances. We have developed technology (Online by Invitation), that allows you to share a document that you have created with a third party (Invitee) online for collaboration purposes. If this technology is offered on this website, this privacy notice does not apply to any information collected about your Invitee, which shall be considered to be your personal data. Any reference, therefore, in this privacy notice to you or your personal data shall concern only registered customers, deemed customers and (to a limited extent) visitors.
- Purpose of this privacy notice
- This privacy notice gives you information about how Epoq Legal Ltd collects and deals with your personal data when you use this website. In this privacy notice, we use the word process to cover all the different ways in which we handle your personal data, such as collection, use, storage and transfer.
- This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
- It is important that you read this privacy notice, as well as any other privacy notice we may give you on specific occasions when we are processing personal data about you, so you know how and why we are using your personal data.
- Controller
- Epoq Legal Ltd (referred to as we, our, us in this privacy notice) is the controller. In other words, we decide when, why and how to process your personal data and we are responsible for looking after it and protecting your rights.
- We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager using the details set out below.
- Contact details
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Our full details are:
Full name of legal entity: Epoq Legal Ltd
Data privacy manager: dataprivacy@epoq.co.uk
Postal address: 2 Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JN - You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us first.
- Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes
- This version was last updated on 18 July 2019.
- It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please tell us if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
- Third-party links
- This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third parties and are not responsible for how they deal with your personal data, so we encourage you to read their privacy notices before allowing them to process your personal data.
THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
- Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
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We may process different kinds of personal data about you (including information about your Invitees) which we have grouped together as follows:
- Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone numbers.
- Identity Data includes name(s), date of birth and gender.
- Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
- Profile Data includes, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
- Service Data includes your username and password, security questions, and identifiers and metadata specific to you.
- Support Data includes information passing between you and support teams in connection with the provision of services you have requested.
- Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
- Template Data includes information you enter when completing our automated legal document templates.
- Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, your session activity, and how you use our products and services.
- We collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
- When you complete some of our automated legal document templates, you may have to, or choose to, provide Special Categories of Personal Data about yourself in order to complete your document fully. Special Categories of Personal Data include details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data. For example, when you use one of our templates to make a will, you will be asked about your capacity to sign.In these cases, you will be asked to consent to us processing this kind of information about you (for the purpose only of creating your document) before being asked to provide it. If you do not give your consent when necessary, you may not be able to complete your document. Otherwise, we do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you. Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
- If you fail to provide personal data
- Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with products or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
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We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
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Direct interactions.You may give us your personal data by filling in forms on this website; by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise; or when entering information to create a legal document. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- create an account on our website;
- use our products or services;
- request marketing or our publications to be sent to you;
- enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
- give us some feedback.
- Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns and Usage Data about how you use our products and services. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our Cookie notice for further information.
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Third parties. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties or publicly available sources as set out below:
- Technical and Usage Data from analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU.
- Identity and Contact Data from organisations based inside the EU that have facilitated your access to our products and services. This may be because of an existing relationship you have with that organisation; for example, where an employer arranges for its employees to have access to our products and services. Or, it may be the result only of an introduction that you have asked them to make.
- If you are a deemed customer, we may receive Identity and Contact Data, Support Data and Template Data about you from the associated registered customer.
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Direct interactions.You may give us your personal data by filling in forms on this website; by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise; or when entering information to create a legal document. This includes personal data you provide when you:
HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
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We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you. Performance of Contract means processing your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract that we have with you or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Legitimate Interests means our interests in developing our business, products and services; protecting our business; and managing it efficiently. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us
- Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation. Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.
- We may share Template Data that you give to us when completing one of our automated legal document templates with third parties so that they can provide a service or assistance that you have requested. For example, when you create a document on this website, we may offer the facility for you to request that the document be reviewed by a lawyer of your choice. If you request this review service, using the Online by Invitation technology, the lawyer can be given online access to your electronic document file, and the associated questionnaire that you completed, so that the lawyer may undertake the requested review. This technology may be used in other circumstances, but it will only ever be used to share your document with a third party so that the third party can provide a service or assistance that you have requested. We rely on consent as a legal ground for processing your personal data in this way.
- We also rely on consent as a legal ground for processing your personal data in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw your consent to receive such communications at any time. You can do this by editing your preferences yourself from the 'My Account' page of this website or, alternatively, by contacting us.
- Generally, however, we do not rely on consent as a legal ground for processing your personal data except in the circumstances described above.
- Purposes for which we will use your personal data
- We have set out below a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal grounds we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
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Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out below.
Purpose/Activity Legal ground for processing and (where applicable) nature of legitimate interest To create , validate and (if necessary) recover an account for you, we will process Contact Data and Identity Data. Performance of a contract with you To perform checks for conflicts of interest and money laundering (if applicable), we will process Contact Data and Identity Data. Necessary to comply with a legal obligation To provide or perform the product or service you have requested, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data, Service Data, Support Data and Template Data. (1) Performance of a contract with you
(2) Where this involves processing Special Categories of Personal Data, we will obtain your explicit consentTo provide management information (including Contact Data, Identity Data and Usage Data) to any organisation that has facilitated your access to this website Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business and to meet our contractual obligations to that organisation) To share Template Data with third parties at your request using the Online by Invitation functionality Consent To be able to respond to or defend complaints and claims, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data, Support Data, Template Data and Usage Data Necessary for our legitimate interests (to protect our business) To send service communications to you and to tell you about changes to our terms, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data and Service Data Performance of a contract with you To send marketing communications to you by email or text message, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data and Marketing and Communications Data Consent To send legal bulletins to you by email, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data and Marketing and Communications Data Necessary for our legitimate interests (to support our products/services and to grow our business) To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data), we will process Contact Data, Identity Data, Service Data and Technical Data (1) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(2) Necessary to comply with a legal obligationTo identify possible developments and improvements to our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data, Profile Data, Support Data, Technical Data and Usage Data Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and to inform our business development strategy) To make suggestions and recommendations to you about products or services that may be of interest to you, we will process Contact Data, Identity Data, Profile Data, Support Data and Usage Data Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business) To determine whether data entered on this website (e.g. information entered into a contact form) is being provided by a human user or by an automated program, we use Google reCAPTCHA, which processes Technical Data. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to protect this website from spam and abuse (including brute force attacks)) - Marketing to registered customers
- We may use your Contact Data, Identity Data, Profile Data, Support Data and Usage Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
- You may receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased products or services from us or if you provided us with your details when you entered a competition or registered for a promotion and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.
- You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by editing your preferences from the 'My Account' page of this website or by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.
- Marketing to deemed customers and visitors
- We do not market to deemed customers or visitors.
- Third-party marketing
- We do not share your personal data with any outside company for marketing purposes.
- Please see our cookie notice for further information.
DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
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We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above:
- Our service providers based in the UK and the Republic of Ireland who provide IT and system administration services.
- Other service providers based in the UK providing services offered on our website direct to you.
- Some of the personal data that we hold about a deemed customer in the circumstances described in section 3.1(c) (i.e. that which can be viewed or accessed from the associated registered customer's account page) is necessarily shared with the associated registered customer.
- Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
- HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities based in the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
- Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.
- We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
- We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) except, subject to appropriate safeguards, to you or as management information to any organisation that has facilitated your access to this website.
DATA SECURITY
- We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
- We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
DATA RETENTION
- How long will you use my personal data for?
- We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
- To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
- Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.
- In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see below for further information.
- In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
- Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.
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You have the right to:
- Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
- Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
- Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request for erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
- Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
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Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following situations:
- if you want us to establish the data's accuracy;
- where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
- where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
- you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
- Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
- Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
- If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.
- No fee usually required
- You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
- What we may need from you
- We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
- Time limit to respond
- We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
Introduction
The LegalAde website (Website) is provided by Epoq Legal Ltd (ELL), registered in England and Wales, company number 3707955, whose registered office is at Unit 2, Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 1JN. ELL is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 645296).
This notice forms part of the conditions (Conditions) that govern your use of the Website, and the services provided or offered to users of the Website (Services). See also the Terms of use. It is important that you read and understand the Conditions before you start to use the Website. You can print and keep a copy for your reference.
By using the Website, you indicate that you accept the Conditions and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to the Conditions, please refrain from using the Website.
Ownership and control of copyright and intellectual property rights
Content means all document templates, information guides and documents, materials and content, including designs, editorial, text, graphics, audio-visual materials, multimedia elements, photographs, videos, music, sound recordings, reports, software, information, formulae, patterns, data and any other work.
Content accessed or available through the Website may be owned by parties other than you or us (Third-Party Content) and may be protected by applicable copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets or other proprietary rights and laws. Nothing in your use of the Website or in the Conditions grants you any right, title or interest in or to this Third-Party Content except for the limited right to use the Website and the services available on it as set out in the Conditions.
Specifically:
- EPOQ, RAPIDOCS and their associated logos are either registered trade marks or other trade marks, service marks or trade dress of our parent company, Epoq Group Ltd (Company number 4265146), whose registered office is at Unit 2, Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 1JN.
- Rapidocs software and (except as stated below) document templates and the Law Guide are copyright Epoq Group Ltd.
- Some of the Law Guide and document templates offered on the Website include public sector information reproduced under license from various third-party providers.
Except where expressly stated otherwise, all right, title and interest in and to the Website and all Content, source code, processes, designs, technologies, URLs, domain names, marks and logos forming any part of this Website (Our Content) is fully vested in us, our licensors or our suppliers and are protected by applicable copyrights, trade marks, patents, trade secrets or other proprietary rights and laws. You agree that Our Content is licensed subject to the terms of the Conditions, including the disclaimers and limitations of liability herein. Nothing in your use of the Website or in the Conditions grants you any right, title or interest in or to Our Content except the limited right to use the Website as set out in the Conditions.
Your use of Our Content
We grant you permission to view, download, copy and print any of Our Content solely for your personal, informational, non-commercial use provided that any copyright and trade mark notices appearing on such Content are not altered or removed; such Content is not used on any other website and such Content is not modified in any way. This permission terminates automatically without notice if you breach any of the Conditions. On any such termination, you agree to immediately destroy any downloaded or printed Content.
Subject to that, unless otherwise expressly authorised by us in writing, you agree not to:
- deep link, rent, lease, loan, share, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purpose, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right or interest in Our Content;
- distribute, redistribute, create a derivative work of, decompile, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code, of Our Content, to the maximum extent that such prohibition is permitted by applicable law;
- copy, reproduce, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, show or play in public, adapt or change in any way, Our Content or any other part of the Website for any purpose whatsoever in breach of the Conditions;
- use any data mining, robots or similar extraction methods in relation to Our Content;
- remove any proprietary notices or labels on or in Our Content, or
- allow any other person or entity to engage in any of the foregoing.
The reproduction of all trademarks, both registered and unregistered is strictly prohibited. Any application in relation to the licensing of Our Content should be addressed to us at support@epoq.co.uk.
We shall have no responsibility for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from downloading any of Our Content.
Updated 28 March 2019
IPR_2
Complaints procedure
Service provider
The LegalAde website (Website) is provided by Epoq Legal Ltd (ELL), registered in England and Wales, company number 3707955, whose registered office is at Unit 2, Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JN. ELL is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 645296).
Conditions
This complaints procedure forms part of the conditions (Conditions) that govern your use of the Website, and the services provided or offered to users of the Website (Services). See also the Terms of use. It is important that you read and understand the Conditions before you start to use the Website. You can print and keep a copy for your reference.
Reference to our, us and we on the Website is a reference to ELL.
By using the Website, you indicate that you accept the Conditions and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to the Conditions, please refrain from using the Website. Acceptance of the Conditions creates a contract between you and us.
Complaints
We aim to please - but we know that sometimes things go wrong. If you have a problem or complaint we want to know. Most problems can be dealt with by sending an email to support@legalade.co.uk. We will endeavour to investigate your complaint and respond to you as quickly as possible. We undertake to either deal with your complaint, or acknowledge its receipt and confirm the timescales for a full response, within three working days of receipt.
If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint, you may send a further email for the attention of the Chief Executive Officer to support@legalade.co.uk or write to the Chief Executive Officer, Epoq Legal Ltd, Unit 2, Imperial Place, Maxwell Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JN, providing the reasons for your continued dissatisfaction. We will acknowledge receipt of your further email or letter within three working days of its receipt and will again confirm the timescales for the full response. A separate and thorough review of your complaint will be conducted and a full response sent directly to you.
If we fail to respond to your complaint within eight weeks or if, at the conclusion of our complaints process, we are unable to resolve matters to your satisfaction you may have a right to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. If you wish to do so, you must contact the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response or, if we haven't responded within 8 weeks, within 6 months of your last contact with us. Additionally, you must raise your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman within 1 year of the relevant act or omission or, if the act or omission took place more than 1 year ago, 1 year from when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint.
You can contact the Legal Ombudsman as below:
Postal address:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Website:
http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone:
0300 555 0333