General terms and conditions for legal assignments with Hallgren & Partners General terms and conditions for legal assignments with Hallgren & Partners 1 § General information regarding the assignment Advokatbyrån Hallgren & Partners’ services are subject to the Code of Professional Conduct for Members of the Swedish Bar Association, these General terms and conditions and the assignment confirmation. For more information regarding the Code of Professional Conduct for Members of the Swedish Bar Association, see advokatsamfundet.se. These General terms and conditions apply to the assignment contract between the client and the Law firm. The scope of the assignment and any special conditions must also be stated in this assignment confirmation which is drawn up by the Law firm when the assignment is taken on. These General terms and conditions apply in the event that the assignment is expanded or new assignments are received from the same client regardless of whether the General terms and conditions are sent to the client or not. These General terms and conditions may be changed by us over time. 2 § Confidentiality The Law firm commits to protecting the information provided by the client in accordance with the Code of Professional Conduct for Members of the Swedish Bar Association. That requirement for confidentiality for the firm’s operations does not apply if the firm has a reporting obligation due to legislation regarding money laundering or terrorist activity. 3 § The assignment’s execution and management The client has access to the collective expertise of all the lawyers in the Law firm via the engaged lawyer. Several lawyers may work on a single assignment, depending on the nature of the assignment. The client will be informed of a change in the lead lawyer, unless it is a question of temporary replacement. The result of the Law firm’s work within the framework of a particular assignment is adapted to the conditions of the specific case and the prevailing legal conditions at the time of the assignment. The client cannot therefore rely on that work being relevant for use in another situation. 4 § Conflict of interest As a result of the Code of Professional Conduct for Members of the Swedish Bar Association, Advokatbyrån Hallgren & Partners may be prevented from representing the client in a particular case if there is a conflict of interest in relation to another client. Therefore, before accepting an assignment the Law firm undertakes a check on conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest may also occur during an ongoing assignment because of later developing circumstances. If a conflict of interest arises, the Law firm is obliged to treat its clients in accordance with the applicable aspects of the code of conduct. 5 § Intellectual property rights The Law firm owns all intellectual property rights resulting from the Law firm’s work. Unless otherwise indicated by the purpose or other special agreement, the client may not share the results of the Law firm’s work or use the result for marketing purposes. 6 § Fees and invoicing Payment for legal assignments is made, partly as fees for work carried out, partly as remuneration for costs and outgoings. Payment is made against a running account. The fee must correspond with good legal practice and be calculated using several factors such as the type of assignment and difficulty, scope and significance, the time spent on the assignment, the experience, skill and urgency that the assignment required and the result of the work. The relevant hourly rate is stated in the assignment confirmation. The Law firm’s services are subject to Value Added Tax. Fees, costs and outgoings may be debited regularly through part invoicing or invoicing to account. Ongoing invoicing occurs monthly or over longer time periods. The Law firm can also choose to invoice the fees and other remuneration when the assignment is completed. The Law firm has the right to debit for costs and fees in advance. The advance is conciliated at the end of the assignment and is not deducted from the ongoing invoicing. 7 § Payment and client’s funds Late payment interest will be charged on invoiced amounts that are not paid in time according to interest regulations from the day 30 days after the invoice date. If an invoice is not paid in time the Law firm has the right to stop further work for the client or withdraw from the assignment. Client funds that are entrusted to the Law firm are administered under Swedish Bar Association regulations, which means that the funds are held in a separate client funds account. 8 § Court costs The losing party in a court process can be required to pay part or all of the counter party’s court costs. Regardless of whether the client is the winning or losing party, the client remains liable for payment of fees and outgoings to the Law firm. The client is further liable for payment of the counter party’s court costs if such a requirement is made of the client. 9 § Legal protection and legal aid If the client has legal protection insurance the client can in some circumstances and to a certain degree receive remuneration for their legal costs from insurance. The right to legal protection insurance is usually limited in some way, for example by a charge excess and a cost ceiling and certain hourly rates, which means that the legal protection insurance does not cover all the costs. The most important conditions of the insurance are often given when the insurance company confirms the insurance in writing. For complete information about the insurance conditions the client must check the terms of the insurance agreement. The Law firm has the right to receive fees and other remuneration from the client according to the normal principles for establishing fees even if legal protection insurance or equivalent is used. The Law firm is not bound by remuneration norms that apply for the insurance and the client is also liable for payment for invoice amounts that exceed insurance remuneration. Independent of legal protection insurance the Law firm may invoice remuneration for the assignment on an ongoing basis. In certain cases, the client, engaging the Law firm as a private person, has the right to Legal aid. The right to Legal aid is determined based on, among other things, annual income and is determined by the court or National Legal Aid Authority. If Legal aid is requested, special conditions apply for charging of fees. Legal aid never covers the remuneration requirement for the counter-party’s costs. Clients who wish to use legal protection insurance or Legal aid must inform the Law firm of this when the assignment is lodged. 10 § External assignments If the Law firm and the client agree, the Law firm may engage external consultants, for example technical experts for property disputes, to carry out parts of the assignment. Such external consultants are independent of the Law firm and the Law firm is not responsible for the consultant’s execution of the assignment. The client is liable for payment of the external consultant’s fees and outgoings, regardless of whether the Law firm is paying the fees as a cost at the client’s expense. 11 § Electronic processing and information according to the applicable data protection legislation Advokatbyrån Hallgren & Partners uses effective communication media for contact with clients, counter-parties, authorities, courts and other players. Information in the case may therefore be sent electronically. The client receives information about how the client’s personal data is processed by the Law firm in conjunction with the assignment contract being signed. Information about processing personal data can also be found here. 12 § The Law firm’s liability under the Act on Measures against Money Laundering According to the Act on Measures against Money Laundering and the Financing of terrorism (2009:62) the Law firm has four obligations. The Law firm must 1) identify the client 2) inspect transactions that can reasonably be assumed to be or indicate money laundering 3) report suspected cases of money laundering to the Financial crime section of the Police and 4) in certain cases submit information to the Financial crime section of the Police without prior reporting. In addition to that, a message ban applies, which means that neither the client or anyone else may be informed that a money laundering inspection has occurred, that a report has been submitted or that a police investigation is under way. The Law firm may therefore, in conjunction with an assignment agreement, request that the client provides the Law firm with identity documents regarding the client and the clients company and/or any other persons who are involved in the assignment on the client’s behalf. 13 § Documents During the assignment the Law firm will store documents and work results that the Law firm, the client or a third party have produced. This storage may also be in electronic form. After conclusion of the assignment, the Law firm will store or archive all relevant documents and all relevant work results that have been generated within the assignment, in paper form and electronic form. This archive period will be at least as long as the time set by the Swedish Bar Association. After the conclusion of the assignment the Law firm will return the original documents that have been received within the framework of the assignment. If the Law firm has good reason copies of the original documents will be retained. 14 § Liability The Law firm is only liable for damage suffered by the client if the injury results from a fault or negligence in the execution of the assignment. The liability is restricted to that damage that is covered by the liability insurance held by the Law firm and must never exceed the insurance amount held at the time of the claim. 15 § Resignation and termination The Law firm has the right and responsibility to resign from legal assignments in those instances permitted by applicable law and the Code of Conduct of the Swedish Bar Association. The Law firm has the right to resign from the assignment if the client, despite reminders, has not paid the requested advance, an overdue invoice, becomes insolvent or does not provide us with the information required to fulfil the assignment. In the event of termination by the client or resignation by the Law firm, the client is obliged to pay for the work carried out and for the costs that the Law firm has incurred up to and including the date of the assignment’s conclusion. 16 § Disputes Disputes arising out of the assignment must be resolved by the general court. Clients who engage the Law firm as private individuals and who are dissatisfied with the service provided by the Law firm, must contact the Law firm to attempt to reach a solution by agreement If it is not possible to reach a solution by agreement the client may apply to the Swedish Bar Association’s Consumer Disputes Committee to have the case tried. The Swedish Bar Association’s Consumer Disputes Committee can be reached here or at Konsumenttvistnämnden, Sveriges Advokatsamfund, Box 27321, SE-102 54 Stockholm.