Terms of Business

Welcome to Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd (referred to as “we,” “us,” or “our”). Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd is a limited liability company with registered company number SC770036 and its registered office is at Unit 1, 117 Crow Road, Glasgow G11 7SH. By using our services, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following Terms of Business. Please read them carefully.

1. Client Engagement

1.1 Scope of Services: The scope of legal services to be provided will be outlined in our engagement letter. Any additional services will require a separate agreement.

You will be sent our Terms of Business and Terms of Engagement. In the event of you instructing us to take any action or give any advice having received our written engagement terms but not having signed and returned the copy, you will be deemed by instructing us to have accepted our engagement terms and will be bound by them.

1.2 Conflicts of Interest: We will identify and inform you of any conflicts of interest that may arise during the course of our engagement.

2.Our Service

2.1. We will exercise due skill, care and diligence in carrying out legal work in accordance with your instructions. In performing our services, we shall use reasonable care to:

• Represent your interests, and keep your business confidential;
• Explain to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome;
• Explain the likely degree of any financial risk in relation to legal costs which you will be taking;
• Inform you regularly of progress or, if there is none, let you know when you are likely to hear from us;
• Deal promptly with your queries.

2.2 Our role is to provide legal advice. We give advice on the laws of Scotland. We will not provide advice on the commercial or financial wisdom of any matter, or advice on tax matters, unless we have specifically agreed in writing to do so.

2.3 Where we are acting for you in relation to a property transaction, it will not be our responsibility to carry out a physical inspection of the property.  It is your responsibility to inform us of any discrepancies between the documents and plans relating to the transaction and the situation on the ground.  We shall not advise you on the valuation of the property or the suitability of the mortgage or any other financial arrangement.  We shall not advise generally on environmental liabilities and we shall assume, unless you tell us to the contrary, that you are making your own arrangements for any appropriate environmental surveyor investigation.

3.Fees and Billing

3.1 Fee Structure: We will discuss with you at the commencement of your matter how your instructions will be funded and where appropriate how you intend to pay our fees. The basis upon which it has been agreed what we will charge you will be confirmed in writing.

Our fees will be outlined in the engagement letter. Fees may be based on hourly rates, fixed fees, or other agreed-upon arrangements.

3.2 Expenses: You will be responsible for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred on your behalf.

3.3 Billing and Payment: Invoices will be issued at agreed intervals. You must pay our fees as soon as you get our Invoice. You can pay by bank transfer into our bank account direct.

If you do not pay our fees, we have the right to stop or suspend further work on the matter in question and any other work we are doing for you. In these cases, we will not be responsible for any delays or losses which may result from this. If we hold money that belongs to you, we will have the right to take our fees from that money before sending you the balance.

We also have a legal right to hold deeds, documents or any other papers until you pay the fees you owe.

If someone else agrees to pay our fees and then fails to do so, you will have to pay our fees yourself.

4.Confidentiality

We will keep all information relating to your affairs confidential and we will not disclose your confidential information to others.  If we are working in conjunction with other professional advisers instructed by you (either directly or through us), we will assume that we may disclose any relevant aspect of your affairs to them.

You agree we may also disclose confidential information about you and your affairs if –

• Such disclosure is required or permitted by law;
• Such disclosure is authorised by you;
• Such disclosure is permitted by the professional rules applicable to solicitors practising in Scotland;
• We are required to do so by our insurers, solicitors appointed by our insurers, our brokers or other professional advisers;
• Your file is subject to an external quality audit;
• Our work for you requires us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses, other professional advisers and funders;
• Such disclosure is required to ensure compliance with statute and/or regulations laid down by the Law Society of Scotland from time to time.

We will also disclose information about you and your affairs if doing so falls within the scope of our instructions from you, to do so.  In particular, we instruct third party contractors in the course of our work and we use outsource resources in the course of our business.  In these circumstances we shall, if appropriate, obtain an agreement as to confidentiality from such third parties.

Solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency where they know or suspect a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing.  If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made.  We may also require to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.

We have no obligation to disclose to you confidential information about other clients.

If we are required for any reason (whether during the course of a matter, or after it has ended) to disclose documents or to give information relating to a matter or your affairs pursuant to a court order, notice or demand served by an entity or person with the authority to compel such disclosure, we shall comply.  We will be entitled to be paid by you for the cost of such compliance at our hourly rates.

5.Client Responsibilities

In order to carry out our services for you we shall require your full co-operation and assistance.  This includes providing all information and documentation requested by us in a timely manner, including:

1.Providing us with clear, timely and accurate instructions;

2.Providing all documentation required in a timely manner;

3.Safeguarding any documents which are likely to be required for disclosure;

4.Paying our fees and expenses in accordance with these Terms and the engagement letter;

5.Providing us with all necessary information to enable us to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations

Please also advise us as soon as possible in respect of any changes in your objectives and circumstances, or if you receive new and relevant information in relation to your matter.

You are also responsible for keeping us advised of any change of contact details.  We will always endeavour to give you notice of when you will be required to sign documents but on occasion you may need to be available at short notice for this purpose.  Please also keep in contact with us regarding your holiday plans as critical dates might need to be met as part of your matter.

6.Termination of Engagement

6.1 We will not normally withdraw from acting unless there is good reason, for example, where a conflict of interest arises, where we cannot obtain clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed, where you do not pay our bill or comply with our request for payment on account, where you give us instructions which conflict with our rules of professional conduct,  or where we consider that it would not be in your best interests for us to continue to represent you, for example if there was a breakdown in the essential element of trust and confidence between us.  If instructions are terminated you will only be liable for the payment of our fees and outlays to the date of termination of the instructions together with any fees or outlays for work necessary in connection with the transfer of the matter to another advisor of your choice.

6.2 At the termination of our engagement, we will retain your files and documents for a period on your behalf until all outstanding fees and outlays have been paid in full.

6.3 Either party may terminate the engagement by providing written notice. If you or we decide that we shall no longer act for you, you agree to pay our outstanding charges and expenses, including those not yet billed.

7.Anti-money-laundering

7.1 Chen Jie Solicitors is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and all other relevant legislation and regulations for the purposes of combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. We carry out client verification checks for new and existing clients and we seek to establish, where appropriate, the source of wealth and source of funds.  We maintain procedures and policies relevant to this legislation and operate processes, both electronic and paper based, to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation and regulations. Our staff are trained in how to comply with the legislation and we may refuse to act if we have concerns.

7.2 Under UK anti-money-laundering law, we must:

1.gather information about your identity and check that information;

2.gather information about the identities of people who are related to you, if relevant, and possibly check that information; and

3.continue to monitor the transaction and keep all the information up to date.

If we do not receive satisfactory evidence of your identity, we will not be able to work for you.

We also have a positive duty to report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) if we know or suspect that any funds or assets involved in a matter were made through criminal activity. This duty may take priority over our duty to keep your information confidential.

It is an offence to tell someone that a report has been filed to NCA and that they may be investigated. If we make a report to NCA, we cannot carry on with your work without NCA approval and we will not be responsible for the effects of any delay which may occur as a result.

8.Governing Law

These Terms of Business are governed by the Laws of Scotland and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction or the Scottish Courts.

9.Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to update these Terms of Business. Any changes will be posted on our website, and the revised date at the top will indicate when the terms were last updated.

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms of Business, please contact us.

10.The Complaints Process

We will provide professional, efficient, and courteous service legal services in accordance with applicable professional standards and laws. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided to you then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the individual who is working on your case to discuss any concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage.

Full name of legal entity: Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd

Name or title of Data Protection Officer: Jade Smitheram

Email address: admin@chenjiesolicitors.co.uk

Postal address: Unit 1, 117 Crow Road, Glasgow G11 7SH

If we are unable to resolve the complaint with you then you can take the matter up with one of the following organisations.

For Scottish work, you should write to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (the SLCC) at Capital Building, 12-13 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh EH2 2AF. You can get more information from their website www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk or by phoning them on 0131 201 2130.

If your complaint relates to advice on financial services, you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) free of charge.

The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, on website www.legalombudsman.org.uk, by e-mail enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk and on telephone number 0300 555 0333. You can get more information at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. Before accepting a complaint for investigation the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.