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Client Guide

Waltons & Morse LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales (no. OC322825) whose registered office is at Birchin Court, 20 Birchin Lane, London EC3V 9ER.

Introduction

This guide has several purposes. First, we believe that clients will welcome a formal statement about the service which we will provide when they instruct us to act for them. Given the range and variety of the work which we undertake this is necessarily a statement in general terms but it is intended to show our commitment to achieving a high standard of service. Next, we wish to describe how we handle the matters which are entrusted to us and, more generally, how we seek to create and maintain the best possible relationships with our clients. Then, we deal with the various matters which are relevant to the contractual position between clients and ourselves. Finally, we indicate how any complaints which the client may have should be handled.

We present the guide both as a commentary on the important aspects of the firm's engagement with its clients and as a demonstration of our concern for clarity and openness in our relations with them.

Standard of service

There are two aspects of the service we provide - the strictly legal content and the manner in which the service is performed. By accepting your instructions we assume a duty of care which obliges us to exercise our professional skill to advance and protect your interest in the matter or transaction in question. That is a duty which we seek to discharge by a variety of means including careful recruitment, training and promotion of staff, effective supervision and control of delegated work. Moreover, as commercial lawyers, we are conscious that clients look to us not merely for a narrow protection of their interests but to add value to their operations. Therefore we aim to give advice which, wherever appropriate, is relevant to and takes due account of the business issues about which you may consult us - based on a proper understanding of those issues and of the contexts in which they arise - and which is clearly expressed in terms which will help you to appreciate your position and to make sound decisions.

The technical standards which we are required to meet are absolute. However clients have differing expectations about other aspects of the service they are to receive and we recognise that our obligation is to do all that we can to satisfy those expectations. This calls for a clear understanding with each client which we will endeavour to reach through regular discussion. We hope that you will always tell us if there is any feature of our service which you think should be improved.

A prime concern of clients is that their business with us should proceed without any avoidable delay. Of course, the pace at which a particular case or transaction progresses may often be outside our control but we are committed to punctuality in all our work. In this connection we recognise that you will expect quick responses to all your instructions and communications and our staff are directed accordingly.

In short, our commitment is to provide you with a prompt, trouble-free and appropriate service of high technical quality.

Partner supervision

Many clients come to us with the expectation that their work will be undertaken by a partner personally. There are, however, parts of most work which can to the client's advantage be delegated to one or more assistants but this will always be subject to the overall supervision of a partner. We will ensure that you will always know which partner is in overall charge of a particular matter and the name of any assistant to whom the day to day conduct may have been assigned.

Client partners

For clients for whom the firm acts on a regular basis, possibly involving a number of partners, we appoint one partner - the client partner - with overall responsibility for the client relationship. The role of the client partner is to act as the firm's principal link with the client and to co-ordinate all aspects of the firm's service. The client partner's responsibilities include ensuring that there is a consistency of approach to all work undertaken for the client, that there is no avoidable duplication of effort and that good communications are maintained.

Because we believe that our service will be enhanced by a good knowledge of a client's business and organisation we endeavour to assemble and record all readily available information. This is the responsibility of the client partner. We invite you to assist this process by including us in the distribution of your published annual reports and accounts, notices of management changes, press releases and similar information.

Annual review meeting

We like to have annual (if not more frequent) meetings with clients from whom we have a regular flow of work. The purpose of these meetings is to provide an opportunity for a discussion about the client's service requirements and ways in which we can best satisfy them. The meetings are helpful to us particularly if they reveal any problems which need to be addressed. We hope that as many clients as possible will wish to participate in these useful meetings.

Conflicts of interest

The normal circumstance in which a conflict of interest arises is where we already act for one client and are asked to act for another whose interests conflict or appear likely to conflict with those of the first. In such a case our professional rules dictate that we must refuse to act for the second.

Occasionally it can happen that a conflict unexpectedly arises between the interests of two clients from whom we have already accepted instructions. Then the rules require that we cease to act for both unless we can with propriety and without embarrassment continue to act for one and the other consents.

These are annoying situations if they occur but you will readily understand the necessity for the rules. You can assist by ensuring that, when instructing us, you tell us of any potential conflict of which you are aware.

Fees

The fees charged by solicitors are controlled by law. Under the applicable rules fees must be "fair and reasonable" having regard to a number of factors, namely:

• the time spent
• the complexity, difficulty or novelty of the questions involved
• the skill, specialised knowledge and responsibilities required
• the number and importance of documents prepared or studied
• the place and circumstances in which the business was transacted
• the amount of any money or value of any property involved
• the importance of the matter to the client.

For most classes of work the normal method of computing a fee is to charge for the time spent. Each partner and fee-earner in the firm has an hourly charging rate which has been calculated to recover the direct and overhead expense incurred and to yield a proportional profit. These standard charging rates assume that the factors listed above - other than time - will affect or be present in the work to a normal degree. Details of our current charge-out rates are set out in the "How We Charge" section of this website. If the work involves any of those factors to an exceptional degree the standard charging rate will be adjusted appropriately.

In some types of work - such as high value transactions carrying correspondingly high responsibility or matters of great urgency or requiring exceptional skill - the time factor may be dwarfed by the others. In those cases, hourly charging rates will not normally be applicable and the amount of the fee charged will be governed primarily by the other relevant factor or factors.

Because of the unpredictable pattern of much legal work it is rarely easy to estimate at the outset what fee will eventually be chargeable. However, on receiving instructions from a client we always welcome discussion about the fees which will be payable, particularly if a non-standard basis of charging is to apply. Whenever possible we will indicate the probable level of the fee and, in appropriate cases, it may be possible to agree a fee of a fixed amount.

If you become involved in court proceedings and win your case, you can normally expect to be awarded costs against the other party. While you will remain responsible for all of the costs and disbursements incurred on your behalf, a proportion should then be recoverable from the unsuccessful opponent. The amount of costs to which you will be entitled will either be assessed by the Court or agreed by us with your opponent's lawyers on the basis of what would be awarded by the Court. Costs are assessed on two bases; indemnity and standard. The indemnity basis is more generous than the standard basis and is rarely used to assess costs payable by one party to another. The standard basis is the normal basis used to assess such costs and, as a general guide, a successful litigant may expect to recover a contribution of between 60% to 75% of his legal costs. However, under the new Civil Procedure Rules, the Court will only allow costs which are proportionate to the matters in issue.

Billing

Some of the work which we undertake will not be billed until it has been concluded. However, many clients prefer costs to be reviewed on a regular basis and to receive interim bills and our usual practice is to bill quarterly. Nevertheless we may, at our discretion, deliver an interim bill at any time in respect of an uncompleted matter. Unless expressed as a charge on account of a final bill to be rendered in due course, an interim bill will be a complete and final charge for the work during the period specified in the bill.

Payment of bills

All bills delivered by the firm are payable on delivery. If any bill remains wholly or partly unpaid for more than 30 days, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 provides for interest to be payable on the unpaid amount at 8% above the prevailing UK base rate.

Any money which the firm is holding for the account of the client (including money paid on account of costs or disbursements to be incurred or money received for the client in a particular matter) may be applied in satisfaction of any unpaid and overdue bill (and interest) for work done in that or any other matter.

We believe you will understand that in the event of a bill or a sum requested on account of fees or disbursements remaining unpaid we must reserve the right to decline to act any further in the matter in question and that a charge will be made for all work done up to that time.

Custody of documents

Your file papers and documents relating to completed business are normally left with us for storage. Unless otherwise agreed these may, under our standard procedures, be destroyed without reference to you after five years from the date on which the relevant work or matter came to an end - normally the date of the final bill.

Complaints

Even in the best conducted professional practice a problem may occasionally arise about which a client may wish to complain. If this happens and you prefer to contact someone other than the partner in charge of the work in question, you should write or ask to speak to the firm's Senior Partner. In either case your complaint will be thoroughly investigated and you will receive a response without delay.

General

Waltons & Morse LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority whose professional conduct rules can be found at www.sra.org.uk.

Its Members are: David Perry, Ian Charles-Jones, Roy Ginsberg, Christopher Dunn, Mark Lloyd, Andrew Purssell and Christopher Chatfield. (Where reference is made in this guide, or elsewhere, to a "partner" of Waltons & Morse LLP, the term "partner" indicates a Member of Waltons & Morse LLP. It shall not be construed as indicating that Members of Waltons & Morse LLP are carrying on business in partnership for the purposes of the Partnership Act 1890.)

All work is undertaken by Waltons & Morse LLP and no personal liability will attach to any individual Member, employee or agent of the firm even should he/she have been negligent. (This restriction will not, of course, operate to exclude any liability that can not be excluded at law or to exclude the liability of Waltons & Morse LLP for the acts or omissions of any of its Members, employees or agents.)

Casualty Reports

Added: 17 June 2008
Vessel: NORFOLK EXPRESS
When: 2008 May
Where: Off Ras Shukheir, Egypt
Type: Grounding
more..

Added: 17 June 2008
Vessel: LEHMANN TIMBER
When: 2008 May
Where: Off coast of Somalia
Type: Piracy
more..