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General Terms of Engagement

General Terms of Engagement of Sarfaty Advocaten General Terms of Engagement of Sarfaty Advocaten

General Terms of Engagement of Sarfaty Advocaten

  1. Introduction
  2. Assignments
  3. Liability
  4. Invoicing and payment
  5. Privacy
  6. Applicable law and complaints procedure
  7. Scope of application of the General Terms of Engagement

General Terms of Engagement of Sarfaty Advocaten

  1. Introduction
    1. Sarfaty Advocaten B.V. (“Sarfaty Advocaten”) is a private limited liability company under Dutch law whose purpose is to provide legal services, including but not limited to services provided by lawyers, all of this in the broadest sense of the word.
  2. Assignments
    1. All assignments to provide legal assistance will be exclusively accepted and carried out by Sarfaty Advocaten. This also applies if it is the explicit or implied intention that an assignment is carried out by a specific person. The applicability of Section 7:404 Dutch Civil Code (providing a legal regime for the last-mentioned case) and Section 7:407(2) Dutch Civil Code (establishing joint and several liability for cases in which an assignment has been given to two or more persons) is herewith precluded.
    2. All assignments given will be carried out exclusively by Sarfaty Advocaten for the benefit of the principal (“the client”). Third parties cannot derive any rights from the contents of the work performed, and more in general from the manner in which such confirmed assignments have – or have not – been carried out.
    3. All assignments accepted by Sarfaty Advocaten will lead to a best-efforts commitment and will under no circumstances lead to a commitment to achieve a specific result.
    4. When providing the services, the lawyer of Sarfaty Advocaten may at all times assume the accuracy of the home address and/or postal address submitted by the client. It is the client’s responsibility to submit information to the lawyer regarding the client’s address details.
  3. Liability
    1. All liability on the part of Sarfaty Advocaten is limited to the amount paid in the case concerned under its professional liability insurance policy, increased by the insurance excess amount that will not be borne by the insurers under the insurance policy terms and conditions.
    2. If damage is inflicted on persons or goods due to or in connection with the performance of an assignment or otherwise and for which damage Sarfaty Advocaten is liable, such liability will be limited to the amount that Sarfaty Advocaten is entitled to under its third-party liability insurance (“ABV”), increased by the insurance excess amount that will not be borne by the insurers under the insurance policy terms and conditions.
    3. If, for whatever reason, no insurance payment is made under the said insurance policies, all liability will be limited to the fee invoiced by Sarfaty Advocaten in relation to the assignment concerned.
    4. The limitation of liability set forth in this article also applies to cases in which an assignment might be wrongfully turned down, possibly resulting in damage.
    5. All rights of action and other powers vis-à-vis Sarfaty Advocaten, on whatever ground, will lapse if these have not been submitted to Sarfaty Advocaten in writing and with motivation within one year after the date on which the person involved was – or reasonably could have been – aware of the facts on which the person involved founds his entitlements and powers.
    6. When engaging third parties for the performance of the assignments received, Sarfaty Advocaten will observe due care. The said engagement will at all times be for the client’s account. Sarfaty Advocaten is authorized, on behalf of the client and without requiring any prior consultation with the client, to accept any limitations of liability of the third parties it has engaged. Sarfaty Advocaten will not accept liability for any failure to perform by those third parties. An exclusion of liability also applies to damage caused by improper functioning of equipment, software, databases, registers or other tools used by Sarfaty Advocaten for the performance of the assignment, with no exceptions, as well as to damage caused by computer viruses and by the interception of audio and/or data transmissions by telephone, fax or e-mail.
    7. After completion of the assignment, all original documents from the dossier and any first certified copies will be returned to the client. The other documents will be archived for a period of five years, after which the dossier may be destroyed.
  4. Invoicing and payment
    1. The performance costs of the assignment by Sarfaty Advocaten comprise fees, disbursements, and other expenses such as travel and hotel expenses and any third-party costs invoiced to Sarfaty Advocaten for the performance of the assignment, increased by VAT.
    2. An introductory consultation (intake) is free of charge only if this has been confirmed beforehand by Sarfaty Advocaten in writing, in which case only the first thirty minutes of the introductory consultation will be free of charge and all further time spent after this will be charged. All work arising from or related to the introductory consultation will be invoiced in accordance with the applicable lawyers’ fees.
    3. Unless explicitly agreed otherwise or unless this arises from the nature of the assignment, the fees will be determined based on the time spent and the applicable hourly rate for the assignment concerned. This hourly rate will be established based on a base hourly fee to be determined on a periodic basis, multiplied by a factor depending on the experience and special expertise of the person who factually carries out the assignment as well as on the degree of urgency required for the assignment.
    4. The disbursements consist of costs incurred by Sarfaty Advocaten for the benefit of the client within the scope of the performance of the assignment. The disbursements include but are not limited to court registry fees, bailiff fees, the costs of extracts and travel expenses.
    5. Sarfaty Advocaten has the right to adjust its applicable base hourly fee, as well as the overhead amount and the travel expenses.
    6. The work performed will be invoiced to the client on a periodic basis. All fee notes sent by Sarfaty Advocaten must be paid within 14 days of the invoice date, or so much earlier as has been agreed. Following a request to this effect from Sarfaty Advocaten, which may be submitted before as well as during the performance of the assignment, the client will pay an advance (with may be offset against the final fee note) or furnish security for the fulfilment of the client’s payment obligations.
    7. Offsetting of fee notes of Sarfaty Advocaten against any counterclaims is explicitly excluded, regardless of whether such fee notes are challenged or not, except in case of an explicit written agreement between Sarfaty Advocaten and the client.
    8. If the client oversteps a payment deadline, the client will be in default by operation of law and will owe late-payment interest equal to the applicable statutory late-payment interest.
    9. In case of collection in or out of court, the client will owe the collection charges actually paid by Sarfaty Advocaten on top of the principal amount and the late-payment interest. The collection charges out of court are at least 10% of the principal amount, subject to a minimum of € 250. The judicial expenses are not limited to the approved court and/or execution costs, but will be fully for the client’s account if the court rules (predominantly) against the client.
    10. If the client fails to fulfil its financial obligations, Sarfaty Advocaten may refuse to make a start with its work and may suspend or cease the work.
  5. Privacy
    1. Sarfaty Advocaten registers personal and business data of clients. All who engage the services of Sarfaty Advocaten give permission beforehand to bring such data to the attention of people within Sarfaty Advocaten, other than the lawyers directly involved, who provide such services and for whom examination of such data is useful and/or necessary within the scope of customer relations management.
  6. Applicable law and complaints procedure
    1. The legal relationship between Sarfaty Advocaten and its clients is governed by Dutch law. Any disputes falling under the jurisdiction of a District Court will first be exclusively settled by the (Interim Relief Judge of the) District Court of Amsterdam. If Sarfaty Advocaten acts as claimant, it will be entitled, by way of derogation therefrom, to bring the dispute before the foreign court of law having jurisdiction abroad. Sarfaty Advocaten also has a company complaints procedure in place. You may choose to submit your complaint to Sarfaty Advocaten. This company complaints procedure is accessible via the website of Sarfaty Advocaten.
  7. Scope of application of the General Terms of Engagement
    1. The clauses in these General Terms of Engagement were also laid down for the benefit of the directors and (indirect) shareholders of Sarfaty Advocaten, as well as for the benefit of all persons who, under an employment contract or otherwise, are – or have been – working for them or for Sarfaty Advocaten. These General Terms of Engagement are also applicable to additional and follow-up client assignments.
    2. These General Terms of Engagement have been drawn up in Dutch and were translated into English. In the event of any differences in wording and/or differences of interpretation between both versions, the Dutch version of these General Terms of Engagement will be decisive and binding in all cases.