Terms
and Conditions of Net Lawman Limited For customers of Net Lawman services in South Africa
This
web site is operated by Net Lawman Limited,
a company incorporated in England, of
Astons
Barn, North Green Road
Pulham St Mary, IP21 4YF
Net
Lawman cannot act for you until you have
agreed to these terms and conditions. They
represent the contract between you and Net
Lawman Ltd ("us", "we",
etc). By instructing Net Lawman in any way,
you agree to be bound by them. No change
can be made to these terms unless the changed
agreement is in writing, in hard copy, signed
by both us; or set out in email messages,
to and from each other. This agreement binds
both you and us as soon as you become a
client or customer. This agreement may be
changed at any time. When it is changed,
your own contract is not changed. The version
posted here at the time you instructed us
continues to be valid. The new version is
valid for all new instructions from you
and from others.
1.
Interpretation
In
this document...
“Content“
means
information in any form published
on our web site by us or any third
party with our consent or downloaded
by you from our web site.
“Our
Web Sites“
means the entire computing hardware and software installation that is or supports Our Web Site (www.netlawman.co.za) including any communication or peripheral system.
“Service”
or “Services”
means all the
services we provide, whether or not
from Our Web Site. It includes documents
and letters for which you buy a licence
to use, documents we prepare for you,
all advice we give, information we
provide and all other actions we take
for you.
You
agree that you have provided, and
will continue to provide accurate,
up to date, and complete information
about yourself. We need this information
to provide you with our Services.
3.
Our
Contract
3.1
The
services you buy on our Websites are
supplied both by us and by third parties.
Most such third parties are lawyers.
3.2
These
terms apply to all your purchases
(except advertising space) except
insofar as the terms of a lawyer may
be in conflict. In that case, the
lawyer’s terms take precedence
so far only as his relationship with
you is concerned.
3.3
So
far as concerns services provided
by Net Lawman, you become a client
only when:
3.3.1
you
have sent a completed instruction
to us through Our Web Site and
paid for the Service you have
ordered and
3.3.2
we
have responded in a manner indicating
acceptance, for example by providing
or starting to provide the advice
or information or document you
have requested.
3.4
You
also become a client or customer when
we provide a document or advice or
information to you in expectation
of payment but before you have actually
paid.
3.5
You
cease to be a client of Net Lawman
when we have provided the Service
for which you have paid
OR
When
our contract with you is concluded
on the first to happen of:
3.5.1
your
receipt of the Services you
have bought, by any means;
3.5.2
our
sending of the Service by e-mail
and not receiving notification
from our service provider of
non-delivery;
3.5.3
our
completion of any task or Service
for which you have paid us.
If there is any doubt as to
when this is, or was, then our
decision is final;
3.5.4
our
having worked for the amount
of time for which you have paid
us, even if the work is unfinished.
As
a result you are not a client for
the time between our completing one
piece of work for you and starting
another. Each piece of work is a new
retainer which terminates when that
work is done.
3.6
There
is no contract between us for any
free Service, so you do not become
a client by using any free Service
and we are not liable to you in any
way resulting from your use of any
free Service.
3.7
Your
instructions to us terminate automatically
each time we complete work for which
you have paid us. If we should give
advice on the same case at a subsequent
time, such advice constitutes a separate
contract and does not retrospectively
extend the first contract for our
Services.
3.8
Prices
for business Services are exclusive
of any applicable value added tax
or other sales tax. Prices for Services
which you may buy as a consumer are
inclusive of VAT.
3.9
The
price of any document or other Service
may be changed by us at any time.
We will never change a price so as
to affect the price charged to you
at the time when you buy a Service.
3.10
Services
will be delivered by your free download,
by e-mail or by both of these, at
our choice.
3.11
You
agree that you are bound by these
terms (or the latest version of them)
for all future contracts with us,
whether ordered through Our Web Site
or in some other way.
3.12
You
now agree that you commit a breach
of this contract if you seek repayment
of money paid to us by asking your
credit card provider to credit back
a payment made to us, without attempting
to seek repayment from us first. In
that event, you agree that you will owe us first the sum charged to us by our merchant service provider (R 390 at 1st January 2009) and secondly a sum based on time spent at R 1640 per hour in dealing with your breach. You also agree that this provision is reasonable.
4.
Delivery
of the Services
4.1
Advice
and document drafting and any other
Services supplied personally will
be delivered within an estimated time
frame. You may cancel any undelivered
balance at any time, whereupon we
will refund the appropriate proportion
of your money.
4.2
Services
supplied instantaneously or almost
so, will be delivered by e-mail or
by your own down-load from Our Web
Site. You may obtain re-delivery as
often as you wish for a period of
60 days.
4.3
We
accept no responsibility for problems
you may have in making payment through
a web page of our payment service
provider or in down-loading any document
or other Service.
4.4
If
you pay by cheque, we will deliver
the Services to you by e-mail within
five days (and often very much sooner)
after clearance of your cheque into
our account.
5.
Promotions, offers and events
If
we offer Services in some way not
anticipated by these terms, then you
are entitled to terms no less favourable
than those set out here.
6.
No Representations
The availability of information on Our Website does not constitute a recommendation by Net Lawman. If you enter into any transaction subsequent to accessing Our Website, you do so entirely in reliance on your own judgment and inquiries and not in reliance on any statements, warranties or representations made to you or to any other person by or on behalf of Net Lawman.
7.
Limitations on Service
7.1
Services
you buy on our websites and provided
by solicitors or barristers in practice
are provided subject to the rules
and regulations of the professional
bodies of which those providers are
members. You have the benefit of their
professional indemnity insurance and
of other professional safeguards.
7.2
The
fact of your buying Services from
a practising solicitor or barrister
does not of itself indicate that the
service is suitable for your use.
Advice is inevitably limited by the
scope of your instructions and the
time available for the drawing of
advice. If you require a full service,
it may be necessary to re-instruct
your lawyer for further help.
7.3
Services
provided by Net Lawman or by any other
person who is not a practising UK
solicitor or barrister are provided
“without liability”.
We make no representation and give
no warranty with respect to any of
the Services. We do not suggest any
Service is suitable for your particular
use. We are not and do not pretend
to be solicitors.
7.4
Documents
are provided as template versions
for you to edit and change to suit
your circumstances. We do not refund
money if you decide not to use a document.
7.5
Documents
may include technical inaccuracies
or typographical errors.
7.6
Advice
given and documents drawn specially
for you are appropriate only to the
facts and circumstances you have told
us about. If you do not give us full
instructions, it is possible that
our advice may also be incomplete.
7.7
We
are not responsible for any action
you decide to take as a result of
receiving our advice.
7.8
The
Net Lawman Service does not extend
to our handling of your “case”,
nor will we generally contact any
third party on your behalf without
a special arrangement. Accordingly,
we are under no obligation to undertake
any work for you beyond what has been
specifically agreed.
7.9
Our
Web Site contains links to other Internet
web sites. We have neither power nor
control over any such web site. You
acknowledge and agree that we shall
not be liable in any way for the Content
of any such linked web site, nor for
any loss or damage arising from your
use of any such web site.
7.10
We
are not liable in any circumstances
for special, indirect or consequential
damages or any damages whatsoever
resulting from loss of use, loss of
data or loss of revenues or profits,
whether in an action of contract,
negligence or otherwise, arising out
of or in connection with your use
of our Services.
7.11
Advice
given and documents produced by Net
Lawman are valid only within the jurisdiction
of England and Wales. In practice,
most documents are valid in Scotland
and Northern Ireland and many are
valid in other jurisdictions.
When
you “buy” a Net Lawman
form or document, what you do in fact
buy is a licence to use our document
for the purposes of your own business
or in a single company. Solicitors
may re-use the document as for any
legal precedent. You may use it as
often as you like subject to the other
terms of this agreement.
8.2
All
ownership rights and intellectual
property rights in the Content whether
provided by us or by any other Content
provider shall remain the sole property
of us and / or the other Content provider.
We will strongly protect our rights
in all countries.
8.3
You
may not copy, modify, publish, transmit,
transfer or sell, reproduce, create
derivative works from, distribute,
perform, display, or in any way exploit
any of the Content, in whole or in
part, except as is expressly permitted
in this agreement.
8.4
It
is a condition of your license to
use any document that you preserve
our copyright notices as far as reasonably
possible and at least once on every
document.
9.
Net
Lawman charges
9.1
Charges
are fixed whenever reasonably possible.
9.2
When
we cannot provide a firm price, we
will charge by the hour. In that case
all work done, including all letters,
e-mails, faxes and telephone calls
made and received will be charged
on a time basis in minimum units of
one tenth of an hour.
9.3
Estimates
of money will be provided to you wherever
possible.
9.4
Our hourly charging rate at 01 January 2009 is R 1840.
9.5
Our hourly charging rate for travel time at 01 January 2009 is R 1310.
9.6
Our mileage rate at 01 January 2009 is R 9.85 per mile.
9.7
Other travel costs will be re-charged at cost incurred.
9.8
Our Service requires payment in advance in every case.
Note:
you can keep our charges low by providing
full instructions and avoiding unnecessary
contact.
10.
Holding
money on your behalf
10.1
We
do not conduct money transactions
nor make payments on behalf of clients.
We cannot therefore accept or hold
money on your behalf, beyond money
paid for our immediate Services and
/ or documents.
10.2
If
you decide to terminate your instructions
to us before we have “spent”
all of the money you have sent to
us, we shall immediately refund the
balance to you.
11.
Storage
of papers and documents
We
are not obliged to keep copies of
communications between us, nor papers
you send to us in any connection.
You should therefore never send original
papers to us. In practice, we will
endeavour to keep soft copy of advice
given, for our own benefit. You are
strongly advised to print and retain
a copy of all communications between
us.
12.
System
Security
12.1
You
agree that you will not, and will
not allow any other person to, violate
or attempt to violate any aspect of
the security of Our Web Site.
12.2
You
agree that you will in no way modify,
reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile,
copy, or cause damage or unintended
effect to any portion of Our Web Site,
or any software used on, and that
you will not permit any other person
to do so.
12.3
You
understand that any such violation
is unlawful in many jurisdictions
and that any contravention of law
may result in criminal prosecution.
12.4
Examples
of violations are:
12.4.1
accessing
data unlawfully or without consent;
12.4.2
attempting
to probe, scan or test the vulnerability
of a system or network or to
breach security or authentication
measures;
12.4.3
attempting
to interfere with service to
any user, host or network, including,
without limitation, via means
of overloading, "flooding",
"mail bombing" or
"crashing";
12.4.4
forging
any TCP/IP packet header or
any part of the header information
in any e-mail or newsgroup posting;
12.4.5
taking
any action in order to obtain
services to which you are not
entitled.
13.
Indemnity
You
agree to indemnify us against any
claim or demand, including reasonable
lawyers’ fees, made by any third
party due to or arising in any way
out of your use of Our Web Site, or
the infringement by you, or by any
other person using your computer,
of any intellectual property or other
right of any person.
14.
Severability
If
any of these terms is at any time
held in any jurisdiction to be void,
invalid or unenforceable, then it
shall be treated as changed or reduced,
only to the extent minimally necessary
to bring it within the laws of that
jurisdiction and to prevent it from
being void and it shall be binding
in that changed or reduced form. Subject
to that, each provision shall be interpreted
as severable and shall not in any
way affect any other of these terms.
15.
No
Waiver
No
waiver by us, in exercising any right,
power or provision hereunder shall
operate as a waiver of any other right
or of that same right at a future
time; nor shall any delay in exercise
of any power or right be interpreted
as a waiver.
16.
Dispute
Resolution
In
the event of a dispute arising out
of or in connection with these terms
or any contract between you and us,
then you agree to attempt to settle
the dispute by engaging in good faith
with us in a process of mediation
before commencing arbitration or litigation.
