Terms & Conditions

Who you are instructing

Imran & Co Solicitors Ltd, trading as Imran & Co Solicitors, of First Floor, 221 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1DE, is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 8006961. Our entry on the SRA register records what we are authorised to do, and the SRA Standards and Regulations govern how we do it.

Our service to you

When you instruct us we confirm in writing the scope of the work, who will carry it out and supervise it, what it will cost, and how long it is likely to take. Work outside that scope is agreed separately, in writing, before it begins.

We will keep you informed of progress and of any material change in cost or prospects, explain matters in plain English, and tell you honestly when a course of action is not worth your money.

Hours and contact

Our office is open Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm. We answer messages within one working day, and sooner where a deadline requires it. Urgent matters — detention, imminent removal, protective orders — should be raised by telephone rather than email.

Fees and payment

• Almost all of our work is on a fixed fee, agreed in writing before anything starts. Where a matter cannot sensibly be fixed, we agree an hourly rate and an estimate, and we tell you before that estimate is exceeded.
• Disbursements — Home Office and court fees, the Immigration Health Surcharge, counsel’s fees, experts, interpreters, translations and searches — are payable in addition, and are never marked up.
• All figures are exclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. VAT is charged at the prevailing rate where it applies.
• We ask for our fee, or an agreed instalment of it, and for disbursements in advance. We may be unable to start or continue work while an agreed payment is outstanding.
• Government and third-party fees are not refundable to us once paid, and so cannot be refunded to you, whatever the outcome of an application.

Our published fee schedule is on the Pricing page. Figures published there are a guide; the figure in your client care letter is the one that binds us.

Identity checks and anti-money laundering

The Money Laundering Regulations require us to verify the identity of every client, and in some matters the source of the funds involved, before we can act. We may use an electronic verification service to do so. We cannot begin work until those checks are complete, and we are required by law to report certain suspicions without telling you.

Your responsibilities

You agree to give us complete and accurate information, to provide documents promptly when we ask for them, to keep the appointments and deadlines we agree, and to tell us immediately if your circumstances or contact details change. We are not responsible for the consequences of advice or applications based on information that turns out to be incomplete or untrue.

Confidentiality

Everything you tell us is confidential and, where it concerns legal advice, privileged. We disclose it only as your matter requires, where you instruct us to, or where the law obliges us to. Our regulator, our insurers and our external auditors may inspect files in the course of their work; they are bound by the same duty of confidentiality. How we handle your personal data is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Storage of files

We keep your file for six years from the closure of the matter, and longer where it holds original documents or a continuing interest. We may store it electronically and destroy the paper. Original documents are returned to you at the end of the matter; we do not charge for retrieving a file, but we may charge for time spent producing copies or working further on a stored file.

Ending the retainer

You may end your instructions at any time, in writing. We may stop acting only for good reason — a conflict of interest, a breakdown in the relationship, a failure to give instructions or to pay an agreed sum — and we will give you reasonable notice if we do. In either case you remain liable for our fees and disbursements incurred up to that point.

Cancellation rights

Where we agree to act following a meeting away from our office, or entirely at a distance, you may have the right to cancel within fourteen days under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Your client care letter will say whether that right applies and how to use it. If you ask us to start work within that period, you will be charged for the work done up to the point of cancellation.

Limitation of liability

We maintain professional indemnity insurance at or above the minimum required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Details of our insurer and of its territorial coverage are available on request at our office.

Our liability to you is limited to the sum stated in your client care letter, which will not be less than the minimum cover our regulator requires. We are not liable for loss arising from information you gave us that was incomplete or untrue, from a decision of the Home Office, a court or a tribunal properly presented with your case, or from a change in the law after our advice was given. Nothing here limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

Complaints

We want to know if something has gone wrong. Tell the person handling your matter first — most concerns are resolved at that point. If it is not resolved, our written complaints procedure is available on request and is sent to you free of charge; a complaint under it is acknowledged within five working days and answered within eight weeks.

If you remain unhappy after our final response, you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at it: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH — 0300 555 0333 — enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk — legalombudsman.org.uk. You must normally do so within six months of our final response, and within one year of the act or omission complained of, or of when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

Concerns about our professional conduct, rather than our service, can be reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority at sra.org.uk, quoting SRA number 8006961. If you are unhappy with a bill, you may also have the right to have it assessed by the court under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

Governing law

Our retainer, and any dispute arising from it, is governed by the law of England and Wales and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.