Summary of Our Terms of Service | Crushell & Co | Specialist Workplace Solicitors

Introduction

Crushell & Co is a specialist firm advising on the application of law in the Irish workplace. This page sets out our general terms of service. However, the terms of each engagement shall be sent to you, our client, separately in writing.

It is important, to prevent any misunderstandings at a later stage, that you know what to expect, and understand what our service involves. Please read the following terms and conditions carefully. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

Objectives

Crushell & Co will discuss your expectations and tell you whether we think they are realistic. It is important to us that you understand at all times what is happening with your matter. To help prevent any confusion or stress on your part, Crushell & Co will give you general information and explain any procedures regarding your matter as it progresses. 

You can help us to help you by giving us clear instructions, accurately advising us of all facts relevant to your matter (we will rely upon information and facts you provide to us), keeping us informed of all developments relating to the matter, letting us know if there are any important time limits of which we should be aware, dealing promptly with our queries or requests for information, making yourself available to attend meetings or proceedings, and advising if you will be unavailable at any time.

Instructions

It is important that you give us clear and accurate instructions from the very beginning and when you get any new information as the matter develops. We will do our best to carry out the agreed instructions and to give you a confidential and friendly service.

When we receive your instructions, we will explain your legal options to you. If there is anything you do not understand, please tell us right away so that we can answer your questions. We will then agree with you on the actions to be taken.

Instructions may be given by you to us either verbally or in writing although, from time to time, we may ask you to provide written confirmation of instructions. We will communicate with you by e-mail. You should be aware that email is not an entirely secure communication channel. We may monitor and record email for business and other lawful purposes. If there is an urgent instruction to us please try to talk to us by phone, rather than relying on email as we cannot guarantee when your email might be read.

You must give us instructions when they are needed. If you fail to do this, we cannot make progress. This may affect the outcome and, in some matters, may mean we have no choice but to stop acting for you.

When you give us instructions, we assume that you are permitting us to take various actions on your behalf, including representations to third parties.

Client Due Diligence

You will be required to provide us with certain information in order for us to verify your identity and carry out anti-money laundering or other checks which are required by law. This information consists of identification and verification documentation for individuals. If you do not provide us with such information, we will be unable to provide you with legal services.

Under anti-money laundering regulations, Crushell & Co need to be sure of your identity and source of assets before we can take on your matter. If we become aware or suspect that these assets come from an illegal source, we must notify the Gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners without telling you, except in limited circumstances. Crushell & Co will immediately stop acting for you if we have to report illegal assets. 

Timescales

Due to the nature of the work we are undertaking, you will appreciate that it is not always possible for us to give you an exact timescale or definitive date by which time your matter shall have completed. We always aim to deal with everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Please remember that quite often the speed at which work can be completed is affected by the speed of response from you and other parties.

Excluded Services

Should you wish to engage Crushell & Co on any additional matter, a separate engagement letter will be sent to you, outlining revised expectations, fees and terms of service.

We will not be responsible for advising on tax or accountancy matters. We recommend that you seek advice from tax advisers or accountants, as appropriate, on any financial matter relevant to your case, including the calculation of any award or settlement.

We will not be responsible for advising on any area relating to overseas rights or assets. We recommend that you obtain specialist advice from the relevant jurisdiction.

Fees

At the beginning of your matter, as required by law, Crushell & Co will provide you information, in writing, about our fees and other expenses that may be incurred.

Outside of fixed-rate charges, we will charge an hourly rate in relation to your matter. We record time in 6-minute intervals (units) with a 1 unit minimum. The hourly rate is applied proportionately to these units and the total time spent on your matter is calculated accordingly.

In the event of you varying your instructions, this may increase the time required to be spent on your matter or increase costs. The estimate of fees provided in this letter is based on the scope of work outlined above. If we require to issue a revised estimate in light of revised instructions, we will advise you of this in writing.

Fees are calculated based on several factors, including, but not limited to:

• the complexity and novelty of the issues involved in the legal work;
• the skill or specialised knowledge relevant to the matter which Crushell & Co has applied to the matter;
• the time and labour that Crushell & Co has reasonably expended on the matter;
• the urgency attached to the matter by the client and whether this requires or required Crushell & Co to give priority to that matter over other matters;
• the place and circumstances in which the matter was transacted;
• the number, importance and complexity of the documents that Crushell & Co was required to draft, prepare or examine;
• whether or not there is an agreement to limit the liability of fees to be incurred;
• whether or not Crushell & Co necessarily undertook research or investigative work and, if so, the timescale within which such work was required to be completed; and/or
• the use and costs of expert witnesses or other expertise engaged by Crushell & Co and whether such costs were necessary and reasonable.

Value-added tax will be charged in respect of the above (please note our VAT number is IE 7110592E).

Fraudulent activity is uncommon, but a risk. Be aware that fraudsters may try to use techniques to discover personal information about you or your transaction. We will never ask you to send money to an account other than our client account (the details of which are provided on our invoice). These bank account details will not change during a transaction and the firm will not change bank details via email. If you receive a call or e-mail (even if it appears genuine) asking you to commit funds to an account which is different to those provided, contact us by telephone or in-person and speak to your named contact at the firm. If your bank details or payment instructions change, the firm will not make any payment until such time as it has been able to confirm and verify those instructions with you.

If we become aware of an issue that means that the legal costs in your case likely to be incurred will be significantly greater than what is disclosed or indicated in this letter, we will, as soon as may be after we become aware of that factor, provide you with a new letter.

Our invoices are payable on receipt. In the event of non-payment after 14 days, Crushell & Co shall be under no obligation to carry out any further work for you until all outstanding payments have been paid in full. Crushell & Co shall be entitled to set off any payments due to us against any credit balance or deposits held on your behalf before sending you the balance. We will normally charge for our work on completion of a relevant task but we reserve the right to issue fees on a more frequent basis. Any payment on account made by you (or any sum received by us on your behalf which is not received for a specified purpose) may be set off against any outstanding fee.

In the absence of instructions from you following requests and us making reasonable enquiries to try to contact you, your file will be closed. We reserve the right to charge a fee for any work done to the point of closing your file and recover any costs incurred in attempting to trace you.

Third-Party Costs

Before we can make any payments on your behalf, we need to have cleared funds. Monies must be paid to us by direct transfer. If payment is made by cheque we must receive this from you no later than seven working days before it is to be paid out on your behalf.

In so far as practicable, we will not ask a barrister, expert witness or other service provider to assist with your case without first; finding out how much he or she is likely to charge or how he or she charges; giving you this information on their charges; and being satisfied as to your approval.

Litigation Costs

If you withdraw from and, or discontinue your case after it has started, you are likely to be responsible for both our costs and the reasonable legal costs incurred by the other party/parties in defending or prosecuting the case up to the time the case was withdrawn and discontinued.

The consequence of your withdrawal from litigation and its discontinuance may be the following: -

• the remedy you are seeking may not continue to be available;
• legal limitations on making a claim may apply and you may be prohibited from pursuing your claim on the basis that too much time has elapsed;
• the other side may try to dismiss the case for failure to progress the case;
• your case may not be able to be continued or progressed where too much time has passed;
• the remedies sought by the other side may not be available; and
• the other side may obtain judgment against you; and/or
• the other side may secure an award of damages against you.

You may be responsible for the legal costs we incur on your behalf. You are likely to be required to pay the costs of one or more other parties to your case where the court orders you to pay part or all of the legal costs or where you agree to do so as part of a settlement.

Data and Privacy

Crushell & Co is the controller in respect of the data we collect from you, towards providing you with your requested legal services, and we take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and privacy of all information and, where appropriate, enter into contracts with any third party processors to protect the privacy of any personal data processed by us.

Your personal data is used by us and by third-party service providers acting on our behalf for the following purposes:

• providing you with legal advice and business services;
• for administration and billing purposes and for other purposes which are reasonably incidental to the services being provided;
• sending or providing you with access to legal and regulatory information, and invitations to events, training programmes and lectures; 
• maintaining our list of contacts; and
• safeguarding the health and safety of our personnel, visitors to our offices and of attendees at events hosted or organised by us.

We may disclose your personal data to third party recipients acting on your or our behalf, for the purposes of providing legal advice and business services to you and for providing you with information which we believe you may be interested in.

We will retain your personal data for as long as it is reasonably necessary for us to provide you with legal advice and business services. 

We employ appropriate technical security measures to help protect your personal data against loss and to guard against access by third-parties.

Apart from the required to identify you as part of our client due-diligence process, as well as provide details concerning your legal mater, you are not under a statutory or contractual duty to provide us with any personal data. However, there are some pieces of information that you must provide to us so that we can provide you with our legal services. We will notify you of any such required information. If you do not provide us with this information, we may not be in a position to provide our legal services to you. 

You have the following rights, in certain circumstances and subject to certain restrictions, in relation to your personal data:

• the right to access your personal data;
• the right to request the rectification and/or erasure of your personal data;
• the right to restrict the use of your personal data;
• the right to object to the processing of your personal data; and
• the right to receive your personal data, which you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to require us to transmit that data to another controller.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at contact@crushell.ie.

Complaints

If you are not happy with the way we are using your personal data or how we facilitate your rights or comply with our obligations under applicable data protection law, you have the right to make a complaint to the Data Protection Commission by emailing info@dataprotection.ie.

File Retention

Once you pay us for our services and provided that we have done everything we promised to do, you can take your original file. Crushell & Co are entitled to copy this file to comply with solicitors’ regulations. Usually, we keep a client’s file for at least six years and then destroy it.

If you need your file or information from the file, Crushell & Co can send this to you. We will charge you a fee for this service, based on the current rates at the time of your request. 

We operate electronic filing for most of our files and by instructing us you agree to having your records and correspondence with us stored in such format.

The law allows us to keep a client’s file as security for any costs until Crushell & Co have been paid for our services. We will issue our bill of costs to you without delay. 

File Transfer

Crushell & Co hope to reach a successful result on all instructions issued on your behalf. However, if you decide for any reason to transfer to another solicitor’s firm, we will require payment for any work done up to that point. 

This Website

The material contained on this website is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice.

Specific legal advice should be sought on any particular matter. Any and all information on this website is subject to change without notice. No liability whatsoever is accepted by Crushell & Co for any action taken in reliance on the information on this site or a preliminary evaluation.

Crushell & Co will use personal data relating to you for the purposes of: providing you with our services; communicating with you, either in response to correspondence that you send to us via the website, or where you have signed up to receive updates from the website; operating advertising campaigns, including working with third parties to display adverts to you on those third party websites on the basis of your use of our website and to track the effectiveness of the advertisements; running our recruitment processes; improving and developing our website; generating and analysing statistics regarding usage of our website, including the frequency of use of individual pages (where possible, personal data will be anonymised before being used for this purpose); carrying out research and customer satisfaction surveys; and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

All content included on this website, such as text, graphics, logos, icons, images, audio or video clips and software is the property of Crushell & Co or its content suppliers and is protected by applicable copyright and/or other intellectual property laws. 

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Crushell & Co is not responsible for the content of external internet sites which link to this site or which are linked to from it.