General Terms and Conditions of Provision of Legal Services

1.1. The Firm shall provide the Client with legal services consisting of professional legal counselling, representation or defence of the person in court, during pre-trial procedure or elsewhere, and preparation of documents for the person and performing other legal acts in the interests of the person.

1.2. In performing the Contract for Legal Services and the assignments, in applying his or her experience and in finding solutions the attorney shall be guided by the objective to ensure the maximum legal protection of the Client’s interests, including to create legal certainty and clarity, and shall be guided by law and professional ethics.

1.3. The intellectual property rights created within the framework of legal services provided by the Firm belong to the Firm and the Firm shall grant the Client a non-exclusive licence for the use of the created documents worldwide in a manner necessary for the Client.

1.4. The Firm shall ensure the quality of the legal service provided to the Client and shall be liable for only the direct patrimonial damage caused to the Client through intent or gross negligence during the performance of the Contract for Legal Services.

1.5. The attorneys of the Firm shall apply due diligence measures with regard to the Client, its representatives, actual beneficiaries, transactions and business partners to the extent established in the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act and by the Estonian Bar Association.

2.1. The authorisation and liability to act on behalf of the Client shall come into force at the moment of conclusion of the Contract for Legal Services. The Contract for Legal Services is deemed concluded if it has been signed or if the intent of the parties has been explicitly expressed in a format which can be reproduced in writing or by actions.

2.2. In order to replace the attorney performing the assignment, the Firm shall appoint one of its attorneys as a substitute attorney. The Client is entitled to demand replacement of the substitute attorney.

2.3. The assistants to the attorney-at-law act under the guidance of their patron.

2.4. The Firm and the attorney shall not conclude transactions on behalf of and on the account of themselves in the interests of or based on the assignment of the Client, if the purpose thereof is to conceal the actual beneficiary owner, circumvent any supervision, tax, reporting and other obligations, or any other purpose contrary to the law.

2.5. The Firm is entitled to process the personal data of the Client and third parties relating to the performance of the assignment in accordance with the Privacy Policy of the Firm available at Privacy Policy.

2.6. The Firm shall identify the Client at the first meeting.

3.1. The principles for calculation and the amount of the fees for legal services are indicated in the Contract for Legal Services either as an hourly fee, a fixed fee (so-called assignment fee) or a combination of the assignment fee and the performance fee.

3.2. The agreed hourly rate shall be valid for one (1) year, after that the parties shall, in good faith, agree upon a new hourly rate.

3.3. The hourly rate for the work performed, at the request of the Client, outside the usual working hours shall be multiplied by the coefficient of 1.5 and the hourly rate for the services necessary for the performance of the Client’s assignment to be performed by the technical staff of the Firm (e.g. delivery of documents, examining documents in administrative agencies, etc.) shall be multiplied by the coefficient of 0.6.

3.4. The Firm shall keep account of the time spent on the performance of the Client’s assignment. The smallest unit of time used for the accounting is five (5) minutes and the time spent on activities is rounded up with the accuracy of five (5) minutes.

3.5. The Client shall reimburse the Firm for the justified and necessary expenses relating to the performance of the assignment. The expenses to be reimbursed include e.g. state fees, translation costs, expert fees, reasonable necessary travel expenses (plane tickets, ferry tickets, hotel accommodation, etc.), necessary courier and communication costs, cost of making unusually high number of copies, binding, etc. At the request of the Client, the Firm shall add the relevant expense receipts (invoices, receipts, boarding passes, etc.) to the invoice for the legal services.

3.6. As a rule, the Firm shall submit the invoice for the legal services provided and the expenses incurred during the previous month at the beginning of the next month. The maturity of the invoice is 10 days, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. At the request of the Client, the Firm shall supplement the invoice with a report on provided legal services.

3.7. In the event of delay in payment, the Firm is entitled to demand payment of fine for delay of 0.25% of the unpaid amount for each delayed day, to discontinue performance of the obligations assumed under the Contract for Legal Services and to disclose the information concerning the Client and the Client’s debt (including the Client’s name and surname, personal identification code, debt amount, time of the occurrence of delay) in the debtors’ database maintained by the Estonian Bar Association that is available to its members, as well as in other debtors’ databases.

4.1. The confidentiality of the communication with the Client at the place of business of the Firm is ensured by law and the Firm shall maintain the confidentiality of the fact of applying for legal services, the content of legal assistance and the amount of the fees.

4.2. The confidentiality obligation shall not be limited in time and shall apply to all the employees of the Firm. The Firm shall duly observe the requirements of the professional ethics of attorneys.

4.3. The confidentiality obligation shall not extend to the Firm only in the event of a direct obligation arising from the law (including the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act) to disclose information, or if the consent to disclose the information arises from any authorisation or assignment of the Client.

4.4. The Firm shall make reasonable efforts to ensure confidentiality of any communication performed by means of electronic devices, but the Client is aware that it is impossible to guarantee full confidentiality in case of such communication.

5.1. The Firm has no obligation to verify the accuracy of information received from the Client.

5.2. The Firm shall, during the performance of the assignment, maintain all documents related to the performance of the assignment that are received from the Client or third parties.

5.3. The Firm is entitled not to maintain documents in paper form if there is an electronic copy thereof (except for original documents). The firm shall not maintain any printouts of electronic correspondence and electronic documents publicly available on the Internet.

5.4. The Firm is entitled to withhold the documents of the Client until the fees for the legal service and the costs related to the provision of service have been reimbursed.

5.5. After the termination of the assignment or the Contract for Legal Services, the Client is obligated to collect, on its own account, from the Firm the documents received for performance of the assignment from the Client or third parties.

5.6. After the termination of the assignment, the Firm shall keep the documents received for six (6) months, unless agreed otherwise.

5.7. After the expiry of six (6) months, the Firm is entitled to destroy the documents or store them in the archive and to demand the reimbursement of the relevant expenses from the Client.

6.1. The Firm is entitled to amend these present General Terms and Conditions at any time by informing thereof on its homepage. The most recent version of these Terms and Conditions is always available at General Terms and Conditions of Provision of Legal Services.

6.2. Upon the termination of the Contract for Legal Services, the Firm shall reasonably consider the objective to avoid damaging the interests of the Client.

6.3. The Client may terminate the Contract for Legal Services at any time by informing the Firm thereof.

6.4. The Firm may waive the obligations assumed under the Contract for Legal Services or terminate the Contract for Legal Services, including without disclosing the reasons therefor, if:

a) there occurs a conflict of interest; or
b) the Client has submitted a request, the fulfilment of which requires the attorney to violate the law or the requirements of professional ethics; or
c) the Client has violated a material provision of the Contract for Legal Services; or
d) the Client fails to submit information or documents that are necessary for the Firm or the attorneys for the application of the due diligence measures; or
e) at any time during the provision of legal services, there occurs a circumstance that suggests that the person, act or business relationship is connected with money laundering or financing of terrorism, or that the Client, its representative or its actual beneficiary is subject to a sanction, or if so required by the supervisory authority related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.

6.5. The legal relationship arising from this contract shall be governed by the national laws of Estonia. The parties shall attempt to settle any disputes by means of negotiations. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the disputes shall be settled at Harju County Court.