Legal & Compliance

REGULATION/AUTHORISATION

Flemings Legal Services Limited (referred to on this Website as Flemings) is regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. The Law Society of Scotland's website can be found via the following link: http://www.lawscot.org.uk/

 Our company registration number is SC680986 and our registered office is at 8 Albany Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 3QB.

Our VAT registration number is:

To see how Flemings processes personal data, please see our privacy notice which can be found on our website (flemingslegal.co.uk)

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

Our compulsory professional indemnity insurance cover is under the Law Society of Scotland's Master Policy for professional indemnity insurance. The cover is provided by a panel of insurers, the lead insurer being Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc. For these purposes, the lead insurer's address is 200 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5SG. The territorial coverage of the cover is worldwide.

EQUALITY STANDARDS POLICY

Flemings is committed to promoting equality and diversity in its own policies, practices and procedures and in those areas in which it has influence. This applies to Fleming’s dealings with members of Flemings (which in this context will include partners/directors and employees and any other person engaged by Flemings), solicitors, counsel, clients and third parties. 

Flemings will treat everyone equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect and will not discriminate without lawful cause against any person, nor will it victimise or harass any person on the grounds of their race or racial group (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), gender (including marital status, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity and paternity), sexual orientation (including civil partnership status), religion or belief, age or disability.

Flemings will take such steps and make such adjustments as are necessary in all the circumstances in order to prevent any members of Flemings and any clients who are disabled from being placed at a disadvantage in comparison with those who are not disabled.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

We recognise that Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations have implemented ADR/EDR Directive 2013/11/EU to promote alternative dispute resolution as a means of redress for consumers in relation to unsatisfactory services. We have however chosen not to adopt an ADR process and if you have any concerns about the services you receive from Flemings you should contact our Client Relations Partner.

ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING STATEMENT

Flemings is fully committed to fulfilling our obligations in the detection and prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and other forms of financial crime.  We carry out client due diligence measures when clients are taken on, including assessing the risk profile of clients and their matters, and we monitor their risk on an ongoing basis.  We have policies and procedures and train our staff to prevent the use of the firm for money laundering, including reporting suspicion of money laundering to the authorities.  We may decline to act or continue acting at any time if we have concerns.

COMPLAINTS

We're committed to providing a high quality legal service. Despite the efforts we make, we know that mistakes can sometimes happen. If you're unhappy, we would like to hear from you, so we can improve our service and standards. We also want to help to try and put things right. If you have a complaint please contact our Client Relations Partner Christopher Fleming  [INSERT email].

DISCLAIMER

The information on this Website is of a general nature only, does not constitute legal or other professional advice and may not be relied upon as such. Before taking or refraining from a specific course of action please consult Flemings for specific advice.

This Website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. The inclusion of such links does not imply any endorsement or approval of any products, information, materials or services offered or provided on these third party websites.

The internet is not secure. This Website is not guaranteed to be free of computer viruses or error and it is recommended that you check for computer viruses and/or errors before transmission or down-loading.

No responsibility whatsoever will be accepted by Flemings and/or its members for any loss or damage (including indirect or consequential damage) (a) suffered by any user of the information on this Website or the material downloaded from it and/or (b) that may result from computer viruses and/or errors which may occur whilst using material derived from this Website.

PRICE TRANSPARENCY FOR CLIENTS AND POTENTIAL CLIENTS

INTRODUCTION

We are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. The Law Society has issued guidance on what is called “Price Transparency”. This relates to information which should be made available to clients and potential clients about fees, outlays and costs that may be incurred when instructing a solicitor. The guidance is in place for all firms in Scotland that offer legal services on a private client basis. 

We aim to be open and transparent with all clients regarding the costs incurred for the services which we will provide. At the point of providing instructions, or indeed considering the provision of instructions to our office, a solicitor will always endeavour to provide a clear indication of the likely costs to be incurred both initially - usually in the context of an “instruction fee” - and for the different stages of a case as it progresses. It is much easier to provide a real indication of costs in the context of a case itself rather than in the context of generalities. We can however, give illustrations of the potential costs which can be incurred though it is important to always bear in mind that every legal case is individual in its requirements and difficulties and, indeed, as regards the value of the matter to you, our client.

It may be a reasonable anticipation that outlays will be incurred, for example, court costs, the costs for doctor reports/expert reports. Some kinds of work carry a fixed fee, others are calculated by a scale or unit cost varying with the amount of time or other effort that is appropriate for the completion of the case or transaction. Over and above fees, outlays are charges and costs paid out by Flemings on behalf of the client to other companies, offices, organisations – e.g. the sheriff court, Registers of Scotland, search companies, local authorities and others. These charges are incurred by the client as a necessary part of the work being done. Flemings makes no margin or profit on outlays, they are simply passed on to the client at whatever cost is charged to us. We will do our best to identify them to you in advance and will notify you of any costs to be incurred before we incur liability for them on your behalf.

So while we have outlined these examples, and hope they are helpful in describing the kind of charges for your work, you can be almost sure that none of them exactly matches it - except by chance in a few limited cases. But this unavoidable mismatch is dealt with by another Law Society of Scotland requirement. All work to be carried out by solicitors in any firm must be preceded by a written estimate or quotation of fees, VAT and outlays. This costing is part of an obligation to issue clients with Terms of Engagement – a set of relevant information made up of a formal letter and other related documentation.

Clients and potential clients reading this Price Transparency material should contact one of our solicitors for the specific and detailed estimate/quotation of fees, as well as discussing the work to be done and any other preliminary matters.

This Price Transparency information is given in good faith but clients and potential clients must appreciate that any examples of fees and outlays set out here and an indication of the scope of work set out here will be superseded by any specific estimates of fees and outlays and detailed scopes of work provided in any engagement letter which we issue. If there is any inconsistency between the general information set out here and the specific information set out in our engagement letter, the terms of our engagement letter will prevail.

GENERAL ADVICE AND REPRESENTATION

As general practice solicitors Flemings takes on a range of clients and cases. Sometimes the work is preliminary advice, or assistance with a minor or brief legal issue requiring correspondence with other parties or solicitors, and/or creating of legal documentation. There really is no limit to the range of needs of clients when it comes to legal services and processes.

A solicitor from our office will usually be available to discuss matters briefly by telephone and to indicate whether or not any particular issue is one with which we can assist and at what cost private instructions would be accepted. It is however, usually impossible to set a ceiling or top limit on the likely level of fees. Inevitably fees are driven by circumstances which may well be outside the control of you, our client. We will always seek to ensure that fees are charged on a basis which is fair and reasonable and at the outset, agree with you an initial fixed fee for review and appraisal of your case overall. This will allow you to decide with a greater degree of certainty, if continuing with the case is the best thing for you. We reserve the right to review the level of the agreed fee should your case become protracted or in the event of unanticipated complications but we will advise you of such changes in advance and agree them with you. We cannot undertake work without prior funding and generally payment will be required to allow work to progress on the basis of a reasonable estimate of the work to be done. It is likely that we will require payment from you as the case progresses.

We often offer preliminary consultation without charge for a discussion or meeting, though we reserve the right to charge for all services and advice. Some examples of miscellaneous charges: For notarising/certifying documents a fee may be £60. No outlays.