TERMS OF BUSINESS

 

Our Working Relationship

  1. Effective representation requires open and honest communication. We need you to provide us with clear and timely instructions, relevant information and documents, and make yourself available for consultation.
  2. You should carefully check for any insurance policies that might relate to the work we do for you and notify your insurers promptly to protect your rights. Unless you disclose these policies and we agree to advise on them in the Engagement Letter, we are not responsible for advising you on the existence or applicability of any insurance coverage.
  3. We may communicate with you using any reasonable method, including but not limited to electronic communications, like email, which may not be absolutely secure and present risk of interception or copying.
  4. Generally, communications between a lawyer and client regarding legal advice are privileged and confidential. You may jeopardize these protections by disclosing communications to others. You agree we are under no duty to disclose (and may be prohibited from disclosing) to you any information that is confidential to another client or any other person.

Fees and Costs

  1. Our fees are set out in the attached Engagement Letter. Hourly rates are adjusted annually. Unless expressly stated otherwise, estimates we provide are solely for planning purposes, subject to change, and reflect an assessment of fees or costs if a matter proceeds in accordance with our assumptions. This is neither a floor nor a ceiling on your obligation to pay, as actual fees and costs may deviate significantly from the estimate. We will periodically update estimates if they are reasonably requested. However, in the absence of such a request, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any estimate as a matter progresses, or as actual fees and costs are realized.
  2. Our policy is to bill electronically on a monthly basis, except that we reserve the right to issue an interim bill and to change the frequency of billing and the time for payment. If you disagree with any invoice, please contact us immediately, otherwise we will understand that the invoice is agreeable to you. Our invoices are payable when delivered on the terms set forth therein, and you remain responsible for paying them even if you have an arrangement with a third-party payor for payment. If full payment is not received when due, we reserve the right to suspend services, terminate and/or seek withdrawal, charge reasonable interest, and hold you responsible for any collection costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees.
  3. In adversarial proceedings, you agree that as of 90 days before any scheduled trial,  arbitration, or other dispute resolution proceeding’s date (or at a later time that we may make such request), all fees and costs incurred up to that point will be paid and you will either provide us with a deposit (or augment any existing deposit) or make another satisfactory arrangement to ensure payment of all fees and costs estimated to be incurred from that point through the end of trial or arbitration.

Privacy, Data Protection and Other Regulation

  1. Anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, anti-terrorist, and similar laws require compliance with client identification, verification, and other rules. We may not be able to represent you until we have all the information we need for these purposes.
  2. Brennan, Manna & Diamond is committed to ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of personal data disclosed to us in the course of our work for you. We will handle personal data you send to us about you, your employees, agents, contractors, or other individuals in accordance with data protection and privacy standards equivalent to or higher than those required by law. We may transfer such data between locations in order to provide legal services to you.
  3. Where we process personal data as provided above, we do so as a data controller and we ultimately take responsibility for handling the data in compliance with applicable data protection and privacy laws. Any personal data supplied by us to you about our employees and/or any other individuals may only be used for the expressed purposes for which that information is provided to you.
  4. We do not tolerate bribery or corruption.

Your File and Our Records Retention

  1. Absent professional obligations or written direction from you to the contrary, we may dispose of all records relating to the representation seven (7) years after we last performed work on the matter, without further notice to you.

Termination

  1. You may terminate the engagement at any time for any reason. We may terminate the engagement at any time, consistent with our ethical obligations. We expressly reserve the right to stop acting for you, and you expressly consent to our right to terminate, if you fail to pay for amounts invoiced or requested within 30 days of receipt. You remain responsible for paying fees and costs related to work performed before the end of the engagement, and we will not be liable for any resulting loss.

Completion of Engagement

  1. Our representation of you will end when we have completed the services described in the Letter, send our final invoice, or, unless otherwise agreed, after thirty-six (36) months of furnishing no billable services to you, whichever occurs sooner, without the need for further written confirmation. Any new relationship will require a new Engagement Letter, notwithstanding any communications or administrative action after that period.