Terms of Business

WHO WE ARE? The Dundee Law Centre uses the law to defend and extend people’s rights. We are lawyers, working to help people realise their rights and to reduce inequality in Dundee. We work collaboratively with other Law Centres, private law firms and support services to address unmet legal need.

Dundee Law Centre is the trading name of Dundee North Law Centre, which is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Scottish Charity No: SC032226). We will be providing legal services to you through our limited liability partnership, DNLC LLP (Registered No: SC217688). Any income that we make from providing legal services, after payment of outlays, will be paid by DNLC LLP to the SCIO, Dundee North Law Centre. You can find out more about us at our website www.dundeelaw.org.

OUR SERVICE

We aim to:

work with you to understand what help you would like from us and what we can provide.
treat you with fairness and respect.

explain your options in a way that you understand.
work quickly and efficiently, in a professional way.
tell you about our progress regularly and tell you about any likely delays; and
get back to you quickly when you have a question.

HOW WE WILL CONTACT YOU

We will discuss with you how you would prefer us to contact you: by letter, email, phone or, if you prefer, through a professional who is working with you. If we are not able to communicate with you in the way you would prefer, we will tell you and will explain the reasons for this.

If your contact details change, please tell us as soon as possible.

IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH OUR SERVICE

If you are not happy with the quality of the service, we have given you, please discuss your concerns first with the lawyer responsible for supervising your legal case. 

If you are still not happy, or if you prefer to do so, you can contact our Client Relations Partner, Kenneth Marshall, contact: kenneth.marshall@dundeelaw.org to make a complaint. Kenneth will make sure that any complaint you make is fully investigated and that you get a detailed response, normally within 10 working days.

If you are still not satisfied, you have the right to take the matter up with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) at The Stamp Office, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG by ringing 0131 201 2130 or visiting their website https://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk. Please note deadlines apply to complaints of this nature, details of which are available on the SLCC website or by contacting them.

WHAT WE ASK OF YOU

To help us deliver our best service to you, please:

give us all relevant details of the work you want us to do for you.
tell us about any changes or events important to your legal case when they happen.

update us with your current address and contact details so that we can reach you quickly, especially if we must meet important deadlines; and
give us your instructions when we need them to move on with your work.

If you do not do this, your work may be delayed or it could affect your position (for example, if you miss a deadline, you could lose your right to make a claim). We will not be responsible for anything that happens because of these delays, and we may have to stop working for you if we cannot get instructions from you.

We also ask that you treat all staff with respect and refrain from threatening or abusive behaviour. Any threatening or abusive behaviour may mean you are subject to a restriction on your service as outlined in our Unacceptable Behaviour Policy which can be found on our website.

WHO PAYS FOR OUR WORK ON YOUR BEHALF?

The Law Centre will never charge you any money for the work that we do. But there might be fees that you have to pay to the Sheriff Court, if you do not qualify for Legal Aid. Furthermore, there may be a risk that you are liable for the legal expenses of the other party in a court action and/or that you must pay a contribution to the Scottish Legal Aid Board in certain matters. We will tell you about this if it applies to you. You can then decide whether you want us to work for you, bearing in mind the potential costs.

When we begin working for you, we will discuss with you whether you are eligible for legal aid from the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) in relation to the work you have asked us to do. If you do not qualify for legal aid, we might not be able to take on your case.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

When we request personal information from you, we will explain why we have asked for it, and what we will use it for.

We may request personal information from you, for example, such as your name and contact details, to provide you with legal advice. We might also request sensitive personal information, such as your racial or ethnic origin, or details of your health, or of harm you may have suffered, if this is relevant to your legal case. You have the right to withhold information if you wish.

Confidentiality

We will not use your personal information for any purpose other than the purposes we told you about at the time you agreed to share it with us unless we are required to do so by law.  

Your Rights in Relation to Your Personal Information

You have several important rights in relation to the data we hold about you, which you can exercise at any time:

To ask to see a record of all the personal information we hold.
To ask that we amend any incorrect or incomplete data that we hold.

To withdraw consent and request that we permanently delete any data we hold; and
To complain about how we have taken or processed your data.

For more information or to exercise any of these rights, please see our Privacy Notice at Web Address or contact our Data Protection officer – jade.duffy@dundeelaw.org.

OUR WORKING PRACTICES

Managing Our Files

We use electronic scanning and archiving in respect of our files. This is done in accordance with guidance from the Law Society of Scotland.

As a result, your original documents will either be scanned and returned to you or destroyed after we have scanned them. This may be immediately after we receive the documents, or later. We do not operate a “buffer” system where originals are held for a period before they are destroyed, and we assume you agree with this process unless you tell us otherwise.

We will scan birth, marriage, death certificates for filing purposes only, and scanned copies of these documents are never substitutes for the originals.
It is important that you understand that if there is a subsequent dispute or court case, an electronic copy of a document may not have the same status as an original document and may be treated as having less evidential value. Therefore, if you have original documents that you do not wish to be destroyed, please discuss this with your solicitor. We will then arrange for these to be kept and returned to you at the end of your case.

If you, or another firm of solicitors, asks us for a paper copy of an electronic file, we may charge a fee for printing and postage costs.

We will store files relating to your work for a period of 3 years following the closure of a file.

Copyright

We own the copyright in any materials we produce for you. The advice we give and the documents we prepare are for your use only, and you must not allow anyone to copy or use them without our written permission.

RELEVANT LAWS AND REGULATIONS

These Terms of Business apply to all work that we do for you. They are attached to our Client Care Letter which also applies to any work that we agree to for you. We will ask you to sign a Consent Form at the start of our work with you, to confirm that you understand and agree to these Terms of Business. Altogether these documents make up our contract with you.

Our contract is governed by Scots law. Any legal action relating to our contract may be brought in the country whose law applies, or in any other country whose courts may have authority under general law.

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 way of reaching a solution when clients are not happy with the service they have received. We have however chosen not to adopt an ADR process, and if you have any concerns about the services you receive from this firm you should contact our Client Relations Partner Kenneth Marshall.

Anti-Money Laundering

Under UK anti-money-laundering law, we must:

gather information about your identity and check that information.

gather information about the identities of people who are related to you, if relevant, and possibly check that information; and
continue to monitor the transaction and keep all the information up to date.

If we do not receive satisfactory evidence of your identity, we will not be able to work for you.

We also have a duty to report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) if we know or suspect that any funds or assets involved in a matter were made through criminal activity. This duty may take priority over our duty to keep your information confidential.

It is an offence to tell someone that a report has been filed to NCA and that they may be investigated. If we make a report to NCA, we cannot carry on with your work without NCA approval, and we will not be able to tell you the reason for this.

Anti-Bribery and Corruption

We are committed to the highest standards of professional behaviour in our business. We will not accept any form of bribery or corruption. 

Conflicts of Interest

In most cases, we cannot act for you if your interests, conflict with the interests of any of our clients, or of the firm itself. If we become aware of a conflict of interest or think that one may arise, we will discuss with you about how we will proceed. Depending on the circumstances, we may decide that we must stop acting as your solicitors.

OUR REGULATORS

We are regulated by The Law Society of Scotland and authorised by them to act as solicitors. You can contact the Law Society of Scotland on 0131 226 7411, at Atria One, 144 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EX or through their website http://www.lawscot.org.uk.

We thank you and we are pleased to be working with you.