Rocket Lawyer Legal Advice Terms and Conditions
Last Modified: January 25, 2021
Agreement between you and Rocket Lawyer
We are Rocket Lawyer UK Limited, company number 07975711 and with a registered address at Avaland House 110 London Road, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP3 9SD (Rocket Lawyer, we and us).
By paying our invoice or using our services you agree that these terms shall govern the relationship between you and us in relation to the Services.
You are not permitted to assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of your rights or obligations under the contract.
Rocket Lawyer is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) but the solicitors who we employ or engage to provide you with the Services are. Each of our solicitors holds a current practising certificate and follows the SRA Standards and Regulations available here: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/
- More simply put
- By paying our invoice or using our services, you agree to these terms and conditions.
- You cannot transfer the rights granted or the obligations imposed by these terms and conditions to anybody else.
- Our solicitors are regulated by the SRA, but Rocket Lawyer is not.
Contact us
You can email us at client@rocketlawyer.co.uk from 9:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday - excluding bank holidays (Business Hours).
Our Services
We will provide you with the legal services set out below.
Our Services are based on the information you give us, so please make sure you tell us everything we need to know. The more accurate and relevant the information, the better the service.
The intellectual property in the product of the Services is owned by Rocket Lawyer and you alone will have a non-exclusive, perpetual, free of further charge licence to use the product so far as is reasonable for the purposes set out in the Engagement Letter.
What you can expect from us
We will always:
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Communicate with you in plain language;
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Respond to you in a timely manner;
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Provide you with timely progress reports;
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Obtain your approval before sending out to anyone else any important letters or documents; and
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Complete the work to the standards expected of a solicitor.
Things we can’t or won’t do:
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Speak to anyone who contacts us on your behalf, unless you’ve already given us permission to do so;
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Give advice for someone else;
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Guarantee that you’ll always speak to the same person when you call us. If you email us, we’ll try to make sure the same person advises you, but we can’t guarantee this;
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Advise you if there’s a conflict of interest (a conflict occurs where you interests clash with the interests of another Rocker Lawyer client). Data-protection laws mean we can’t always say what the conflict is;
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Advise you if it’s against the law or other regulations. Our lawyers follow the SRA Handbook. We won’t be able to advise you if it means breaking these rules;
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Provide advice on:
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Taxation of any sort so we will not be responsible for the effect of taxation on you or otherwise from any document or procedure created by us;
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Financial investment; and
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Law outside England and Wales so we will not be responsible for the effect of any document, or procedure that is governed by the laws of a jurisdiction outside England and Wales
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Taking any action in court or arbitration.
We will advise you according to the law in force when we give our advice. Afterwards, if there is a change in the law, we will not update our work or advice, unless we have agreed to do so under a new Engagement Letter for a new Fee.
What we need from you
To ensure that we provide the best service possible, we need you to:
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Provide us with documents to confirm your identity (eg your passport and a utility bill);
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Tell us everything about your case the outset and any information that comes up whilst we are completing the work;
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Provide any documents we request in a timely manner;
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Respond to our communications quickly; and
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Treat us with respect. Any aggressive or unreasonable manner towards any member of Rocket Lawyer will not be tolerated and may result in cancellation of the Services.
- More simply put
Rocket Lawyer's intellectual property belongs to us. You can only use it for the purposes set out in your Engagement Letter.
Your file
We will not retain a physical copy of documents. However, in the unlikely circumstance that you provide us with physical documents, upon completion of the Services we will return to you original documents you have given to us, unless you consent to their destruction.
We will keep an electronic copy of documents for such time as we reasonably judge (at least 6 years from their creation) or as required by law, after which we may destroy them without reference to you.
Your file may be scrutinised by an outside body such as our accountants, the SRA and other similar or accreditation bodies for audit and quality control purposes.
Protecting your personal data
When it comes to your personal data, we will always protect it in accordance with our privacy policy.
Disclosing information
We will not disclose any information about your affairs with anyone else unless you have given us your prior consent, except as provided below or as required by appicable law.
Your communications with us might not be covered by legal professional privilege which allows you to refuse to disclose certain confidential, legal communications to third parties - this includes court, tribunals, regulatory bodies and enforcement agencies. Legal privilege is a right that can only be waived by you as the client and means that we may refuse to disclose anything (unless we suspect illegal activity) without your consent.
- More simply put
We will keep your affairs confidential except in limited circumstances.
Your Fees
Rocket Lawyer operates under an agreed fixed fee structure. This means that you will only be charged for the amount listed in the Engagement Letter(s) or as otherwise agreed by us in writing for any further Services. This means that the amount you pay to us is for only the work we have agreed within the Services, and we will not be obliged to do anything beyond that work, unless we separately agree in writing with you another Fee and you have paid it to us.
The Fee includes VAT. We are registered for VAT with HM Customs and Excise.
You will make all payments to us as described in your invoice provided with the Engagement Letter(s).
We will not start any Service until we have received full payment for that Service. You will not have engaged us to provide the Services until you have paid our invoice. This inevitably means that sometimes a delay will occur in the start of further Services.
- More simply put
We'll only charge you the amount listed in your Engagement Letter. For any additional work, we'll charge you what's been agreed between us in writing. We don't have to do any work beyond what has been agreed, unless we separately agree to another fee and that fee is paid. We will only start work once we've received payment in full.
Disbursements
A disbursement is money that we have to pay to a third party (eg a charge for a third party search). All reasonable disbursements have been anticipated and included in your Fee.
In the unlikely event that there are, without our fault, further disbursements, we will contact you immediately to discuss how you would like to proceed, and you might have to pay the amount of such disbursements as above in advance of our being able to continue with the Services, otherwise we will have to delay or stop the Services.
If we find that we do not need to pay a disbursement by the end of the Services, we will promptly repay to you an amount equal to it, to your credit or debit card account.
- More simply put
Any payments we need to make to somebody else (disbursements) are included in your fee. In the event of any additional disbursements we need to make, we'll contact you to discuss your options. We'll pay you an amount equal to the disbursement amount if we find we no longer have to pay it once we've finished work.
Stopping the Service
You can stop our work immediately by emailing us at client@rocketlawyer.co.uk. You may need to describe the reason why you want to. Once you have paid for the Services refunds will only be provided at our sole discretion.
You acknowledge that by engaging us you waive the right to any statutory 14 day cancellation period.
We may by notice by email suspend or stop the work immediately if we find that:
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We can’t act because of a conflict of interest;
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The relationship between you and has broken down; or
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You have committed a serious breach of the contract and, if such breach is capable of remedy, you fail to remedy the breach within 30 days’ written notice specifying the breach and requiring it to be remedied.
You may by notice by email suspend or stop the work if we have committed a serious breach of the contract.
For situations where we have stopped the work, you may be entitled to a refund of the fair portion of the fees which represent the work not yet completed.
- More simply put
If you wish for us to stop work, email us. Refunds will only be provided at our discretion.
Insurance
SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions
Rocket Lawyer holds professional indemnity insurance with Travellers Insurance Company Limited, our insurance policy number being UC SCR 5564302. We can change the insurer and so the terms of the insurance can change from time to time. The insurance will cover our activities carried on only in England and Wales. As Rocket Lawyer is not regulated by the SRA, we are not subject to the SRA's minimum requirements regarding professional indemnity insurance.
SRA Compensation Fund
The solicitors we employ or engage to provide you with the Services are regulated by the SRA, however, Rocket Lawyer is not. This means that you will not be eligible to make a claim on the SRA Compensation Fund, which compensates people whose money has been stolen, misappropriated, or otherwise not properly accounted for, or who have suffered a loss for which a regulated solicitor should have been insured, but was not. As Rocket Lawyer does not receive and hold client funds, this fund is of no relevance to our clients.
- More simply put
- We hold professional indemnity insurance, which we may change from time to time. As we are not regulated by the SRA, their minimum terms regarding professional indemnity insurance don't apply to us.
- Our solicitors are regulated by the SRA, but Rocket Lawyer is not. This means that if there's been a problem with one of our solicitors, and you've suffered financially as a result, you won't be eligible to make a claim for compensation under the SRA's Compensation Fund.
Limitation of civil liability by contract
Our aggregate liability to you (including, without limitation, liability for legal and other fees, costs and disbursements) however arising is limited to the amount which is paid out under our professional indemnity insurance policy in respect of the claim concerned plus the amount of the excess or deductible under such policy.
We are only liable for the losses we cause directly.
You can only claim (however arising) against us, and not against any of the following (even if they have been negligent): our shareholders, members, directors, employees, consultants, barristers, solicitors, agents, or any other entity whatsoever, including, without limitation, any other entity in the group of companies of which Rocket Lawyer forms a part. If anyone signs a document in his own name, that does not mean that the signatory accepts any personal legal liability. Each person mentioned in this paragraph can enforce the benefit of this paragraph pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. We emphasise that Rocket Lawyer is solely liable for the Services carried out on its behalf by those persons.
There will be no liability in respect of any such claim however arising unless you give us no later than 12 months after the date of completion of the Services written notice (eg by email) of the claim, stating in reasonable detail the nature of the claim and your best estimate of the amount claimed by you.
Despite the other provisions in the contract, liability will not be excluded or limited by any provision in the contract to the extent prohibited or limited by law and nothing will affect liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraudulent misrepresentation or other fraud.
The term “however arising” when used or referred to in the contract covers any and all causes and actions giving rise to liability arising out of or in connection with the contract and/or the Services, whether arising by reason of any misrepresentation, negligence, other tort, breach of statutory duty, repudiation, renunciation or other breach of contract, restitution or otherwise, whether caused by any total or partial failure or delay in supply, and whether deliberate (but not in bad faith) or otherwise, however fundamental the result.
No party will be liable to another if it fails to meet its obligations due to a matter beyond its reasonable control.
The exclusions and limitations of liability contained in the contract will apply regardless of whether the loss or damage was foreseeable or whether you notify us of the possibility of any greater loss or damage.
- More simply put
If you have a problem with Rocket Lawyer, you can only claim against us (rather than our people) to the value of our professional indemnity insurance policy and for losses caused by us directly.
Governing Law
The contract and these terms and conditions are governed by the law of England and Wales. Disputes must be submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales or where you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
- More simply put
These terms and conditions are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any disputes will be decided by a court based in England and Wales, or if you live there, a court based in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
Unless otherwise stated, no provision in the contract is enforceable under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 by a person who is not a party to the contract other than any solicitor or other person employed or engaged by Rocket Lawyer and any other entity in the group of companies of which Rocket Lawyer forms a part, although the parties may rescind or vary the contract without the consent of any person.
- More simply put
Only a party to these terms and conditions can enforce them (including our solicitors, employees, consultants or other entity in our group of companies).
Money laundering and criminal activity
Confidentiality and legal professional privilege do not apply to any attempt to launder through Rocket Lawyer the proceeds of a criminal act (eg money or assets gained through tax evasion, drug trafficking, or any other criminal activity). If Rocket Lawyer has a reasonable suspicion that it is being used for this purpose, it is bound by law to make a report to the National Crime Agency and this report will not be notified to you.
How to make a complaint
Complain to us
We aim to offer an efficient and effective service to you, and we are confident that we will do so. If you’re unhappy with any aspect of our service and you cannot resolve it with your lawyer then you can always raise it with us via client@rocketlawyer.co.uk.
We have a formal complaints handling procedure which will be used if we cannot resolve matters to your satisfaction.
You will not be charged for time spent handling any complaints. We aim to resolve such complaints as quickly and professionally as possible.
Complain to the Legal Ombudsman about your solicitor
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or you are not happy with our final response, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. Before approaching the Legal Ombudsman with your complaint, you must try to let us resolve it first.
If you would like more information about this service, including the time limits for taking a case to them, please contact the Legal Ombudsman directly. You can find out more about their service by visiting www.legalombudsman.org.uk or contacting them on 0300 555 0333.
Complain to the SRA about your solicitor
If we can’t resolve things, you could refer your complaint to the SRA:
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Phone: 0370 606 2555 - Fax: 0121 616 1999
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Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk
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Address: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN or DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47
Complaints about Rocket Lawyer
Please note that you can only complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA about your solicitor. You cannot use these channels to complain about Rocket Lawyer as Rocket Lawyer itself is not regulated by the Legal Ombudsman or the SRA. If you have a complaint about Rocket Lawyer please contact us on client@rocketlawyer.co.uk and we will try our best to resolve your issue.
UK European Consumer Centre
The UK European Consumer Centre can be accessed here: https://www.ukecc.net. This can be used for resolving disputes about products and services purchased online.
About us
Name: Rocket Lawyer UK Limited
Company number: 07975711
Registered address: Avaland House 110 London Road, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP3 9SD
VAT number: 145 1418 33
Company type: Limited liability company
Email: client@rocketlawyer.co.uk