Terms of Business (TOB)

ICS Legal Standard Terms of Business

Introduction

1. Our Terms of Business are in addition to us serving you a Client Care Letter (CCL).
2. The Terms of Business are an agreement in place to ensure both we and our clients are protected.
3. We will serve a tailored Engagement Terms to clients on our retainer model, which will include service level agreements.
4. The Terms of Business may change without notice. However, clients who have entered into engagement by instructing us on a fixed fee or retainer model, will have a transitional period to adhere into the new Terms of Business.
5. No part of these agreement can be copied, re-produced or used for means other than its intended purpose.
6. ICS Legal is a London based immigration law firm and our fees are calculated based on the UK Governments hourly rate which can be found here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/solicitors-guideline-hourly-rates. These fees are in line with our fixed work and retainer model.

Special meanings including interpretations

7. “ICS Legal”, “we”, “us”, “our” & “the firm” means ICS Legal Immigration Specialists Limited.
8. 'Client' means the individual or the legal person from whom we agree to accept instructions from.
9. 'Engagement Terms' means any letter or email sent at the beginning of a Matter or a series of Matters to a Client, as supplemented or amended by any later letter or email, setting out the terms on which we are engaged to act on a particular Matter or a series of Matters, and which may be extended to include subsequent Matters.
10. 'Advice' means, in relation to our services, legal advice and related services that we provide to you.

Our approach

11. At ICS Legal, we are committed to delivering an exceptional service – providing the highest quality advice and support efficiently and effectively, every time.
12. Our clients are at the heart of how we work. Understanding what our clients value and aligning with their needs underpins our approach. 
13. We invest heavily to ensure that clients benefit from our extensive knowledge and market insights so that they have access to the best team for the job, and that we bring the right processes and advanced technologies to bear for every situation.
14. We have a history of being on the forefront of innovation in our sector and our aim is to continue to set the benchmark.
15. To do this, we have put technology and innovation at the heart of the firm's strategy, by building a culture where we always ask ourselves "How could we do this better?".
16. All our work conducted is in our client’s best interest and we do not guarantee, provide a percentage on the possible outcome nor have any influence on the decision making.
17. ICS Legal continuously strives at ensuring the optimal quality of the services we render, for example, by maintaining and developing our internal quality control system with instructions, guidelines, checklists, etc.
18. If our services do not fulfil your expectations, please do not hesitate to inform us. An email should be sent to info@icslegal.com and we will endeavour to respond between 3-5 working days.

Acceptance of Terms

19. Your continuing instructions amount to your acceptance of these Terms of Business & Engagement.
20. All instructions are governed by our standard terms of engagement and notification of this, along with a link to the same can be found at the bottom of emails sent out by the firms authorised representatives.
21. These terms are available to all parties irrespective of whether you instruct us or not and therefore should be considered as pre-advised terms.

Legal Consultations

22. ICS Legal offers consultations on the telephone, video and in-person at our office. These consultations are required payable accordingly.
23. A client must not record conversations between us. These are private meetings and cannot be reproduced.
24. When a client schedules and pays for a consultation, ICS Legal has a right to charge an administration fee to cover any cancelled sessions.
25. Consultations are advice only based on the information provided by a client. If either the client withholds or does not provide relevant information whether this is asked by us on a consultation or not, the advice may be incorrect.
26. During a consultation, we do not review any documents nor an application including any legal representation.
27. Consultation is time bound, which means, we have a limit on the call but it is the advice, clarity and help they require that is being charged for.
28. We reserve the right to charge a client a higher fee to the one charged, if the fee paid does not cover the advice required.
29. Following the consultation, we provide a complementary short summary of the advice.
30. A client must book a new consultation session, at the relevant fee, if they wish to take further advice or require clarity. The fee may be higher if the advice required is not appropriate to the cost fee schedule.

Work we undertake once instructed

31. Our work is reliant on the accuracy of the information provided to us by you or on your behalf. It is important in each Matter or series of Matters, to the extent possible, in a timely manner that you (a) provide us with information and documents desirable for us to provide our services to you, (b) inform us of your requirements and (c) inform us of any changes or additions to such information, documents and requirements
32. Extensive Matters will often be evaluated and conducted by several individuals as we always aim at assigning the optimal team for each Matter.
33. The team members are assigned based on the extent and complexity of the assignment, the requirements for expert knowledge as well as the urgency of the assignment. For each assignment, we appoint a responsible Lawyer with whom the Client can communicate during the entire lifecycle of the assignment.
34. It is your responsibility to check that instructions or other material sent to us by any means, including fax, email, courier and post, have been received and are being acted upon, in particular for date sensitive deadlines.
35. ICS Legal will usually communicate by way of emails and you must ensure that the email address you provide is accessible by you at all times. You accept that email is not a secure form of communication, and the contents of an email could be intercepted and read by a third party.
36. You should bear in mind that public holidays may result in disruption to delivery of items by post or by courier or us being able to act on your behalf.
37. We endeavour to divert incoming business emails where the person dealing with your matter is absent, but you should request an acknowledgement and monitor the receipt of any communication sent to check that your instructions are being carried out.
38. For so long as we continue to be instructed by you, we will advise you of any due dates for action to be taken. We will endeavour to remind you of these dates but you should keep a record of them yourself. If we have asked you for instructions, information, documents or other material required for action to be taken by a due date, we rely upon you to provide this in a timely manner.
39. If you do not provide the full and correct material in reasonable time for us to comply with a due date, then you will be liable for any additional costs incurred by us for urgent handling of the matter or for obtaining an extension of time if that is possible.
40. We accept no responsibility for the consequences if material is not received or is received so late or is incorrect or insufficient so that we are unable to take the appropriate action before a due date, which may lead to a loss of rights or to surcharges or other fees being levied for late compliance.
41. Please notify us promptly if there is any change of name, address, telephone number, fax number, email address or similar information, or if there is a change in the person from whom we should seek instructions. We ask that you send us an email to info@icslegal.com and retain the receipt copy.

Confidentiality and Instructions

42. We are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential.
43. We can only be authorised to discuss the legal matter to the named person/s listed on the account.
44. ICS Legal will request a Letter of Authority to discuss a legal matter with any third parties.

Fixed cost work

45. ICS Legal based on the information you provide to us, will confirm a fixed costs schedule.
46. Agreed fixed fee is non-refundable regardless of which stage the matter has reached and it is not dependent on tasks completed or case outcome. Once a payment is taken, we are considered to have been formally instructed akin to progressing further, wherein we will carry out the work planned by us with a view to reaching the desired objective namely a positive outcome. No refunds can be raised once work has commenced. If all our fees have not been paid, this would be requested payable and the account closed thereafter.
47. Our fees do not include any fees to be paid to the Home Office, Tribunal, Court or any third-party. We may advise on the relevant fees, albeit subject to changes.
48. You are responsible to have the relevant fees as stated above, available at the date of the submission.
49. Although the firm will always endeavour to make clients aware of payment deadlines for Government/other fees, it remains the responsibility of the client to ensure that they comply with any such requests at all times. No responsibility will be accepted by the firm for any applications which have been denied/deferred/rejected due to non-payment of Government/third-party fees.
50. Our fixed costs include:
    • Advice on the application being prepared and to be submitted.
    • Advice on evidences and checking of the evidences provided.
    • If a client is asked to provide information and evidences for their application, the responsibility sits with the client only. ICS Legal is not responsible for the checking or the failure of the client of not providing information or document to go in support of an application.
    • Documents must be provided in English.
    • If a document is not in English, the client is responsible to provide an official translated document.
    • Complete the appropriate application.
    • Draft and submit a legal representation letter if appropriate.

51. To assist us in carrying out the work as efficiently as possible, you must ensure that all information and documents are provided to the best of your knowledge, complete, accurate and up-to-date. You must also notify us of any changes or variations to that information which may arise after the date it is passed to us and of any new circumstances that might be relevant to the work we are undertaking.
52. When we set a deadline to provide information and/or documents, you would be required to comply with those directions.
53. The ambit of work and true intention of the applicant/sponsor/third-party will not be materially different to that discussed during the time of instructions.
54. No significant new issues will arise, nor will the matter extend to any significant areas of work not contemplated when the instruction was accepted.
55. The fee does not include any non-standard steps including unexpected problems, instructions or complexities, further representations, a further application, an appeal and / or a challenge of the application should it be refused or rejected for any reason. The fee does not also include any material changes in instructions, circumstances or delays resulting in unforeseen work.
56. On a fixed cost work, our advice on the application is limited to maximum 2 hours, which includes emails and telephone call.
57. We do not set any service levels on any work undertaken on fixed costs. Our team will confirm when a matter could be prepared and filed.
58. If the advice in email or telephone is exceeding the time allowed, we will write to you and explain charges that would apply.
59. A client will be asked to (a) place funds into a client account which we will confirm in our email instructions (b) allow us to continue on the delivery of the service (c) charge fees in line with our fee schedule (d) a client will be given a monthly invoice of costs (e) be asked to replenish if the funds go below a threshold as set out.
60. A client may be charged a consultation fee to attend our office to take advice on the application being prepared and filed.
61. A client will be required to pay a consultation fee if the advice or information required to the application is not covered. For example:
    • A client is considering filing a different application.
    • Risk and issues.
    • Any other matters we find that does not cover the work we have been instructed.

62. These fixed costs may change if we find that information or documents that either had been withheld by you or the person who had instructed us or was not provided through communication.
63. If we find that the fixed fee costs will change, we will write to you and explain the reasons on the additional charges.
64. If you decide not to accept the additional costs, we reserve the right to close the matter, and no refund of fees would be made.

Additional fees applied on fixed fee including disbursement costs

65. Any work we have not been instructed for would be charged in line with our fee schedule.
66. Disbursements will be charged in addition to our professional fees. Where applicable, fees and disbursements are (where liable) subject to VAT or similar taxes in addition.
67. Any disbursement fees (e.g. Home Office fees, , Entry Clearance fees, courier fees, translation fees, interpreting fees) are excluded from our fees. Any postage costs incurred for overseas mail that requiring a UK courier or exceptionally heavy items will also attract an additional fee.
68. To list some of the additional work you may require, this may include as follows.
    • To acquire documents/evidences on your behalf, for example a doctor/school or any third party, a relevant fee would be charged.
    • To obtain a file copy on your behalf which may include from previous Lawyer, Home Office, Tribunal or the Court.
    • If you require an address change or an employer requires a letter from us, a fee will apply.
    • Accompanying a client to a biometric appointment (this is possible for an additional fee which will depend on the location of the biometric appointment).
    • Drafting any non-immigration related documents – e.g. whilst we advise clients on the Innovator, Global Talent, Global Business Mobility schemes, additional fees would be charged.

69. We are also not responsible for preparing any translation of documents although, at our clients’ request, we may obtain a fee quotation from a translation company to do so.
70. A priority fee to be charged if you would like us to prepare an application/appeal or representation service.
71. An application, appeal or representation filed requires us to comply with directions, we will inform you of those costs.
72. We may require Counsel to assist on a legal matter and will confirm on the costs.
73. Directions served by a competent authority, which may include the Home Office, Tribunal or the Court for work we have not quoted or charged. We will explain those costs to you, so that you can make an appropriate fee to us.
74. Please note, if disbursements increase for any reason between the date of advice and the date of submission, you will be responsible for the increase in payment.
75. This is not an exhaustive list of work you may require us to do which will attract a relevant fee.

Changing fixed cost into Retainer Model

76. We may write to you and explain why your legal matter cannot be dealt under our fixed costs model.
77. The explanation will include details of what we have already spent in time and also going beyond a reasonable cost coverage, which may include expectations from you or third party of service delivery.
78. For example:
    • The work being prepared or conducted with the Home Office, Tribunal or any competent body, requires us to undertake further work and that could not be defined.
    • The advice and support you require, on emails/telephone could not covered under our general terms of fixed costs model.
    • Your expectation level on service delivery requires us to provide immediate advice and support.

Retainer Model

79. The model will consist of two models (a) retainer (b) retainer plus
80. Terms of Business will be served, required to be agreed.
81. Client funds to be held at our client account to instruct based on client needs.
82. Retainer plus requires annual subscription fee, in turn reduces the hourly rate.
83. Retainer plus annual fee would be confirmed and is non-refundable fee.
84. Hourly rates will be confirmed on the Engagement Terms.
85. Fee charged on advice/application/submissions including advice on telephone/emails/video call.
86. Any non-legal work conducted will also be charged appropriately.
87. VAT or similar taxes will be payable on that amount and you will also be billed for any disbursements incurred.
88. Our fees do not include any fees paid to the Home Office, Tribunal, Court or any third-party. We may advise on the relevant fees, but those are all subject to changes.
89. You are responsible to have the relevant fees as stated above, available at the date of the submission.
90. Although the firm will always endeavour to make clients aware of payment deadlines for Government/other fees, it remains the responsibility of the client to ensure that they comply with any such requests at all times. No responsibility will be accepted by the firm for any applications which have been denied/deferred/rejected due to non-payment of Government/third-party fees.
91. No professional fees are refundable of work conducted.
92. Monthly billing schedule would be sent to client.

Outstanding fees in both fixed and retainer schedule

93. Our fee must be paid in advance for any work to be undertaken.
94. Outstanding invoices will incur late fees in line with Bank of England.
95. We will stop all work if fees remain outstanding.
96. We are entitled to retain your file of papers and original documents while there is money owing to us for fees.

Complaints & termination of ICS Legal professional services

97. All requests for termination/complaints of fixed fee/retainer agreement/withdrawal or variation of instructions/cancellation and or refund requests will only be recorded if made in writing by emailing to clientsupport@icslegal.com.
98. Fixed fee works are non-refundable.
99. For the retainer fee schedule, we will complete the final billing and fees owed will be returned. Any fees due to ICS Legal would be required payable within 14 days.