Terms of business

The Website is operated by AY STRATEGY UK LEGAL CONSULTING LTD, a private limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 16274446. Registered office: Mailbox 275 New North Road, PMB 3032, London, United Kingdom, N1 7AA.

Ariel Yehezkel is a Registered Foreign Lawyer regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA No. 7271660.

AY Strategy UK Legal Consulting Ltd is not authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and is not regulated by an approved regulator for legal services. The regulatory protections available to clients depend on the nature of the service provided and how that service is delivered. A list of directors is available for inspection at Companies House.

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and strictly in accordance with these Terms. You must not use the Website:

• in any manner that breaches any applicable law, regulation, professional rule, or third-party right;
• to send unsolicited advertising, spam, bulk communications, or promotional materials;
• to upload or distribute viruses, malware, or any technologically harmful material;
• to interfere with, damage, or compromise the Website’s availability, functionality, or security;
• to attempt unauthorised access to the Website or its underlying systems;
• to use the Website in any misleading, fraudulent, abusive, or objectionable manner;
• to use the Website in a way that could expose us to legal, regulatory, or reputational risk.

Where we agree to act for you, our Engagement Letter will set out:

• the name of the person with day-to-day responsibility for your matter;
• any other members of staff who will assist, support, or supervise;
• the person with ultimate responsibility for the work done within the relevant department.

We will endeavour to avoid changing the people who handle your matter, but if this cannot be avoided, we reserve the right to appoint other suitably qualified people and will give you notice.

The Engagement Letter includes a summary of your instructions and details of the work we will undertake on your behalf. We shall not be responsible for any failure to advise on matters which fall outside the scope of this summary, and we will not undertake work beyond the agreed scope unless confirmed in writing.

We do not give any tax advice unless specifically referenced in our Engagement Letter.

We are committed to providing a high-quality service. We will:

• update you by telephone or email with progress on your matter regularly, at least every six weeks unless otherwise agreed;
• communicate with you in plain language;
• explain the legal work required as your matter progresses;
• update you on the cost of your matter at the relevant stages;
• update you on the likely timescales for each stage and any important changes;
• review whether the likely outcome justifies the costs and risks whenever there is a material change in circumstances;
• where appropriate, continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded.

Unless our charges are fixed by a Damages-Based Agreement (DBA) or other written agreement, they will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by the person dealing with your matter. This includes meetings, reading and working on papers, correspondence (including emails), and time spent travelling when necessary.

Time is recorded in units of 1/10th of an hour. Hourly rates are set out in the Engagement Letter and are reviewed periodically, normally with effect from 1st January each year.

In addition to time spent, we may take into account the complexity of issues, the urgency of work, any specialist expertise required, and the value of the matter.

If we provide you with an estimate of total charges, it is given only as a guide and should not be regarded as fixed unless confirmed in writing. We will inform you before any significant extra costs or expenses are incurred.

By appointing us, you also instruct us to incur such expenses and fees (disbursements) as we consider necessary. We will consult with you before incurring any significant expense. VAT will be added where applicable.

• We reserve the right to request payments on account of our costs and expenses.
• We may send interim invoices at monthly intervals or as otherwise agreed.
• Payment is due upon presentation of our invoice.
• We reserve the right to charge interest at 8% per annum on overdue invoices after 14 days from the invoice date. You will also indemnify us for any costs relating to recovery of outstanding invoices, including legal proceedings.
• If invoices are overdue, we reserve the right to suspend work on all matters and retain documents and monies held until all sums due have been paid.

You are responsible for:

• providing us with detailed, clear, and timely instructions;
• responding to all our requests within a reasonable period of time;
• providing consistent instructions and information;
• notifying us if any information you have provided is false, inaccurate, or misleading;
• advising us of any changes in your circumstances that may affect your ability to pay our fees.

If you fail to fulfil these responsibilities, we are entitled to make additional charges.

All material on the Website is provided for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice, financial advice, or any form of recommendation. The content is not intended to address your specific circumstances.

We make no warranty that the Website content is accurate, complete, or current. You are solely responsible for independently verifying any information. Any reliance you place on it is at your own risk.

Your use of the Website, submission of a contact form, or any communication through the Website does not create any lawyer-client, fiduciary, advisory, or professional relationship between you and us.

No such relationship shall arise unless we expressly confirm, in writing, that we have agreed to act for you under a separate written engagement letter.

Any reference on the Website to services, recoveries, or outcomes is illustrative only and shall not be interpreted as a guarantee of any particular result, timescale, or success rate.

Legal and recovery matters inherently involve uncertainty. We expressly disclaim any guarantee of success or recovery

If you submit any material to us through the Website, you represent and warrant that:

• the material is accurate to the best of your knowledge;
• you are legally entitled to provide it;
• it does not infringe any confidentiality obligation or third-party right;
• it is not false, misleading, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable;
• it does not contain malicious code or harmful components.

We may refuse, remove, or delete any submission at our sole discretion.

Communications sent through the Website shall not be treated as privileged or confidential unless a formal professional engagement has been established.

You should not send highly sensitive or time-critical information through the Website unless specifically requested by us.

All information regarding you and your business will be kept confidential and not disclosed to any other person without your permission, except as required by law. We may, however, make public the fact that we act on your behalf.

As part of our business arrangements, it may be necessary for external assessors or insurers to periodically review our files to check compliance with standards and procedures. Files will not be made available to such persons where the subject matter is of an unusually sensitive nature or where you specifically request otherwise.

We check for conflicts of interest before taking on matters. However, if an actual or potential conflict arises during the course of a matter, we will discuss the position with you and determine the appropriate course of action. If we are unable to continue acting for you, you will still be liable for our charges and disbursements incurred to that point.

To comply with the law, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as possible. The evidence requested will depend on the type of work undertaken. If you cannot provide the specific identification requested, please contact us to discuss alternative verification methods.

If we are unable to properly identify you or are not satisfied with any source of funds, we will cease to act and charge for any work undertaken to that point. We are entitled to charge for identity verification work and “know your client” procedures to comply with our legal obligations.

It is our policy not to accept cash from clients. We require details of your bank account at the outset of instructions, which we will need to verify.

Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to maintain client confidentiality. However, under money laundering and terrorist financing legislation, we may be required to make disclosures to certain agencies. Where such a disclosure is necessary, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or the reasons for it.

All content on the Website is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws. You may print extracts for personal use only. You must not, without prior written consent:

• reproduce, distribute, modify, or commercially exploit any Website content;
• remove or alter any copyright notice or proprietary notice;
• use our name or branding in a manner suggesting endorsement or affiliation;
• incorporate any part of the Website into another platform or service.

Unless agreed otherwise, all copyright in documents and materials we create whilst carrying out work for you will remain our property. You have the right to use such materials for the purposes for which they are created, but not otherwise. We are not responsible to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that you make available to them without our prior written permission.

Third-party links on the Website are provided for convenience only. We do not endorse or assume responsibility for any third-party content. You may link only to our homepage in a lawful manner. Deep-linking requires our prior written consent. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission at any time.

We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach the ICO. Please contact us at compliance@ay-legal.co.uk in the first instance.

We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability. We may suspend or discontinue the Website at any time for maintenance, updates, legal reasons, security events, or any other operational reason. We reserve the right to block any user at our sole discretion.

We will undertake work relating to your matter with reasonable skill and care. We accept liability without limit for the consequences of fraud by us or any of our directors and employees, and for any other liability which cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• the Website is provided “as is” and “as available”;
• all implied warranties are excluded;
• we shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, or consequential loss arising from the Website;
• we shall not be liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts, data, or goodwill;
• we shall not be liable for acts or omissions of third parties;
• we shall not be liable for events beyond our reasonable control;
• we shall not be liable for any deficiencies in work to the extent that deficiencies are due to false, misleading, or incomplete information provided to us;
• where liability cannot be excluded, our aggregate liability shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.

If we and any other party are liable to you in respect of the same claim, we shall only be liable to pay the portion that is fair and reasonable having regard to the level of our default.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability that cannot legally be excluded.

Proceedings in respect of any claim against us must be commenced within six years after you first had (or ought reasonably to have had) knowledge for bringing an action, and in any event no later than six years after any alleged breach.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless AY Legal from all liabilities, losses, claims, damages, costs, and legal fees arising from:

• your breach of these Terms;
• your misuse of the Website;
• your submissions or communications;
• your infringement of any third-party right;
• your breach of any law or regulation.

By engaging our services, you consent to our processing your personal data for the following purposes:

• to enable us to supply professional services to you as our client;
• to fulfil our obligations under applicable laws (including anti-money laundering regulations);
• to comply with professional obligations under the Solicitors Regulation Authority;
• to investigate and/or defend potential complaints, disciplinary proceedings, and legal proceedings;
• to invoice you for our services and address any disputes;
• to contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest, with your consent;
• to hold such data with our cloud service providers.

We keep information confidential and will not disclose it to third parties except as authorised by you or required by law. Where we are working with other professional advisers on your authority, we will assume we may disclose relevant aspects of your affairs to them.

During the course of our work, it may be necessary to discuss your case with cost specialists, experts, insurers, or counsel. Your acceptance of these Terms amounts to consent to such disclosure where we consider it necessary to progress your case.

You may contact our Data Protection Compliance Officer at compliance@ay-legal.co.uk to request a copy of your personal data, request amendment or removal, or withdraw consent to processing.

After completing work, we are entitled to retain your papers and documents while money is owing to us. We will keep our file of papers in either paper or electronic form for no more than six years from the date of our final invoice, after which we have authority to destroy or delete them.

If we retrieve papers from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions, we will not normally charge for retrieval. However, we may charge based on time spent producing stored papers to you or a third party at your request.

Storage of client files may be provided by third-party contractors. You consent to this arrangement. We reserve the right to store documentation in cloud storage and will have appropriate agreements with such providers. If you have any objection to information being stored this way, please contact us.

• You may terminate your instructions by written notice at any time, but we will be entitled to retain correspondence and documents while money is owing to us.
• We may decide to stop acting for you where we have reasonable grounds to do so, including where you fail to pay invoices or to make payment on account when requested. We will give you reasonable notice.
• In the event of termination, you will pay our fees and expenses up to the point of termination.
• If you are an individual consumer and the agreement was not made at our premises, you may have a right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013. If you have requested us to do work within this cancellation period, we are entitled to charge for work undertaken prior to cancellation.

We may from time to time utilise external service providers (including locums, agents, barristers, and transcription companies) who, through providing those services, may have access to information relating to your file. These service providers are required to comply with similar professional obligations or to provide a Confidentiality Agreement. Your acceptance of these Terms amounts to consent to such disclosure. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible.

We will not be responsible for any breach of your own data and bank account details, or any issues arising from social engineering scams or IT manipulation as a result of your actions.

We will only provide our own banking details in a secure manner. We will not be responsible if you pay any monies into a wrong account. You should always verify our banking details directly with us by telephone before making any payment

We aim to communicate with you by your preferred method. Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others where appropriate by email, but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence sent by email.

We cannot accept liability if a properly addressed email does not promptly reach its destination for technical reasons, or if its contents are read by any unauthorised third party. We take reasonable steps to ensure our network is free from viruses, but you should check any emails or attachments on receipt, as we cannot accept responsibility for any virus transferred by email.

If we recommend that you use a particular firm, agency, or business, we shall do so in good faith and because we believe it to be in your best interests. We will pay to you any commission that we receive from any firm we recommend.

We shall not be liable for any advice given by a third party we recommend. If that third party is not a firm of solicitors, you will not be afforded the regulatory protection of the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the benefit of the SRA Compensation Fund.

Except as stated otherwise, a person who is not a party to this agreement shall not be entitled to enforce or have the benefit of any of its terms.

We may retain copies of communications and Website records for compliance, legal, and operational purposes, subject to applicable data protection law.

We process personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. For details, see our Privacy Policy.

The Website may use cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookies Policy

Any failure by us to exercise any right under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that or any other right.

If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, it shall be severed or read down to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force.

These Terms, together with any Engagement Letter, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding your use of the Website and our services, and supersede all prior discussions or representations.

You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign ours to the extent permitted by law.

This firm is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties, and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales. You irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.