Terms of business

Introduction

The present terms of business govern the business relationships of our Luxembourg office with our clients.

This document sets out the basis on which Brucher Thieltgen & Partners accepts instructions and conducts business with clients.

A letter of engagement signed by the partner in charge of your matter may alter or override any of these terms. By instructing us, you agree to be bound by these terms.

Fees, disbursements, office expenses and VAT

Our fees are established according to the rules set forth by Luxembourg law and the Bar Association, taking into account, inter alia, the importance of the matter, its complexity and the outcome. For each lawyer, we charge an hourly rate that is set in accordance with his or her individual experience. These rates are exclusive of VAT and may be reviewed from time to time.

Our final professional fee will be based on the time our lawyers spend on the matter, and there may be an additional charge if the work is particularly complex or the outcome is particularly satisfactory.

If a transaction or other matter is terminated, our fees will still be payable by you.

Upon request, estimates of the anticipated fees for a particular matter may be provided by the lawyer responsible for the matter. However, unless otherwise agreed, such estimates should not be considered as a fixed price. This is particularly the case if additional requests are made by you or if unanticipated tasks or difficulties are encountered while performing the agreed work. In principle, the lawyer responsible for the matter will inform you if an increase in fees may be foreseen.

The following expenses will be added to our professional fee:

  • VAT (where applicable);
  • office expenses, telephone and telefax costs, postage and special couriers;
  • disbursements (amounts we pay on your behalf), such as bailiff’s fees;
  • specific expenses, such as travelling and translation costs.

Conflict of interests

Before accepting your instructions, we have made reasonable verifications that there is no commercial conflict of interest that prevents us from acting for you.

If a conflict arises while we are acting for you, we will contact you to discuss how to proceed. We will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that we act in your interests.

Professional secrecy

We are bound by strict professional secrecy rules under Luxembourg law, and our breach will give rise to criminal sanctions.

Accordingly, we will treat all information about your business and affairs as confidential, unless we are required to disclose any information by law or by agreement with you.

Payment terms

Our standard arrangement is to send interim statements of fees and expenses periodically (generally on a monthly basis) to cover the work we have performed on the matter and disbursements we have made on your behalf during the period. We will also send you a final statement of fees and expenses when the work is completed. Our statements of fees and expenses are payable upon receipt.

A listing providing the details of our Luxembourg law firm’s statement of fees, setting forth the specifics of the services provided by the lawyers/professionals involved in the matter, will be provided at your request.

As our client, you are the person responsible for the payment unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.

If our statements are not discharged within one month of the date thereof, interest will be charged as provided for by the law of 18 April 2004, as amended, on payment periods and interest for late payments.

After we have sent you a statement of fees and expenses, we may deduct the amount due from any monies we hold, or may in the future receive, on your behalf within one month of the date of the statement, unless we have received payment during that period.

We may ask you to pay one or several fee instalments in advance, both at the start of our arrangement and as the matter progresses. If you fail to pay such fee instalments, we reserve the right to cease our work on your behalf and charge you for any work already done.

Limitation of liability

Our liability, in connection with work performed for you, covers only direct damages suffered by you and caused by our fault or negligence. In such case, all liability to you in respect of breach of contract or breach of duty or negligence, or otherwise arising out of or in connection with our engagement or the services we provide, shall be limited to the amount paid out, if any, under our professional liability insurance policy in the matter concerned, plus the amount of the own-risk deductible that is not for the account of the insurers under the policy conditions in the matter concerned.

In the event and to the extent that no monies are paid out under the professional liability insurance for whatever reason, any and all liability on our part shall be limited to five times the amount of the total fees charged by us in the relevant matter.

We shall, as far as possible, consult you before engaging third parties and shall, in any event, exercise the requisite due care in selecting such third parties. We will not be liable for any acts or omissions of third parties.

You authorise us to accept any limitations of liability of third parties on your behalf.

There is no joint liability between our partners. Your recourse shall be limited to the partner in charge of your matter.

Communications

We will communicate with you by e-mail, post, fax or telephone. Unless you notify us otherwise in writing, we will assume that you are satisfied for us to communicate by e-mail or fax, although we cannot guarantee the security or confidentiality of such communications.

If the matter requires a certain urgency, we may resort to a courier services company. In such case, the corresponding costs will be charged to you.

It is your responsibility to ensure that communications to the fax number or e-mail address you give us are secure.

Our advice will be final and binding only when it is signed by one of our partners and delivered to you by post, fax or e-mail in PDF format.

Records

We are entitled to retain all your papers and documents until all amounts due or accrued have been discharged.

When we have sent our final statement of fees and expenses, we will retain your file of papers (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) for ten (10) years. After this period, we may destroy your file.

Rules of ethics

Luxembourg lawyers must comply with the rules of ethics set forth in the Internal Regulations of the Luxembourg Bar and, for cross-border activities within the European Union, with the Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the European Union.

Money laundering regulations

The Luxembourg money laundering regulations impose obligations on us to obtain sufficient knowledge of clients, their identity, their business and the nature of funds that pass through our accounts.

The rules also require us, under certain conditions, to report any suspicious activity where we know or suspect that money or property is the subject of money laundering. In the event that we have any such suspicion, our obligation to report to the authorities will prevail. This legal duty overrides any duty of secrecy that we owe you as our client.

We cannot accept any liability for loss where it arises as a result of any such disclosure to the authorities.

Data protection

The client and the individuals it represents, as well as the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, thereby understand and authorise us to collect and process the personal data that relate to them, e.g. names, forenames, surnames, postal and e-mail addresses or any other information necessary for the effective provision of our services and for the fulfilment of our contractual and legal obligations.

These personal data are processed by us because they are necessary for the effective provision of our services to the client, or for the fulfilment of our legal obligations, as allowed by Article 6(1)(b) and (c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (the “GDPR”).

Unless stated otherwise, the words used in the present section shall have the same meaning as used in the GDPR for the matter of data protection.

When agreeing to the present terms of business and when entering into contact with us, the client and the individuals it represents, as well as the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, also give their free, informed and express consent to allow us to process their personal data, pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.

If necessary, for the effective provision of our services or to represent you before a court, special categories of data, otherwise called “sensitive” data (relating to health, ethnicity, sexual or political orientation, etc.), may also be processed by us. The client and the individuals it represents, as well as the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, give their explicit, free, informed and conscious consent to allow us to process these special categories of data, as authorised by Article 9(2)(a) of the GDPR.

We agree not to transfer the personal data we process to third parties unless the client and the individuals it represents, or the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, allow us to do so or if we are legally bound to do so.

The personal data we process are kept no longer than necessary to enable us to provide our services, except if a legal obligation binds us to retain these data for a longer period. For instance, Luxembourg law obliges us to retain billing documents for a period of at least ten (10) years from the date of their creation.

The client and the individuals it represents, or the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, have the following rights with regard to their personal data:

  • i. The right to request access to their personal data;
  • ii. The right to ask for the correction of their personal data;
  • iii. The right to ask for the deletion of their personal data;
  • iv. The right to limit the processing of their personal data and to know the impact of such limitation;
  • v. The right to oppose the processing of their personal data and to know the impact of such opposition;
  • vi. The right to data portability of their personal data;
  • vii. When processing is based on consent, the right to withdraw their consent at any given moment, without such withdrawal affecting the legality of the processing performed up to that point;
  • viii. The right not to be subjected to, and to oppose, automatic decision-making based on the automatic processing of their personal data, including profiling;
  • ix. The right to file a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

Except if the client and the individuals it represents, or the contact persons who act on behalf of the client, have given their express consent, we agree not to transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area. If such a transfer occurs because of imperative reasons relating to the effective provision of our services or because we are bound by law to do so, appropriate measures shall be implemented to ensure the protection of the rights and personal data of the data subjects.

For any question relating to the protection of their personal data, the concerned data subjects may contact the data controller: Brucher Thieltgen & Partners, at the postal address 16-18, Boulevard Emmanuel Servais, L-2535 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or at dataprotection@brucherlaw.lu.

More information on how we process personal data can be found on our firm’s website: http://brucherlaw.lu/en/privacy-policy.

Conflict resolution

Disputes of any nature arising from the validity, interpretation, execution or termination of the mandate between the lawyer and the client, including disputes relating to fees, may be submitted to alternative resolution in accordance with the procedural regulations of the National Consumer Ombudsman Service.

An application for alternative resolution may be submitted to the Consumer Ombudsman in writing:

In the event of failure or refusal of this procedure, the judicial process and the use of taxation remain available.

Proof and agreement of proof

Any document produced or reproduced by a computer, photographic or other technical process generally recognised as reliable shall be deemed authentic between the parties.

Any document of any kind transmitted between the parties, and in particular instructions, contractual documents and various letters, shall be deemed authentic between them, whether or not it takes the form of an original.

This applies in particular to legal acts signed between the parties and transmitted in a digitised version by means of an electronic messaging system.

The parties, by mutual agreement, expressly exclude, for all acts performed by them and subject to these general conditions, the application of the articles of the Civil Code relating to the proof of legal acts, and in particular Article 1341.

The documents referred to in this clause are admissible and valid as evidence in all competent courts.

Governing law and jurisdiction

Our relationship with you is governed by Luxembourg law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Luxembourg City.

Language

The English version of these terms and conditions shall apply when the language used for communications with you is English.