These Terms and Conditions (Terms) relate to your use of our website www.rossilaw.com.au – (Site) and engagement of services provided by RossiLaw Pty Ltd (ACN 658 508 260) (we, us, our)..
Any questions about these Terms must be directed to us in writing at info@rossilaw.com.au before engaging our services.
Subject to any subsequent agreements you may be required to enter with us, such as customised Cost Agreements, these Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us, supersedes all prior agreements, conduct, representations and understandings and may be relied upon as an indication of your acceptance and consent to our services.
1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
1.1 We will provide you with a copy of these terms, in combination with a Cost Agreement before you engage our services (Services).
1.2 By paying any amount to us in respect to the Services or otherwise instructing us to proceed with the Services in writing, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Terms and Cost Agreement and agree to be bound by them, and all our other policies.
1.3 Should the work required by us change in any way after us providing the original cost agreement for services, we will provide you with an amended cost agreement, following which any further instructions to proceed with the services will be taken as your agreement to be bound by the amended Cost Agreement, together with our Terms, as at that date.
2. UPDATES TO TERMS
2.1 We reserve the right to update and change these Terms from time to time without notice.
2.2 You will be subject to the Terms in force at the time when you engage our Services, unless agreed otherwise by both parties in writing.
3. FEES
3.1 The fees for our services (Fees) are as indicated in the Cost Agreement provided to you.
3.2 All Fees for our services are in Australian Dollars (AUD).
3.3 All Fees are exclusive of GST (if applicable) unless indicated otherwise, and exclude delivery charges and customs duty and other taxes, if applicable.
3.4 We reserve the right to modify, cancel and limit any Cost Agreement or services at any time.
4. PAYMENTS
4.1 We will send you invoices for our Services in the manner stated in the Cost Agreement and you agree to pay the invoices using the payment method specified in the Cost Agreement within 7 days of receiving such invoices.
4.2 Where trust monies are requested, any monies as indicated in our Cost Agreement must be paid in full, before we provide our Services.
4.3 If you fail to pay our fees when due, as indicated on the invoice, you acknowledge that we reserve the right to suspend or terminate the delivery of our Services. Further details in this regard are outlined in our Cost Agreement.
4.4 Interest may be charged on outstanding invoices, at the maximum rate prescribed in Rule 75 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (“Uniform General Rules”) (being the Cash Rate Target set by the Reserve Bank of Australia plus 2%). Our tax invoices will specify the interest rate to be charged.
5. CHANGES TO WORK
5.1 Any requested changes to our Services, made after you have received and accepted our Quote or Estimate will incur additional charges or fees and we will provide a further estimate or quote (as applicable) for such work.
5.2 Any changes to work will be approved by you, either in writing and by email or by the continued providing of your instructions in regard to the Additional Work.
6. GENERAL INFORMATION/DISCLAIMER
6.1 We provide the Services and our website on an "as-is" basis. We do not provide legal advice from our website and it is your responsibility to independently verify the information made available on the Site.
6.2 Everything on the Website is intended as a summary or general information (including case studies) and is provided for illustrative purposes only. You should always seek your own professional advice, suitable to you r circumstances before acting or relying on any of our website content.
6.3 You acknowledge and agree that we, our employees, affiliates and representatives do not provide any warranty, guarantee or representation as to our services and their suitability. We are not responsible for decisions that you may make, or for any consequences, undesired or otherwise, that may flow from your engagement of the Site or the Services offered. It is your responsibility to independently determine suitability of any service and to test and verify the same.
6.4 Any testimonials and examples of our Services, wherever published (online or in print) are not to be taken as a guarantee that you will achieve the same or similar results.
6.5 Any timelines or delivery dates are provided by us on an estimated basis only. We make no guarantee that these timelines or delivery dates will be met as there may be interfering factors beyond our control, and we are not responsible for any delay in the delivery of our services.
7. YOUR OBLIGATIONS
7.1 When we provide our Services, you agree to:
(a) respond promptly to our discussions and communications in relation to the Services;
(b) provide, within a reasonable amount of time, accurate, complete and current information or documentation reasonably required by us to perform the Services; and
(c) act in good faith.
7.2 We may request that you provide us with responses, feedback, completed questionnaires, copy content, images and other information so we can best deliver our services. You agree that you will provide any such information in a timely manner. Any delays in receiving this information may result in information not being provided by us to you.
8. YOUR PRIVACY
8.1 We will collect personal information from you in the course of providing our legal services. We may also obtain personal information from third-party searches, other investigations and, sometimes, from adverse parties.
8.2 We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients by Rule 93 of the Uniform General Rules. Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with the trust account record keeping requirements of Rule 47 of the Uniform General Rules and to comply with our duty to the courts.
8.3 Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it is collected or in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For example, we may use your personal information to provide advice and recommendations that take into account your personal circumstances.
8.4 If you do not provide us with the full name and address information required by law we cannot act for you. If you do not provide us with the other personal information that we request our advice may be wrong for you or misleading.
8.5 Depending on the nature of your matter the types of bodies to whom we may disclose your personal information include the courts, the other party or parties to litigation, experts and barristers, the Office of State Revenue, PEXA Limited, the Land and Property Information Division of the Department of Lands, the Registrar General and third parties involved in the completion or processing of a transaction.
8.6 We manage and protect your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy [a copy of which we shall provide at your request]. Our privacy policy contains information about how you can access and correct the personal information we hold about you and how you can raise any concerns about our personal information handling practices. For more information, please contact us in writing.
9. CONFIDENTIALITY
9.1 All persons are expected to keep secret and confidential and not disclose any Confidential Information (which is or has been disclosed to the recipient by the other party, its representatives or advisers), or these Terms, except:
(a) where the information is in the public domain as at the date of these Terms (or subsequently becomes in the public domain other than by breach of any obligation of confidentiality binding on the Recipient);
(b) if the Recipient is required to disclose the information by applicable law or the rules of any other document with statutory content requirements, provided that the Recipient has to the extent practicable having regard to those obligations and the required timing of the disclosure consulted with the provider of the information as to the form and content of the disclosure;
(c) where the disclosure is expressly permitted under these Terms and Conditions or is required to give effect to these Terms and Conditions;
(d) if disclosure is made to a party’s own personnel to the extent necessary to enable proper performance of obligations under these Terms and Conditions or to conduct their business generally, in which case the Recipient must ensure that such persons keep the information secret and confidential and do not disclose the information to any other person;
(e) where the disclosure is required for use in legal proceedings regarding these Terms and Conditions; or
(f) if the party to whom the information relates has consented in writing before the disclosure.
9.2 Each Recipient must ensure that its personnel comply in all respects with the Recipient's obligations under this clause.
9.3 Definitions
Confidential Information of a party means all information (in any form):
(i) relating to or arising from the Services;
(ii) that concerns that party’s business operations and which any reasonable person would consider to be of a confidential nature (such as trade secrets, methods, strategies, client lists, pricing, and other business processes); but does not include information that:
(iii) is or becomes independently developed or known by a party through no breach of these Terms by that party; or
(iv) becomes publicly available, without breach of these Terms;
9.4 This clause survives termination or expiry of these Terms.
10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
10.1 Unless indicated, all material on our Site including (but not limited to) templates, text, graphics, trademarks used (either registered or unregistered), designs and coding (Our Content), is subject to copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property rights. While you may browse or print Our Content for non-commercial, personal or internal business use, you must obtain our prior written permission if you’d like to use, copy or reproduce it for another purpose.
10.2 You acknowledge that we will be entitled to seek injunctive relief if such steps are necessary to prevent violations of intellectual property rights.
10.3 This clause survives termination of these Terms.
11. RIGHT TO SUSPEND, TERMINATE AND REFUND
11.1 We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your use of the Site or our services generally if you breach these terms, as determined by us in our sole discretion.
11.2 Either party may terminate your use of our Services by providing to the other party a minimum of 5 days’ written notice (Notice Period). In this case, you may:
(a) retain our Services during the notice period; or
(b) not retain our Services for some or all of the notice period, and make a payment in lieu of notice for the part of the notice period for which our Services are not retained.
11.3 If you terminate our services early (prior to your services being completed), you acknowledge and agree that the outstanding fees for those services are payable. We will issue an invoice for all work completed up to the end of the Notice Period.
11.4 Refunds are not provided for our Services, other than in accordance with the Australian Consumer Law, as set out in Schedule 2 to the Australian and Competition Act, 2010 (Cth) and/or the Legal Profession Uniform Law 2014 (NSW) and its regulation.
11.5 Any refund requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the costs associated with each service delivered by us, or otherwise where we determine in our sole discretion that genuine value has not been received or is not able to be received by you.
12. NON-EXCLUSIVITY
12.1 You acknowledge and agree that we may at all and any times provide our services to other Clients in the same or similar industry as you, provided that there is no conflict of interest.
12.2 We do not provide our services on an exclusive basis.
12.3 We will, however, endeavour to protect the confidential information you provide us and in accordance with our privacy policy.
13. NO LIABILITY
13.1 If we are liable to you in relation to a failure to comply with a guarantee that applies under Division 1 of Part 3-2 of the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded, our total liability to you for that failure is limited to, at our option, to the resupply of the Services or the payment of the cost of resupply.
13.2 We otherwise exclude any liability owed to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for any special, indirect or consequential loss arising under or in connection with these Terms, including any loss of profits, loss of sales or business, loss of production, loss of agreements, loss of business opportunity, loss of anticipated savings, loss of or damage to goodwill or reputation or loss of use or corruption of data or information.
13.3 We will also not be liable if this website (or any content made available through it) is incomplete, corrupted, inadequate, outdated or incorrect.
13.4 This clause applies to the fullest extent permitted by Law and shall survive termination of these Terms.
14. NO DISPARAGEMENT
14.1 At all times, you must not make any public or private statement or comment, whether oral or in writing by any method, which in our reasonable opinion is adverse to the interest, reputation or commercial standing of our business or is in any respect a disparaging remark or representation about us and/or any of our services.
15. FORCE MAJEURE
15.1 We will not be in breach of these Terms or liable to you for any Loss incurred by you as a direct result of our failing or being prevented, hindered or delayed in the performance of our obligations under these Terms where such prevention, hindrance or delay results from a Force Majeure Event.
15.2 The performance of the affected obligations will be resumed as soon as practicable after such Force Majeure Event is removed or has ceased.
15.3 References to a Force Majeure Event in this clause means: events, circumstances or causes beyond a party’s reasonable control including (but not limited to):
(a) strikes, lock-outs or other industrial action;
(b) civil commotion, riot, invasion, cyber-attack, service attack, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war;
(c) fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence or other natural disaster;
(d) epidemic, pandemic, health emergencies, disease;
(e) impossibility of the use of railways, shipping, aircraft, motor transport or other means of public or private transport;
(f) interruption or failure of utility services (including the inability to use public, private telecommunications networks, servers or third-party hosting platforms); and
(g) the acts, decrees, legislation, regulations or restrictions of any Government Agency; however does not include a lack of funds.
15.4 References to Loss in this clause means: any loss, liability, cost, charge, expense, Tax, Duty or damage of any nature whatsoever, including special, incidental, or consequential damages, losses or expenses (howsoever arising or caused, including, without limitation, negligence).
16. LINKED WEBSITES, AFFILIATES OR SPONSORS
16.1 Any links to other websites on our Site, which are not operated by us are not controlled by us and we accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. Your use of any linked sites will be subject to the terms of use and service contained within each such site.
17. SEVERABILITY
17.1 If any provision of these Terms is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms, which shall remain in full force and effect.
18. NO ASSIGNMENT
18.1 You cannot transfer or assign your rights in accordance with these Terms, including any membership or registration with us, without our prior written consent.
18.2 We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms at any time, upon prior written notice to you of at least 4 calendar weeks.
19. DISPUTE RESOLUTION
19.1 If a dispute arises between the parties in relation to these Terms, the dispute must be dealt with in accordance with this clause and/or any following Cost Agreement issued.
19.2 Any party claiming that a dispute exists must notify the other party to the dispute (Second Party) in writing of the nature of the dispute.
19.3 In the case of claims against us, all notices are to be provided to info@rossilaw.com.au.
19.4 If the dispute is not resolved by agreement within 5 business days of the Second Party receiving the notice referred to above, either party may refer the matter to the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner for consideration.
19.5 Nothing in this clause prevents a party from commencing proceedings seeking costs assessment, if, in that party’s reasonable opinion, it is necessary to protect their rights.
20. APPLICABLE LAW
20.1 These Terms shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia You consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in New South Wales, Australia to determine any matter or dispute which arises between us.
19.2 Any party claiming that a dispute exists must notify the other party to the dispute (Second Party) in writing of the nature of the dispute.
19.3 In the case of claims against us, all notices are to be provided to info@rossilaw.com.au.
19.4 If the dispute is not resolved by agreement within 5 business days of the Second Party receiving the notice referred to above, either party may refer the matter to the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner for consideration.
19.5 Nothing in this clause prevents a party from commencing proceedings seeking costs assessment, if, in that party’s reasonable opinion, it is necessary to protect their rights.
21. YOUR FEEDBACK
21.1 We welcome enquiries or feedback on our Site. Unless specifically stated by you, we shall treat any information you provide us with, as non-proprietary and non-confidential. Please see our Privacy Policy for further details.
21.2 If you have questions or comments regarding this Site or our services, please email us at info@rossilaw.com.au.