[Your Company Name]
[Your Address]
[City, Postcode]
[Date]
[Recipient Company Name]
[Recipient Address]
[City, Postcode]
Dear [Recipient’s Name or “Sir/Madam”],
Subject: Offer to Provide a Legal Opinion on [Case Name/Brief Description]
We are writing to formally offer our services to provide a comprehensive legal opinion on the matter of [brief description of the case currently under litigation]. Our objective will be to deliver a well-researched and impartial opinion to assist [Recipient Company Name] in assessing its legal position and strategic options.
On preliminary analysis….
Scope of Services
Our legal opinion will cover:
- [Specific area of law related to the case, e.g., “contractual obligations and remedies”]
- [Key issues of the case, e.g., “analysis of liability and potential damages”]
- [Supporting legal precedents and applicable regulations]
Fee
The total fee for our services is £5,000, payable as a one-off fee. This fee includes all necessary research, preparation, and delivery of the final opinion in a written report. No additional costs will be incurred unless expressly agreed upon in writing.
Timeline
We estimate that the legal opinion will be completed within [timeframe, e.g., “four weeks”] of receiving all relevant documentation and information from your side.
Terms and Conditions
Please find enclosed the full contract detailing the terms and conditions of our engagement. By accepting this offer, you agree to the enclosed terms, including the payment schedule and confidentiality provisions.
If you wish to proceed, kindly sign and return the attached agreement by [specific deadline]. Upon receipt of the signed agreement, we will initiate our work immediately.
We look forward to the opportunity to assist [Recipient Company Name] in this matter. Should you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at [phone number] or [email address].
Yours faithfully,
[Your Name]
[Your Job Title]
[Your Company Name]
Enclosures:
- Draft Contract
- [Any other relevant documents, if
conclusion:
-cocoo.ltd (my employer and client), offers Google…,:
A/Fee sharing contract: if my work generates any fees for your co/firm, then we split those fees, say 50/50….or
B/a a contract (no NDA) between cocoo.ltd and Google:
– cocoo.ltd’s provides:
1/pro-bono legal opinion (Legal advice is not an RLA, and includes advice as to the merits of any intended legal action, as well as the merits of ongoing formal legal action in the courts or tribunal, such as an issued claim in the civil courts)
2/ our 3pint proposal (not as part of the contract)
– Google satisfies cocoo.ltd’s expenses, capped at £4k (fees incurred by cocoo.ltd contracting COCOO CHARITY (a third-party to the contract))…oscar = (Agent + employee inhouse solicitor) of cocoo.uk.charity, which then charges my legal fees to cocoo.ltd, and then cocoo.td claims them from Google
LawWorks considers that the writing of a letter before action, or indeed any other step prior to
commencing formal proceedings, would not amount to “the conduct of litigation” in which case in-house
solicitors are permitted to undertake such activities. It is only once proceedings have been commenced
that litigation can be “conducted”. Thereafter, the general thrust of the relevant case law (see below)
is that “ancillary functions”, i.e. formal steps in the proceedings, such as the service of a claim form or
disclosure, come within the ambit of “the conduct of litigation” and should not be undertaken. Formal
steps also include activities such as costs budgets, the preparation of witness statements, interim
applications and hearings, as well as any other formal step in proceedings. However, informal activities such as general letter
writing, even after the commencement of formal proceedings, would appear to be unlikely to come
within the meaning of “the conduct of litigation” and can be undertaken by in-house lawyers (see the case law: In Agassi v Robinson [2006] 1 WLR 2126, it was held that a restricted view must be taken of the meaning of the phrase “the right to conduct litigation”, as section 20 of the Solicitors Act 1974 created a criminal offence for an unqualified person to act as a solicitor
-Apart from limited exceptions, namely immigration work (see the restrictions contained in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999) and certain debt and consumer advice (regulated by the FCA))
-Legal advice includes advice as to the merits of any intended legal action, as well as the merits of
ongoing formal legal action in the courts or tribunal, such as an issued claim in the civil courts.
RLAs = the “exercise of a right of audience”(advocacy); • the conduct of litigation; • reserved instrument activities (i.e.
preparation of certain conveyancing; • probate activities; • notarial activities; and • the administration of oaths.
COCOO (my employer and client) is not authorised specifically to provide legal services by SRA >> only WAYS that, i, as Solicitor (no PII), can be employed by COCOO, to provide services and support COCOO:
- A/-work ‘in house’ providing legal advice to you as their employer
- B/- provide legal services to others such as companies within your group, or
- C/-solicitors can deliver non-reserved legal services to the public, from within a business not regulated by a legal services regulator >> I can provide services to the public (external indiv.commercial clients) on COCOO’S behalf, as AGENT(employee) >> SRA ADVICE TO COCOO, as my employer, IF I AM IN CASE C/ : The solicitor can provide any type of legal service except:
-
- Reserved legal services to the public – see Can my business be authorised?
- Immigration work – unless your business is separately authorised by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner
- Claims management services – unless your business is separately authorised for these services by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
- Certain financial services or activities – unless your business is separately authorised for these by the FCA.
What can you say to clients and potential clients about the solicitor and your business?
Although the solicitor will be personally regulated by us, it is important that you (COCOO) do not either deliberately or inadvertently give the impression that your business is regulated by us. So, whilst you can, for example, state on your website that you employ X solicitor and that they are authorised and regulated by the SRA in their personal capacity, it should be made clear that this authorisation and regulation does not apply to your firm, to the services that you offer more widely or to work carried out by others.
A solicitor has a number of duties surrounding information they are required to give to their clients (for example as to how the services are regulated, the regulatory protections available the right to complain and the costs of the case) and you will find it helpful to read our separate guidance to solicitors on this topic “Unregulated organisations – client information”.
Does the solicitor require a practising certificate?
If the solicitor is held out as such or is carrying out reserved activities in house directly for you (COCOO), they must obtain an annual ‘practising certificate’ from us – see our guidance.
What about holding money on behalf of clients?
A solicitor working in your business is not allowed to hold client money in an account in their personal name. “Client money” will include:
- Money that clients pay you on account of your charges or third-party costs (such as fees for expert reports)
- Any damages that your client receives as part of a settlement of a case
- The assets of an estate that is being administered by your firm
- Any other money that you are holding on your client’s behalf to complete a transaction or for investment purposes.
Therefore, you should not, for example, ask clients to pay money to a bank account held by the solicitor in their name either on their own behalf or on behalf of your business, as this would place the solicitor in breach of the rule. This does not prevent the solicitor from being a signatory to a bank account held by your business in its own name.
What about professional indemnity insurance?
A solicitor working in your business will not be subject to the SRA’s compulsory professional indemnity insurance requirements. Since you will be vicariously liable for their actions as your employee, and since the solicitor will wish to ensure that their work is covered, you will want to consider how best to do so; and for example ensure that their work is included in your business’s own insurance policy. Solicitors you employ are required to inform any external clients of the insurance arrangements in place, prior to working with them.
What if there is a complaint about a solicitor?
Under the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs solicitors have a duty to establish and maintain, or participate in, an adequate system of complaints handling and to inform clients about how to complain under that system. So, if you do not already have one, your business will need to set up a complaints procedure if you want to employ a solicitor who will be dealing with external clients. The clients will need to be told who to complain to about the solicitor and how that complaint will be dealt with.
If they are not satisfied with the result of that complaint, or if it has not been resolved within eight weeks, clients have the right to take any complaint about the standard of service offered by the solicitor to the Legal Ombudsman. The solicitor must tell clients about this right both at the time of engagement and when any complaint is made. If it upholds a complaint the Legal Ombudsman has a range of options available to it, including ordering a solicitor to reduce a bill or to pay compensation. As well as looking at the substance of the complaint, the Legal Ombudsman will look at the way in which the complaint has been handled, and this will be a factor in the decisions it takes, including whether to charge the solicitor the case fee for the matter.
What other obligations on the solicitor should you take account of as an employer?
All solicitors are subject to the SRA Principles. These include the duties to act with honesty and integrity and in the best interests of clients. Another key principle is the obligation to act “with independence.” Of course, this includes providing you and your clients with independent advice. However, this duty also means that the solicitor cannot act for you as their employer (or “client”) or for external clients in a way that compromises their independence. Solicitors must also act with integrity, and for example, have a duty not to mislead the court or other third parties. This will override any duty they may have to follow your or any external client’s instructions.
Those principles which safeguard the wider public interest take precedence over a client’s interests, including COCOO’S interest as my employer. The solicitor must inform the client (COCOO)
All solicitors are also bound by the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors:
- A duty to maintain their competence and professional knowledge and that of any individuals they manage as well as to keep their understanding of legal, ethical and regulatory obligations up to date (paragraphs 3.3 and 3.6). For this to be effective, a solicitor will need to have access to resources for ongoing ethical and professional development. If you are a large organisation employing a number of lawyers, it may be beneficial for you to provide some of these resources in house. However, there are a number of ways in which support can be supplied externally. For example, you can pay for solicitors to go on external training, to achieve additional accreditations (such as those organised in particular specialisms by the Law Society1 or others), to be part of a professional network2 or to have access to online resources such as up to date case reports.
- A duty not to mislead the court and others (see above).
- A duty not to act for a client where they have an actual or potential conflict of interest with that client (paragraph 6.1) and not to act for two clients where they are unable to act in the best interests of each due to an actual or potential conflict of interest unless certain conditions are met (paragraph 6.2).
- Keeping the affairs of clients confidential (paragraph 6.3)
-i must ask SRA to add also cocoo.ltd as employer. both cocoo.uk.charity and cocoo.ltd are unregulated firms, doing unreserved work, registered with the SRA as such
-how lawyers ask for advice from other lawyers: be careful to remove anything that could breach client confidentiality
SRA: We consider that NDAs should not be used routinely. An NDA is improperly used if is a means of preventing, or seeking to impede or deter a person from:
- co-operating with a criminal investigation or prosecution
- reporting an offence to a law enforcement agency
- reporting misconduct, or a serious breach of our regulatory requirements to us, or making an equivalent report to any other body responsible for supervising or regulating the matters in question
- making a protected disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
- making any disclosure required by law
- making a proper disclosure about the agreement or circumstances surrounding the agreement to professional advisers, such as legal or tax advisors and/or medical professionals and counsellors, who are bound by a duty of confidentiality.
NDAs must not include or propose clauses known to be unenforceable or use warranties, indemnities, and claw back clauses in a way which is designed to, or has the effect of, improperly preventing or inhibiting permitted reporting or disclosures being made. For example, asking a person to warrant that they are not aware of any reason why they would make a permitted disclosure, in circumstances where a breach of warranty would activate a claw back clause.
NDAs or other terms in an agreement which contains an NDA, must not stipulate, or give the impression to the person expected to agree the NDA, that reporting, or disclosure as set out above is prohibited.
Any attempt to prevent a person from complaining or providing information to us will be a breach of your regulatory obligations. A practitioner who uses an NDA improperly or behaves in a way that is in breach of their regulatory obligations is at risk of disciplinary action by us.