The website www.bateswells.co.uk (“Website“) is operated by Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP (“Bates Wells”, ”us”, “our” or “we“).

Bates Wells is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC325522. Our registered office and principal place of business is 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1BE and our registration number for Value Added Tax in the UK is GB244270186. Bates Wells is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA“) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“). Bates Wells is also registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for data protection purposes. We use the word ‘partner’ throughout the Website to refer to a member of Bates Wells, or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications and a full list of partners is available on this website (here) and at our registered office.

Index:

1. Acceptance of these terms

By using our Website, you confirm that you accept these terms and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our Website.

We may amend these terms from time to time to reflect changes to the nature of the services we provide. Therefore, please check these terms every time you wish to use our Website to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.

Please also see our Privacy Notice and Cookie Policy which will also apply to your use of our Website.

2. Information and availability

We cannot guarantee that our Website will always be available or uninterrupted.

The material on our Website is provided for guidance and general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice upon which you should rely. In particular, the information on our Website should not be used as a substitute for a full and proper consultation with a suitably qualified professional.

We endeavour to ensure that all information contained on our Website is accurate, complete, up to date or has been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable.  However, Bates Wells gives no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of any information provided on our Website and we do not accept any liability for any errors, omissions or any consequences, losses or damages arising from its use. By using our Website you confirm that you have not relied on any such material.

You are responsible for seeking advice from a suitably qualified professional on your own position and for ensuring you obtain the most up to date position.

3. Use of our Website

You may use our Website for lawful purposes only.

You may not use our Website:

  • in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
  • in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect; or
  • to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (i.e. spam).

4. Links to and from our Website

Our Website contains links to other websites and resources provided by third parties and these links are provided for your information only. We are not responsible for the content, availability or suitability of external sites and the provision of a link on our Website should not be taken as our endorsement of any kind. We accept no responsibility for any loss or damage which may arise from your use of such websites.

You may link to our Website only provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it. However, you must not establish a link to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

5. Intellectual Property Rights

Unless otherwise stated, we are the owner or licensee of the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all material on our Website and, subject to the below, we reserve all of our rights with respect to these.

The Bates Wells name and logo and the name Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP are registered trade marks and you are not permitted to use them without our approval.

Please feel free to print off a copy or download extracts, of any page(s) from our Website for your personal use.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the author of the content on our site must always be acknowledged (except where the content is user-generated).

If you print off, copy, download, share or repost any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Should you wish to use any part of our Website for commercial purposes or wish to obtain a licence to do so, please contact us by emailing us at [email protected].

6. Data Protection

Client confidentiality and the protection of client data is a fundamental feature of the solicitor-client relationship. As a firm regulated by the SRA and the FCA, we have statutory, common law and regulatory obligations to ensure your information remains confidential. Our duty to protect your information continues even after we have completed your instructions.

For further information, please see our Privacy Notice.

7. Account details

On certain parts of our Website, we may require you to register and provide certain information about yourself and where you do this you are required to: (a) provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the relevant registration form and (b) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data (by sending an appropriately worded email to [email protected]) to keep it true, accurate, current and complete.

Where information is provided to us, you accept that transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to the Website. We are not responsible for any loss of information and you submit this information at your own risk.

8. Computer viruses

Although Bates Wells will use reasonable endeavours, we cannot guarantee that our Website will be secure or free from bugs or viruses. As a result, you should ensure that you have your own virus protection software when using our Website. We do not accept any loss or damage caused by computer viruses or other malware originating or contracted from our Website.

You must also not misuse our Website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must also not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our Website or any server, computer or database connected to our Website and must not attack our Website via a denial-of-service attack or distribute denial-of-service attack. By breaching this term, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Should you breach this term, we reserve the right to report any breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and disclose your identity to them.

9. Suspension of the Website

We reserve the right to suspend or withdraw the availability of our Website (or any part of it) for business and operational reasons.

You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

10. Our liability to you

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful for us to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our partners, employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

11. Severability

If any term is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed deleted but shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remainder of these terms.

12. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms of use, their subject matter and their formation are governed by English law.

The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for consumers resident in Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland and for consumers resident in Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.

13. Contact us

If you have any questions about these terms, please contact our Risk & Compliance department.

You can contact them by:

Post: Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE

Email[email protected]

Phone: 020 7551 7777

These terms were last updated on 24 July 2023