General Terms and Conditions of Sørensen Advocaten
The boutique law firm Sørensen Advocaten is an alliance of (practice)companies, including Sørensen Advocaten. Sørensen Advocaten has its offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The (practice)companies which form part of the alliance, provide their legal services solely for their own risk and account. Such services (to be) performed by these (practice)companies are subject to the general terms and conditions of the respective (practice)company. Only attorneys who are directly or indirectly shareholder of a (practice)company which is part of the Sørensen Advocaten alliance, may be referred to as “partner” of the Sørensen Advocaten alliance. However, they act exclusively for the account and at the risk of their respective (practice)companies and together do not form a partnership or general partnership (maatschap of vennootschap onder firma).
All services (to be) performed by, and all orders to, Sørensen Advocaten (Chamber of Commerce 24379615 (also called Manhattan aan de Maas B.V.)) are subject to these general terms and conditions. For the avoidance of doubt: these general terms and conditions apply to matters assigned to Sørensen Advocaten in which legal advice or assistance is provided by the attorneys Yvonne Sørensen and/or Karlijn Kapel and/or Martina Benard. Applicability of general terms and conditions of the Client is excluded.
Regardless of the Client’s intention, if any, and regardless of any agreement between the Client and a natural person attached to Sørensen Advocaten as to how to carry out a potential instruction, all instructions will be accepted and carried out by the company of the relevant lawyer only. The applicability of Sections 7:404 and 7:407, paragraph 2, of the Dutch Civil Code [Burgerlijk Wetboek] is excluded.
Sørensen Advocaten will be at liberty to retain the services of third parties (hereafter “the Auxiliary Persons”) at its own discretion if such is necessary properly to carry out the instruction. Any costs in connection with the engagement of these Auxiliary Persons will be charged on to the Client. The liability of Sørensen Advocaten for any acts or omissions on the part of any Auxiliary Persons engaged by it is excluded.
The liability of Sørensen Advocaten will be limited to the amount to be paid under the professional indemnity insurance of the company of the relevant lawyer in the case in question, plus the deductible payable by the lawyer according to the policy. The maximum coverage is € 1,000,000. If for any reason no payment is made under the insurance mentioned in this article, any liability will be limited to the fee charged for the matter from which the liability arises. Any liability of Sørensen Advocaten lapses two years after the Client has reasonably become aware of the ground for liability or – if earlier – two years after termination of the assignment. At the Client’s request, the relevant insurance policy may be inspected at the offices of Sørensen Advocaten.
The Client shall indemnify Sørensen Advocaten, as well as any and all natural persons and legal entities directly or indirectly attached to Sørensen Advocaten, against any and all claims of third parties that are directly or indirectly related to or that directly or indirectly ensue from the work carried out by Sørensen Advocaten for the Client. The Client shall reimburse Sørensen Advocaten for any and all costs to be incurred by Sørensen Advocaten in connection with claims of third parties.
In case our services are required by private persons, we request a prepayment. Not only the agreed-upon hourly fee, but also disbursements and VAT will be charged to the Client by means of a broken-down fee statement. Any disbursements paid by the Client may be set off against outstanding fee statements at any time Sørensen Advocaten desires. Any remaining disbursements will be settled with the final fee statement. The balance then remaining will be refunded to the Client. A 14-day term will apply to the payment of fee statements. If payment is not made on the expiry of this term, the Client will be in default, without any notice of default being required, and Sørensen Advocaten will be entitled to charge interest at the statutory commercial rate (when the client is a company) and/or the statutory interest (when the client is a private individual) and take the measures it deems necessary to have the outstanding fee statement paid. Work may be suspended by Sørensen Advocaten if no advance payment to cover it is available. Sørensen Advocaten has the right to change its basic hourly rate and its travel expenses for travel by car or train.
Sørensen Advocaten will take appropriate measures to preserve the confidentiality of the client relationship when carrying out the assignment. Nevertheless, unless expressly agreed to the contrary, the following shall apply to the assignment:
(i) The Client grants permission to disclose information known to Sørensen Advocaten, whether or not in connection with the assignment, to those within Sørensen Advocaten for whom knowledge of such information is useful in connection with the handling of the assignment or relationship management;
(ii) The Client grants permission to make use in communications of all means of communication customary at that time, in particular also the Internet. Sørensen Advocaten is entitled to destroy files five years after the notification of filing thereof to the Client.
Sørensen Advocaten has a dispute resolution procedure. The internal dispute resolution officer is Mrs E.M.Y. Sørensen. Disputes that cannot be resolved internally, will be brought before the Disputes Committee Lawyers. At your request, the dispute resolution procedure will be sent to you.
These General Terms and Conditions have been drawn up in both the Dutch and the English language. In the event of any disputes about interpretation, the Dutch-language version will be decisive.
Dutch law will apply to the legal relation between Sørensen Advocaten and the Client. Any disputes will be settled by the competent court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
These General Terms and Conditions have been posted on Sørensen Advocaten’s website: www.sorensenadvocaten.nl.
January 2024
