Terms & conditions
1. Applicability
1.1 Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. is a private limited liability company under Dutch law with the aim of practising the legal profession. This company is registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 90749340.
1.2 These General Terms and Conditions apply to all assignments and additional follow-up assignments given to Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd., as well as to the legal relationships arising therefrom or related thereto.
1.3 These General Terms and Conditions are also stipulated for the benefit of those (legal) persons and third parties who are directly or indirectly involved in any way with the services provided by Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd.
1.4 By issuing an assignment, the client declares to have expressly taken note of these General Terms and Conditions and to agree to them. The applicability of general terms and conditions used by the client is hereby expressly rejected.
2. Assignment
2.1 All assignments are deemed to be given to and accepted by the Ltd. This also applies if it is the express or tacit intention that the assignment is carried out by a specific person. The operation of Articles 7:404 and 7:407(2) of the Dutch Civil Code is excluded.
2.2 Assignments issued are performed exclusively for the benefit of the client. Third parties cannot derive any rights from the content of the work undertaken.
2.3 Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. will exercise due care when engaging third parties who do not belong to its Ltd. and will consult the client as much as reasonably possible when selecting these third parties. Any liability for shortcomings of these third parties is excluded.
3. Billing
3.1 In principle, the work performed and costs incurred will be billed on a monthly basis, unless the parties agree otherwise or the nature and/or quantity of the work performed entails a deviation therefrom.
3.2 Unless expressly agreed otherwise between the parties, the hours worked will be billed according to the hourly rate applied by Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. for the persons involved in this specific case. Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. can adjust this hourly rate annually as of 1 January. This is also possible in ongoing cases, provided that they have been handled by Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. for longer than three months. Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. will be able to charge the client separately for costs that are not included in its rates, such as (but not limited to) courier costs, translation costs and travel costs. For certain types of work or when work has to be performed under great time pressure, rates 50-100% higher than the usual rates may be charged. The client will be informed of this in advance if possible.
3.3 Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. has the right to demand one or more deductible advances from the client prior to or in order to continue its services. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the advance will be set off against the final bill in the case in question. Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. is also entitled to set off the advance against the client’s unpaid bills for the case in question or for other cases. Any remainder of the advance will be refunded.
3.4 (Formerly) detained clients and clients with a financial capacity below the limits set by the Legal Aid Act can claim funded legal aid through the Legal Aid Board. This means, among other things, that the Legal Aid Board assesses the right to legal aid against the legal applicant’s final aggregate income in the reference year. The reference year for this assessment is two years prior to the date on which the Legal Aid Board registered the order for legal aid. For this purpose, the Legal Aid Board requests the client’s financial data from the Tax and Customs Administration.
If the aggregate income is not yet known at the time of the application for legal aid, the Legal Aid Board will make a provisional decision. If it later emerges from the final aggregate income that the client’s financial capacity exceeds the legal aid limit, the Legal Aid Board can make a new decision and withdraw the legal aid granted. The client must then personally pay the costs of the lawyer.
In the event of an irrevocable conviction and if the client’s capacity exceeds the income and capital limit referred to in the Legal Aid Act, a client who has automatically been assigned legal counsel on the basis of Articles 39, 40 and 41 of the Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure must personally pay the costs of legal aid. This means that the costs of an assigned lawyer paid by the Legal Aid Board can be recovered from the client after the criminal case has ended, if it appears that the client’s financial capacity exceeds the legal aid limit.
3.5 Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. and the client can agree that instead of claiming legal aid, the client will be assisted on a paid basis. In that case, the client waives the right to be assisted on the basis of funded legal aid. In that case, the financial terms and conditions referred to in Articles 3.1 to 3.3 and 3.8 to 3.10 of these General Terms and Conditions will apply to the billing.
3.6 When work is performed on the basis of funded legal aid, Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. will bill the personal contribution(s) imposed or to be imposed by the Legal Aid Board to the client.
3.7 If the client is assisted on the basis of funded legal aid, work will only be performed after the client has paid the personal contribution.
3.8 The client must make payments within 14 days of the billing date, unless expressly agreed otherwise between the parties.
3.9 In the event of late and/or incomplete payment of a bill, the client will be in default by operation of law and will owe default interest equal to the statutory interest or, if applicable, the statutory commercial interest, as well as extrajudicial (collection) costs. These amounts representing 15% of the principal sum due will be charged to the client, unless this is a natural person who is not acting in the exercise of a profession or business. In that case, the rates will be charged in accordance with the Dutch Decree on Compensation for Extrajudicial Collection Costs (BIK), insofar as the client has not paid the outstanding amount – after the occurrence of the default – within 14 days after a reminder, calculated from the day following the day of the reminder.
3.10 In the event of late and/or incomplete payment of a bill, including a bill for an advance or a personal contribution, Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. is entitled not to commence its work, to suspend it until the payment obligations have been met in full, or to terminate it. Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. is not liable for damage that results or will result therefrom.
4. Termination
Each party is entitled to terminate the agreement by giving notice of termination, with immediate effect if desired. In the event of termination, the client must at least pay for the services performed up to the time of termination as well as work performed after termination and costs that must reasonably be borne by the client.
5. Third-party funds
Third-party funds are funds that the Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Foundation for Managing Third-Party Funds receives on behalf of the client of Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. in a third-party funds account (IBAN NL37ABNA0572399901).
6. Disputes
All disputes between the client and Jebbink Soeteman Advocaten Ltd. will be submitted to the competent court in Amsterdam.