This document gives you particularly important information you need in relation to the service you obtain from us Roth Ares Law. This piece of information relates to your file, about the relationship between you and the Firm and conduct of your case. Please read this letter carefully. If you have any queries in relation to any issues raised in this letter, we are happy to clarify them for you. We will update you by telephone or in writing with progress on your matter regular basis and following an agreed or an important event. We will communicate with you in plain language. We will explain to you by telephone or/and in writing the legal work required as your matter progresses. We will tell you on our fees and other costs and disbursements of your matter at the start of the matter and any changes thereto when it is necessary. Our fees will not include any third-party costs (if any) or disbursements such as Home Office fees, Affidavits cost, Administrative Review fees, Court fees where relevant. Please note we do not hold any client money with us. Meaning we do not hold any money on behalf of you for the payment of fees to other third parties. As the technology has developed all thirds parties facilitate receiving payment directly from you, in all cases that is Credit Card or Debit Card payments. So in essence, you only pay our fixed legal fees only, that can be in 2 installments or one full payment, subject to ad hoc part payment plan. The money you pay us call office money and they are office money. We will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the fixed legal fees and risks associated with your matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances. We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of this matter and any important changes in those estimates. We will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded. We will be regularly updating you of the progress of your matter and will have a constant contact with you throughout the matter
Our specialist staffs are ready to offer you a professional and friendly service. We will advise you of Laws and Regulations and procedures on your instructions. It is particularly important that you instruct us accurately and in full on your matter and promptly on any change of your circumstances. Our advice will be based on your full instructions given to us
You will provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions. You will provide us with all available documentation required to complete the matter in timely manner and you will safeguard any documents that are likely to be required for discovery. Also, you must immediately advise us of any change of your circumstances, your address, and any contact details. We advise you to inform these changes to us in writing. This helps us to provide you with an accurate service.
We will retain your personal information until we no longer anticipate using it for any legal or reasonable purpose, and in coTo satisfy new rules and regulations we need to have evidence verifying your Identity and Proof of Address. Typically, we need to see your original Passport and obtain a copy together with a recent original utility bill or bank statement for proof of address. If we need further documents in this relation, we will let you know accordingly. if you do not have a passport, we will need to see your photo card driving license. In other words, this is called a test of due diligence.nformity with all relevant laws. At the appropriate time, we shall take reasonable measures to erase or de-identify your personal information, unless we are required to maintain such information to comply with legal or professional ethical responsibilities.
We will notify you of the member of staff who will have the day-to-day conduct over your matter. All the matters are supervised by a fully qualified Supervisor and/or a Supervising Solicitor promptly. If the member of the staff who is dealing with your matter is on holiday, we will arrange another staff member to take care of your matter.
We will keep you inform of all the updates of the matter. We will inform you of all important correspondence we send and receive on your behalf during our conduct of the matter. Also, we will notify of all the key dates Home Office Application submission dates Biometric Appointment dates etc. dates in your case in time. We will inform you time to time of costs incur in your matter.
Our Office hours are Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. Our offices are closed on public and bank holidays.
You need to book an appointment if you need to see the person who is dealing with your matter. Most our appointments are now conducted via Teams which is preferred by most of our clients.
Appointments can be requested and booked by emailing us and alternatively calling us. Our preferred method of communication is by email. This way we keep the cost of the cases to the minimum, increasing efficiency and more productivity and faster processing time of your case. All our staff has access to their own emails and the caseworker has will commence your case and his or her supervisor are your key contact points.
We will end your case on outcome of your matter. We will advise you of this in the end of the case. Also, your case can be ended on any conflicts of interests that may arise during the matter, or if you wish to terminate your instructions. After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
We will keep our file of your papers for up to six [6] years, except those papers that you ask to be returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them six [6] years after the date of the final bill. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.
End of the case we will send your file to storage for safe keeping. We will keep your file in storage up to six years from the end of your matter. You may ask for and collect any important documents, copies etc before we send the file to archives. If we retrieve papers of documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may additionally charge for the time spent producing stored papers that are requested if the file is large. Also, we may additionally charge reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to the retrieve of papers. However, we no longer retain any original documents of yours, after the end of the case, we straight return those to you. Similarly, storage of your file or application is by electronic means. Please note that, all in our immigration matters we are able to make a subject access request and obtain your full files of papers from the home office alternatively.
We may decide to stop acting for you with good reason. We must give you a reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you. You must deal with all the enquiries, information requests in time. We will not be able to deal with your matter if you do not corporate with us appropriately. We will end our representation as your Solicitors if:
After termination of our retainership we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
Also, you may end your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our costs and charges up until that point. These are calculated on an hourly rate plus expenses or by proportion of the agreed fee as agreed in your matter.
We, Roth Ares Law are committed to provide you with an excellent and quality service.
However, we are prepared to deal with any concerns you may have about our services or our staff and deal with them appropriately. We always keep in touch with you. Our continuous communication includes regular updates of the case via email correspondence.Our correspondence mostly means electronic correspondence than physical mail, unless it is necessary that documents need to be received by post.
You need to inform and instruct us all the information and facts regarding your matter. You must provide us with all the paperwork you have in relation to your matter including any evidence such as Company Convention Documents, Government bodies related documents, Company Accounts, Business Plans, Your CV, other third-party documents, Utility documents, passports, biometric cards, home office letters, photographs etc. The type of evidence that we need, would vary based on the type of the case we take your instructions on. Your instructions and the evidence which support your case help us to assess your case for prospects of success. Once we have received signed engagement documents and initial payment of fees, we prepare more explanatory list of documents to support your case for your business or as an individual.
We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:
Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998, and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you.
We also may obtain, copy, process, use and disclose any personal data about you to deal with your matter.
We may from time to time send you information that we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information, please notify our office in writing
External firms or organizations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organizations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.
As discussed above we only charge you on fixed fee basis meaning you pay only one fee that from the beginning to the end. Our promise is not to charge you for any this additional for any service provided by our firm. We do not charge you on hourly rate basis. So, you have the peace of mind that the legal
fees are fully transparent, and you pay only one fee. You pay fixed legal fees to our office account for that reason. Under any circumstances our firm do not hold any client money. Meaning we do not hold money for you for the later payment to other parties. Also, we do not work basis of hourly rate. By signing these terms, you agree that you will pay any outstanding fixed fee to our office account before submitting your application to the Home Office. Once we started your matter, if you decide to discontinue it still you are liable to pay the full agreed fees to the Firm. Also, any part payments you paid up to that date are non-refundable and firm has all rights to recover the balance fees from you. We never ask you to make any money transfer to our office account that does not belong to us. This way we keep ultimate trust between you and us. We value our professionalism more than anything, we treat you with ultimate respect.
Additional Costs and disbursements will be notified to you in most of the time at the same time we are sending you our engagement letters. However, we recommend obtaining work done by experts, business consultants etc. to improve you case. Those future advisory costs may not be expected initially. However, Home Office fees and IHS fees are always mentioned in our engagement letters.
These fees are not included in our professional fees. We never hold these money for you as a firm.
Our Professional Services are covered by a Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) up to a maximum of Three Million Pounds (£3,000,000). Details of this can be obtained from our office on request.
There are 6 lawful bases for processing your personal data. These are detailed as follows:
As an organization that processes business related data, Roth Ares Law has assessed all 6 grounds for lawful processing of personal data and has selected ‘consent’, ‘contract’, ‘legal obligation’ as the most suitable lawful ground for the processing of data by our firm.
Consent:
processing is necessary where you have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose. In instructing us, you are giving consent for us to use your data, to act on your behalf.
Contract:
processing is necessary for a contract you have with us, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal Obligation:
processing is necessary for us to comply with the law (not including contractual obligation). Your data will be used for a specific purpose, used only for that purpose and retained for only as long as it meets that purpose, and according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) rules.
Further information regarding the lawful basis for processing personal data can be found at ico.org.uk.
Your data will be used for a specific purpose, used only for that purpose and retained for only as long as it meets this purpose, and according to the Solicitors Regulation Association Rules (SAR).
Your personal information will be stored for a specific period of time, which is usually the duration of your case, up until its completion. After completion, your personal information will be stored for 6 years and stored in the UK within a secure environment.
Under the EU GDPR, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO),
should you think or believe that there is a problem with the way your personal data is being handled.
You can get in contact with the ICO by;
Email: registration@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Complaints Procedure
We hope that you will be satisfied with the services you receive from Roth Ares Law. We recognise that occasionally, things can go wrong, and communications can break down. Although we pride ourselves in giving our clients the very highest level of services, if you are unhappy about the quality of our service, we have a complaints procedure specifically designed to deal with any problems you have with the firm.
If you have any problems with our service, please address your complaint in the first instance to Mr Ravi Thenuwara, who will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days. He will do her best to resolve the matter. If the matter is not resolved, then we ask that you put your complaint in writing and address this to Mr Ravi Thenuwara for a detailed assessment.
Your complaint will be investigated, and we have eight weeks to provide you with a full reply. If you still feel that your complaint has not been properly resolved. If you still feel that your complaint is not resolved
You will have 6 months to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
From the 1st April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than;
exercise discretion to extend the 1 year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was
fair to do so. See link https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
We hope that you will be satisfied with the services you receive from us. However, if you are unhappy about the quality of service you receive, we have a complaints procedure. If you have any complaints about our services provided to you, you should speak to the caseworker/solicitor who is handling your matter, in the first instance or you can make a complaint by writing to Ravi Thenuwara, complaint
handling Partner. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint and revert to you. If we have not resolved, it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside of this period, within three years of when you should reasonably have been aware of it). More details of this can be found in our complaint procedure. We will provide you with further details on request if you have any concerns of making a claim.
We are required to observe anti-money laundering obligations under Money Laundering Regulations 2007. This is because Solicitors who deal with the money and property on behalf of their client can be used by Criminals wanting to launder their money. To comply with the Law, we need to get your Identity as soon as possible. Our practice is to obtain copies of your Identity Document from the Original. If you cannot provide us with the specific Identification requested, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss other ways to verify your Identity. We will obtain information about your Identity (eg: Passport) and at times your related individual’s Identity to verify that information.
We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, Solicitor may be required by statute to make disclosure to the Serious Organized Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve in money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your matter for a period and may not be able to tell you why.
It is important that you keep this document safe as you may need it for future reference.
