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Terms and Conditions of Business

Last updated: 8 October 2026 (version October 2026)

Contents

Table of contents

Forward Law Ltd is a legal consultancy. Our two directors are practising solicitors, but Forward Law Ltd is not a firm of solicitors and is not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We specialise in corporate, commercial, employment and HR contract and advice matters. We do not provide reserved legal services as defined in section 12 of the Legal Services Act 2007.

These terms are published here for transparency. The version that applies to your engagement is the one sent to you with your letter of engagement.

1. About these terms

When Forward Law Ltd undertakes work for you, these terms and conditions of business, as supplemented by your letter of engagement, apply to your instructions. In the event of any conflict between this document and the letter of engagement, the letter of engagement shall prevail.

The expressions “we”, “us”, “our”, “company” and “Forward Law Ltd” mean or refer to Forward Law Ltd (a limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 11762474 and whose registered address is 15 Ann Beaumont Way, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom, IP7 6SA), and where the context so requires, all directors, employees, agents of and consultants to Forward Law Ltd.

We aim to offer our clients quality advice with a personal service at a fair cost. This document sets out our terms of business. Please read them carefully and if you have any queries, please raise them with us as soon as possible.

If you continue to instruct us it will amount to your acceptance of these terms of business. No variations or representation will be binding on the company unless confirmed in writing by a duly authorised representative of the company.

2. Definitions

Consumer (client): an individual acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession.

Trader (company): a person acting for purposes relating to that person’s trade, business, craft or profession, whether acting personally or through another person acting in the trader’s name or on the trader’s behalf.

Service contract: a contract, other than a sales contract, under which a trader supplies or agrees to supply a service to a consumer and the consumer pays or agrees to pay the price.

On-premises contract: a contract which is not an off-premises contract or a distance contract.

Off-premises contract: a contract will be off-premises if one of the following is true:

  • It is concluded in the simultaneous physical presence of us and you, in a place which is not our business premises.
  • An offer is made by you in the simultaneous physical presence of us and you, in a place which is not our business premises.
  • It is concluded on our business premises or through any means of distance communication immediately after you were personally and individually addressed in a place which is not our business premises.
  • It is concluded during an excursion organised by us with the aim or effect of promoting and selling services to you.

Distance contract: a contract concluded under an organised distance service provision scheme where we and you are not both physically present.

These terms and conditions and our client care letter form the service contract between us (the company) and you (the client). You must therefore sign both copies of the client care letter and return one to us before we can commence work for you; you should retain the second copy for your own records.

If the contract is an off-premises or distance contract, you have certain cancellation rights, which are set out in section 17.

3. Hours of business

Our normal working hours are between 9.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. Messages can be left on the answerphone or by email outside these hours, and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

4. Responsibility for your work

You will be notified at the beginning of the work of the person who has responsibility for dealing with your work. We will try to avoid changing the people who are handling your matter unless this is unavoidable, in which case you will be notified in advance.

5. Progress

We will keep you informed as the matter proceeds, normally by sending you a copy of the relevant emails and letters sent and received by us. Action is required by you only when we ask for your instructions.

Please note that email correspondence is dealt with in the same manner as incoming post. A response will therefore not be instant but will be sent as quickly as possible.

6. Instructions and conflicts of interest

We assume that whoever gives us instructions has authority to do so. Where our client is more than one person or entity, the liability is joint and several. To enable us to help you, it is vital that you provide us with all relevant information as quickly as practicable and advise us of any subsequent changes to that information.

We have procedures in place to ensure that a conflict of interest check is carried out as soon as practicable at the commencement of every matter. If, however, you should become aware of any actual or potential conflict of interest, please raise it with us immediately.

7. Confidentiality

All information supplied to us by you will be treated as confidential at all times, unless we are required to disclose it as a matter of law.

8. Proof of identity

The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 require service providers such as this company to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients. In order to comply with the law, we need to obtain evidence of your identity at the beginning of the matter. We should therefore be grateful if you would arrange for us to see one document from each of the two lists below as quickly as possible. We will need to borrow them only for as long as it takes to copy them. If such items are not available, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss other means of proving identity and address.

In addition, company and partnership clients should contact us to discuss the particular information we need in their case.

Confirmation of your name

  • Current signed passport.
  • Current European or UK photo-card driving licence (not provisional).
  • Current full UK driving licence (old style).
  • European state identity card.
  • Residence permit.

Evidence of your address (dated within the last three months)

  • A recent utility bill, for example gas, electricity or home (not mobile) telephone.
  • A current council tax bill.
  • A bank or building society statement or passbook (credit card statements cannot be accepted).
  • A mortgage statement.
  • A house or car insurance certificate.
  • An HMRC tax notification.
  • A state benefit or state pension notification.

We may use an electronic anti-money-laundering (AML) verification service to assist with confirming your identity as required above. This is a completely confidential service and complies with our regulatory requirements and UK data protection law.

We regret that we will be unable to proceed with your matter until identity and address are provided. We apologise for this intrusion, but you will appreciate that it is not of our making.

9. The Bribery Act 2010

The Act makes it an offence for a UK citizen or resident to pay or receive a bribe, either directly or indirectly. The Act provides for transactions that take place in the UK and abroad, and in both the public and private sectors.

It is our policy to conduct all of our business in an honest and ethical manner. We take a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and are committed to acting professionally, fairly and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships wherever we operate, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems to counter bribery.

10. Fees

Our fees are in the main either confirmed as a fixed fee arrangement or calculated on the basis of all the time spent dealing with your matter. Time spent includes meetings with you and, if necessary, others; time spent on the telephone; preparing and reading or considering documents; travelling and waiting time; correspondence (including emails); research; preparatory work; storage and retrieval of papers and information; reading incoming letters or emails; and generally administering your file.

Our hourly rates are set out in your letter of engagement. VAT will be added where applicable. The rates are reviewed twice yearly.

We will frequently agree a fixed fee for work that we undertake, which will be confirmed in the engagement letter that is sent to you.

You will be personally responsible for the settlement of our fees, VAT and expenses incurred on your behalf unless otherwise agreed in writing with you. Please remember that even if another person or company has agreed to pay our fees, VAT and expenses, you remain primarily responsible, and we will look to you for payment if the other person or company does not pay.

Before accepting your instructions, we may ask you for a payment on account of fees, expenses and VAT, in which case we will not commence work until that payment has been received. If you wish, you may set an upper limit on the costs to be incurred on your behalf without further authority.

Please note that the amount of any sum received on account does not mean that our fees will necessarily amount to the same figure; they may be more or less.

So that you can budget effectively, we will normally send you interim invoices from time to time during the conduct of your matter. We will then send a final bill on completion of the work. Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any interim bill we send you will be the only and final bill for our costs incurred for the period to which it relates. Payment is due on delivery of the invoice without any deductions, set-off or counterclaim. If an invoice is not paid within 28 days of the invoice date, interest will be charged at 5% over NatWest’s base rate from time to time, from the invoice date until payment in full is made, and all other invoices submitted shall immediately become due and payable.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate the provision of further services until payment is received. We will issue proceedings if an invoice is unpaid after one month from the date of the invoice.

We will be entitled to keep all your papers, documents and any other items we hold while there is still money owing to us for our charges and expenses on any matter.

If you are dissatisfied with our invoice, please invoke our complaints handling procedure (see section 20).

11. Payment methods

For your convenience, our fees may be paid by bank transfer. We cannot take credit card payments.

Please be aware of cybercrime. Forward Law Ltd will not take responsibility if you transfer money to a wrong bank account. If you receive an email from Forward Law Ltd requesting your bank details or requesting money, always phone your fee earner immediately to confirm the details before making payment. Please be on notice that it is the policy of Forward Law Ltd not to send or accept bank details by email.

12. Disbursements and expenses

We will notify you in advance of any disbursements or expenses that will be payable in addition to our service fee. We will not incur any such expense without your prior written approval.

13. Limited companies

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a director and/or controlling shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this company. If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out above.

14. Handling your money

We DO NOT operate a client account and therefore, unlike a solicitors’ practice, we cannot hold money on your behalf.

15. Financial, investment and tax advice

We are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) and are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We do not provide financial or investment advice of any sort.

We do not advise on tax matters in any circumstances. You are responsible for reviewing and understanding the tax implications of any work that you instruct us to undertake. Where a matter you instruct us on does or may have tax implications, you should seek tax advice from your accountant or other financial adviser.

16. Storage of papers and documents

Once our charges have been paid at the end of a matter we will return to you, if you ask, any documents you lent to us for the purpose of the matter. We will keep your file of papers in storage for six years, after which it will be confidentially destroyed.

If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents to you or another at your request. We may also charge for reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.

We reserve the right to charge for the cost of posting to you any papers you request, and will require payment in advance. It is the company’s policy to use a tracked postage service given the confidential nature of their contents.

17. Termination of instructions and your right to cancel

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owing to us for our charges and expenses.

We may also decide to stop acting for you, only with good reason and on reasonable notice. On termination, you will be liable for fees arising and payments made or committed up to the date of termination of the instructions.

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, for off-premises and distance contracts you have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire 14 days after the day on which the contract is concluded.

To exercise the right to cancel and meet the cancellation deadline, you must inform us, Forward Law Ltd, by email to davidcammack@forwardlaw.co.uk of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (for example, a letter sent by email) before the cancellation period has expired.

If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you. We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed of your decision to cancel. We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement. If you asked us to begin performing services during the cancellation period, you shall pay us an amount in proportion to what has been performed up to the time you communicated your cancellation, compared with the full coverage of the contract.

18. Equality and diversity policy

This company operates an equality and diversity policy in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like us to send you a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

19. Data protection

The company takes your privacy seriously and complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. Our full Privacy Policy is published on our website, or a copy can be requested from the director dealing with your matter. The director responsible for data protection is Stephen Avila.

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of services to you and for related purposes, including updating and enhancing client records, analysis to help us manage our business, statutory returns, and legal and regulatory compliance. Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, UK data protection law and our duty of confidentiality.

20. Client care and complaints

We aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service. If, however, you have any problem with the service provided to you, please let us know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and we operate an internal complaints handling system to help us resolve the problem between us. A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request, but in the first instance please contact the person with day-to-day responsibility for your work. If that does not provide a solution, please contact the supervising director with overall responsibility for your work, or our Complaints Officer, in writing.

21. Law of contract and invalidity of any contractual term

The contract under which we agree to provide legal services for you is governed by English law, and you and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

If any provision of these terms and conditions is held by a court or competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the remainder of these terms and conditions and of the remainder of the provision in question shall not be affected by that decision.

22. Professional indemnity insurance and liability

We hold professional indemnity cover for the non-reserved legal consultancy services that we provide. Our level of cover is £150,000.

Save as provided under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 or the Consumer Rights Act 2015, we shall under no circumstances whatsoever be liable to you for any loss of profit, any indirect loss or consequential loss arising in connection with these terms.

You agree that our liability to you shall be limited to £150,000 for any one claim or series of related claims, however the claim arises.

23. Civil liability of the company

Forward Law Ltd is a limited liability company. By giving us your instructions, you acknowledge that civil liability rests with the company and not with any employee, consultant or director of the company. This does not affect your statutory rights.

24. Mediation

Any dispute or difference arising out of or in connection with this agreement, including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, may be referred to mediation at any time by written notice by either party.

25. Value added tax

The company is not currently VAT registered. If we become VAT registered at any time during the carrying out of a matter for you, we reserve the right to add VAT to the amount payable by you.

26. Force majeure

In this clause, “Force Majeure Event” means an event beyond our reasonable control, including strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes (whether involving our workforce or any other party), failure of a utility service or transport network, act of God, war, riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, compliance with any law or governmental order, rule, regulation or direction, accident, breakdown of plant or machinery, fire, flood, storm, inability to procure materials or articles except at increased prices, or default of agents, suppliers or subcontractors.

We shall bear no liability for loss, damage or delay howsoever arising from a Force Majeure Event, and in these circumstances may suspend or cancel the whole or part of any service. We shall endeavour to notify you as quickly as reasonably possible if a Force Majeure Event occurs.

If a Force Majeure Event prevents us from providing any of our services for more than eight weeks, we shall, without limiting our other rights or remedies, have the right to terminate this contract immediately by giving written notice to you.

27. Contact us

If you have any questions about these terms, please contact:

Forward Law Ltd
50 Liverpool Street
London
EC2M 7PY

Telephone: 0207 458 4790

Email: davidcammack@forwardlaw.co.uk

Registered office: 15 Ann Beaumont Way, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP7 6SA

Company number: 11762474