GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1.a. These general terms and conditions apply to all services provided by lawyers practicing within the law firm FRANK | COHRS | BOCK (hereinafter: FCB LAW), established in L-2442 Luxembourg, 340, rue de Rollingergrund, to their clients.

1.b. By granting a mandate to one of the lawyers practicing at FCB LAW, the client is deemed to be aware of and to have accepted these general terms and conditions without reservation. The present terms and conditions may be applied retroactively, which is acknowledged and accepted by the client.

1.c. In the event of a conflict between the present terms and conditions and those of the client, the present terms and conditions shall prevail.

2. Opinions, advice and writings of any kind emanating from FCB LAW are protected by intellectual property rights and may not be transmitted, used or reproduced by the client without the express prior consent of the lawyer at FCB LAW. These opinions, advice and writings of any kind are specific to a particular client in the context of a given case and cannot therefore be transposed to other situations or persons without the prior written agreement of the lawyer.

3.a. Fees charged to FCB LAW clients are calculated primarily on the basis of the time actually spent. The complexity of the case and the client’s personal situation, as well as the result obtained, are taken into consideration when calculating the fee.

3.b Fees are adjusted automatically and without prior notice to variations in the cost of living index (indexation of salaries).

3.c. In addition to the fees, the firm will invoice the usual office expenses amounting to 8% of the fees excluding VAT.

3.d. Court fees, witness fees, costs of translating deeds or documents, as well as any other costs incurred in connection with the case, are to be borne by the client.

3.e. The lawyer’s invoices for costs and fees are subject to Luxembourg VAT at the rate in force at the time the invoice for costs and fees is issued. This also applies if the non-taxable recipient of the invoice resides in a member state of the European Union, or if the non-Luxembourg VAT-registered recipient fails to provide his or her intra-Community VAT number before sending the bill of costs and fees, or if he or she does not have a VAT number.

3.f. Payment of bills of costs and fees is portable. The lawyer will commence work on the assigned case as soon as the advance on costs and fees has been paid by the client.

The law firm FCB LAW and the client agree that all requests for retainers, advances on costs and fees or interim or final bills will be payable on receipt. Any delay in payment will automatically result in a surcharge in the form of interest in accordance with article 5 if not 12 of the law of 18 April 2004 as amended on payment deadlines and interest on arrears.

3.g. Etude FCB LAW reserves the right to suspend the execution of any services or instructions received from the customer in the event of non-payment of the advance or interim fee invoice by the customer, without any formal notice or other information.

4.a. The law firm FCB LAW will charge a lump sum between 150 euros (excl. VAT) and 500 euros (excl. VAT) to cover the cost of archiving the file at the law firm.

4.b. Once the final invoice has been issued, FCB LAW will keep the client’s computer file and equipment for a period of 5 years.

4.c. Should the client fail to collect his file from the law firm FCB LAW, after having made an appointment to do so, the client hereby authorizes the lawyer to destroy the file after 5 years from the date of issue of the final invoice for costs and fees.

4.d. In the event that the client wishes to withdraw the services of the law firm FCB LAW and transfer the file to another lawyer, the client undertakes to immediately pay the fees, as well as the costs, disbursements and expenses due to the lawyer for the work carried out prior and in relation with the withdrawal.

5.a. FCB LAW’s lawyers undertake to exercise all reasonable care and diligence in the performance of their duties. They are only bound by an obligation of means.

5.b. Lawyers and other persons working for FCB LAW are liable only in the event of serious fault(s) and/or negligence(s). All liability claims must be brought within one year of the occurrence of the serious fault(s) or negligence(s), failing which the claim will be barred or time-barred (forclos / prescript / déchu).

5.c. The law firm FCB LAW declines all responsibility for any loss of information and/or data received by its customer. The customer shall not be entitled to any compensation in such an event. In order to avoid any loss of data, the customer must save a copy of any document transmitted.

6.a. All lawyers of the firm FCB LAW are insured by the professional liability insurance of the Luxembourg Bar. The maximum amount of compensation to which the client is entitled is limited to the compensation paid by the insurer on behalf of the lawyer for the case in question, less any deductible.

6.b. In the event that the professional indemnity insurance policy of the Luxembourg Bar does not apply for any reason whatsoever, liability will be limited to an amount not exceeding two times the fees (exclusive of VAT) invoiced to and paid by the client in relation to the case giving rise to liability, without this amount exceeding the ceiling of 17,500 euros.

7.a. FCB LAW’s customer data processing policy can be consulted and downloaded from the WWW.FCBLAW.LU website. The personal data processing policy is made in accordance with Regulation EU 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, 2016, which entered into force on May 25, 2018.

7.b. Regulation EU 2016/679 as well as FCB LAW’s data processing policy applies exclusively to the personal data of natural persons, to the exclusion of legal entities.

8. The professional relations between FCB LAW, the lawyers, the other persons working within FCB LAW, and the clients, are governed exclusively by Luxembourg law and come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the City of Luxembourg.
9. The present terms and conditions may be modified at any time at the discretion of the firm FCB LAW. Any new version of the general terms and conditions will be applicable as soon as it is published on the FCB LAW website.
10. These terms and conditions can be consulted on the www.fcblaw.lu website.