- Who we are
‘Rutters’ and ‘Rutters solicitors” are trading names of Rutters, whose head office address is 2 Bimport, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8AY
All references to “Rutters”, “we”, “the firm” should be read as referring to Rutters.
- How we are regulated
We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) and so are subject to the provisions of the SRA Code of Conduct and the SRA Standards and Regulations. Copies can be obtained from the SRA website, http:\\www.sra.org.uk. The Law Society is our professional body, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s role of representing our profession and given to the SRA, which is now the independent regulatory body of the Law Society. We are accountable to the SRA and to the Legal Ombudsman, which is the independent complaints body of the Office for Legal Complaints. Both the SRA and the Office for Legal Complaints are regulated by the Legal Services Board.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance
We maintain professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Details of the insurers and territorial coverage is available upon request from James Wood at our Shaftesbury office j.wood@rutterslaw.co.uk
- VAT
Rutters is registered for Value Added Tax in the United Kingdom (registration number GB 186 5168 31).
- Equality and diversity
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of our dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.
- Insurance advice and financial services
We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society of England and Wales. If you are unhappy with any investment advice or insurance advice you receive from us you should raise your concerns with the SRA. If, whilst we are acting for you, you need advice on investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised to provide the necessary advice. However, we may provide some limited investment advice/services where these are closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you. This is because we are regulated by the SRA which is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA). Our role in any transaction is that of legal advisor and it is not part of our function to give advice on the merits of any transaction in investments. When providing our services we will assume that you have decided or will decide to negotiate or enter into any such transaction solely on the advice you may receive from a person authorised under the FSMA. No communication from us is intended or should be construed as an invitation or inducement to you or to anyone else to engage in investment activity. Although we are not authorised by the FCA or the PRA, we are included on the register of exempt professional firms maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at www.fca.org.uk.
- Distance selling legislation (e.g. home visits)
If you give us instructions at a face-to-face meeting at somewhere other than one of our offices (such as your home) and you are a consumer, you are entitled under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to cancel your contract with us within 14 days of the date of instruction. You can exercise this right to cancel in any way you choose, as long as you make it clear to us that you are doing so. We are not allowed to start work for you until this right to cancel has expired, unless you specifically ask us in writing to do so. If you do this, but then change your mind, you may do so provided the 14 day period has not expired and we have not already completed the work.
If you exercise your right to cancel, having specifically told us to start work before that right has expired, we are entitled to charge you for any work we have already carried out.
Terms of use of our website and our social media community
These terms of use (together with our Privacy Policy) tell you the basis on which you may make use of (including accessing and browsing) our website www.rutterslaw.co.uk (our website) and our social media community.
Our social media community currently includes our profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google places.
By using our website or our social media community, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our website or our social media community.
We may update and change these terms of use at any time. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we have made as they are binding on you.
- Our website
Our website is based in England and is intended for use within England and Wales. If you choose to access our website from outside England and Wales, you are solely responsible for compliance with the relevant local laws.
The content on our website is provided for general information only and can be changed at any time. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our website, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our website is accurate, complete or up-to-date.
Please contact us for professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our website.
- Accessing our website
Our website is made available free of charge and access is permitted on a temporary basis. We do not guarantee that our website, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our website without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our website is unavailable at any time or for any period.
- Linking to our website and links to third party websites
You may not link to our website without our prior written permission. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
If you wish to link to our website please contact enquiries@rutterslaw.co.uk .
Links to third party websites and resources are provided for your information only and is not an endorsement. We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our website and will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
- Our Social media community
The terms, conditions and policies that apply to specific social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn or Google also apply to the Rutters profiles they host. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with those terms and conditions before participating in our social media community
You agree not to post any material which is obscene, misleading, inaccurate, defamatory, discriminatory, abusive, harassing, unlawful or in breach of any copyright or intellectual property rights or that will cause any damage to data, software or the performance of any computer system. You will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of this paragraph.
Any posting (to include but not limited to liking a comment or post, liking our page, connecting with us and making a comment) to our social media community will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such content for any purpose. We reserve the right to remove any posting you make on our social media community.
We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our social media community constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.
We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any content posted by you or any other user of our social media community.
The views expressed by other users on our social media community do not represent our views or values.
The content on our social media community is provided for general information only and can be changed at any time. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our social media community, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our social media community is accurate, complete or up-to-date.
Please contact us for professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our social media community.
- Viruses
We do not guarantee that our website and our social media community will be free from bugs or viruses. You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform in order to access our site and our social media community. You should use your own virus protection software.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our website or our social media community or to your downloading of any content on them, or on any website linked to them.
We will report any breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 by you to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our website and social media community will cease immediately.
- Intellectual property rights
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our website or our social media community, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our website or our social media community for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our website or our social media community. Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our website must always be acknowledged.
You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
You must not use any part of the content on our website and our social media community for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If you print off, copy or download any part of our website or our social media community in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our website our social media community will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.
The Rutters logo are registered trademarks of Rutters.
- Limitation of our liability
Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for:
- death or personal injury arising from our negligence,
- fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or
- any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.
We shall not be liable for any of these losses: loss of profits; loss of business; depletion of goodwill and/or similar losses, or pure economic loss; any special, indirect or consequential loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses however arising.
We shall not be liable to any user for any loss or damage (even if foreseeable) arising under or in connection with the use of (or inability to use) our website to include our social media community, or use of or reliance on any content displayed on our website to include our social media community. This is the case whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise.
To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our website or any content on it, whether express or implied.
- Applicable law
These terms of use are governed by English law. Any disputes in connection with these terms of use shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.