Terms

These terms and conditions apply to all services provided by Dottir Attorneys Ltd (“Dottir”), and all assignments and engagements between Dottir and its clients. The clients of Dottir are hereinafter also referred to as “you” and Dottir as “we”. By using our services, you agree to these terms and conditions.

Unless otherwise expressly agreed, the terms applicable to the services provided by Dottir are limited solely to these terms and conditions and any additional or different terms and conditions referred to by the client of Dottir are not binding upon Dottir. However, in case of any discrepancies between these terms and conditions and a possible engagement letter entered into with you, the engagement letter shall supersede these terms and conditions.

1. Attorneys at law are supervised by the Finnish Bar Association

Dottir is bound to comply with the code of conduct and rules set out by the Finnish Bar Association. That code of conduct and those rules can be found at www.asianajajaliitto.fi.

2. Our services

Prior to accepting an assignment, Dottir performs an internal conflict of interest inquiry in order to identify any conflicts of interest preventing us from representing you. Please note that conflicts of interest may also arise during the course of handling an assignment, whereupon we might be hindered to continue representing you and might be obliged to terminate the assignment.

Dottir’s services are limited to legal advice only. Any type of financial, commercial, accounting, technical or environmental advice is not a part of our services. Our services do not include tax advice and we do not assess potential tax consequences of our advice. The lawyers of Dottir are qualified to provide advice on Finnish law only, and any statements of our lawyers relating to the laws of other jurisdictions shall not be deemed as legal advice, and no liability is assumed by Dottir in respect of any views expressed on foreign laws.

Dottir’s legal advice and services are always tailored based on the information, instructions and documentation you provide to Dottir in relation to each assignment. Our advice may not be relied upon in any other matter, or for any other purpose than for which our advice was provided for.

Dottir designates one of its partners to be primarily responsible for the assignment and chooses the lawyers and other personnel handling the assignment. The agreement for the provision of legal services is made between you and Dottir, not between you and any individual. Without prejudice to your rights to bring claims against Dottir, you agree not to bring any claims against the personnel of Dottir, unless otherwise provided by mandatory law.

Dottir is allowed to change the personnel handling the assignment unless expressly otherwise requested by you. If agreed between you and Dottir, external advisors, e.g. foreign lawyers, may be engaged for handling the matter. Dottir is not liable for the cost of using such external assistance and assumes no liability for the services or advice provided by external advisors, irrespective of whether such advisors have been engaged by Dottir.

Dottir uses email for communicating with clients. In case you prefer other means of communication, the partner responsible for your assignment shall be notified. In order to ensure that no emails have been blocked by spam filters, you should follow up any urgent and/or important emails by telephone.

3. Fees, expenses and invoicing

The fees charged by Dottir are based on the hourly billing rates applicable at the time of the engagement, unless otherwise agreed with you. The total fees may be determined by the time spent on the assignment, the complexity and urgency of the matter, as well as by business interest and the results of the assignment. Any fee estimates given by us are merely indicative, unless otherwise agreed.

Unless otherwise agreed, we are entitled to charge reasonable out-of-pocket expenses deemed necessary in order to carry out the assignment, such as travel, governmental, registration and accommodation expenses.

In some cases, we may require a retainer to cover our future fees and expenses.

The term of payment of our invoices is 14 days from the date of the invoice. Value added tax (VAT) shall be added to our fees in accordance with the applicable tax regulation. Unpaid and overdue payments are subject to penalty interest in accordance with the Finnish Interest Act.

You are encouraged to inquire from your insurance company whether your possible legal expenses insurance is applicable for your assignment with us, and whether our fees can be covered by such legal expenses insurance. Please note that we always invoice our clients directly, irrespective of whether our fees can be claimed from an insurance company or from a counterparty in a dispute.

4. Intellectual property rights

All intellectual property rights, in the material we generate during the course of the assignment, are retained by Dottir. You have the right to use such material for the purposes for which they are provided to you.

5. Prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing

Dottir is obliged under law to identify its clients, the clients’ owners and representatives, as well as determine the origin of it’s funds, in accordance with the regulation governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. We are obliged to report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the competent authorities and might be obliged to cancel the assignment in case such suspicions arise.

6. Confidentiality and personal data

Dottir adheres to the rules of the Finnish Bar Association in keeping your information confidential.

If we engage external advisors when handling your assignment, we may disclose to them such information and material we consider necessary for the proper handling of your matter.

Unless otherwise instructed by you, we are entitled to use the name of your company and a general description of the assignment in submissions to legal directories and offers. Such references shall be marked as confidential.

We may use transactions and similar assignments as public references in our marketing materials and on our website. Such reference use shall only contain information that is already public.

We might be obliged to provide information to the tax authorities on your VAT registration number and the value of your purchases from us.

We process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws for the purposes of, inter alia, handling the assignment, managing client relationships and for marketing purposes as well as for client identification purposes. You are entitled to receive information from us on how we process your personal data and on how to utilize your statutory rights as a data subject.

7. Insurance

At the date of engaging us, our professional liability insurance provider is:

Pohjola Insurance Ltd; Business ID: 1458359-3; Postal address: Gebhardinaukio 1, FI-00013 OP, Finland; Telephone +358 303 0303; www.op.fi

Our liability for the services provided to you shall be limited in accordance with Section 8 below regardless of the terms and conditions of the professional liability insurance.

8. Limitation of liability

Unless otherwise agreed, Dottir’s aggregate maximum liability under any assignment, including the liability of our partners and personnel, for any loss or damage that is caused to our client(s) is limited to EUR 500,000. We might limit our liability for individual parts of the assignment to lower amounts.

Without limiting the foregoing, in the event that you have been advised by an advisor other than Dottir in the same matter giving rise to liability, our liability is limited to the maximum liability of the other advisor in case lower than ours, however never lower than EUR 200,000.

Dottir is only liable for direct damages incurred by you. Dottir is not liable for any incidental, consequential or other indirect losses or damages, such as lost profits, lost data or lost goodwill.

We will reduce our liability to you by any sums you obtain as compensation for the damage or loss incurred by you from any insurance, or from any contract to which you are a party.

We are not liable for damage resulting from our advice or documents provided to you if they are used for any other purpose than originally prepared for.

Our advice is addressed to and we provide our services to our clients only, and we will not accept any liability in the event that our advice has been relied upon by any party other than the client or, in case any third party has suffered loss or damages for any reason.

9. Claims

Any complaints with regard to the services provided by Dottir should be primarily addressed to the partner responsible for your assignment.

Dottir and its partners shall not be liable for any damages unless the claim for such damages has been presented in writing to us within 12 months from when you received our advice, or from when the assignment can reasonably be deemed to have been completed, whichever occurs first.

If your claim against us is based on a claim against you by a third party or any tax authority or other public authority, we will be entitled to answer and settle such claim on your behalf, provided that you are indemnified by us. If you settle or otherwise take any action relating to such claim without our consent, we shall not have any liability for such claim.

If you are compensated by us or our insurers in respect of a claim, you shall assign the right of recourse against third parties to us or our insurers.

10. Termination

These terms and conditions apply as of the commencement of your engagement with us, irrespective of a possible later acceptance date of these terms and conditions.

You may terminate your engagement with us at any time by providing us with a written notice. We may in some cases be obliged or allowed to terminate our engagement with you under the rules of the Finnish Bar Association. In case of termination or expiry of the agreement between you and Dottir, you are obliged to pay our fees for services provided and expenses incurred prior and up to the termination or expiry of your engagement with Dottir.

11. Governing law and dispute resolution

Finnish law, excluding its choice of law rules or principles, will be applicable to the relationship between you and Dottir.

Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of, or relating to this contract or your engagement with Dottir, or the breach, termination or validity thereof, shall be finally settled by arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the Finland Chamber of Commerce. The number of arbitrators shall be 1. The seat of arbitration shall be Helsinki, Finland. We reserve the right to bring claims concerning uncontested receivables to the Helsinki District Court or, at our sole discretion to another competent court anywhere in the world.

Updated 23rd of February 2022