Regulatory Information

Regulatory Status

AJ Walter Emir Bennetts is a solicitor of England and Wales and is personally regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

SRA ID: 7816167

I practise on a self-employed freelance basis in my own name.

My freelance practice operates under regulation 10.2(a) of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations and currently provides non-reserved legal services.

AJ W. E. Bennetts, Solicitor is not an SRA-authorised law firm or recognised sole practice. The distinction is important: I am personally regulated by the SRA as a solicitor, but the freelance practice itself is not an SRA-authorised firm.

You can verify my regulatory status through the SRA Solicitors Register.

Reserved Legal Activities

I do not currently provide reserved legal activities through this freelance practice.

Reserved legal activities are specific activities which, under the Legal Services Act 2007, may only be undertaken in circumstances permitted by law and the relevant professional regulator.

They include:

• the conduct of litigation;
• exercising rights of audience;
• certain reserved instrument activities relating to land;
• reserved probate activities;
• administration of oaths; and
• notarial activities.

Where a matter requires a reserved legal activity which I cannot provide through my freelance practice, I will explain this to you and, where appropriate, recommend that you instruct an appropriately authorised solicitor, law firm, barrister, conveyancer, probate practitioner or Notary Public.

SRA Compensation Fund

Clients may, in certain circumstances, be eligible to apply to the SRA Compensation Fund.

The Compensation Fund is a discretionary fund administered by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Eligibility and payment are governed by the SRA Compensation Fund Rules and no person has an automatic entitlement to compensation.

The Fund may potentially assist with certain losses resulting from dishonesty or a failure by a solicitor to account for money. It is not a replacement for professional indemnity insurance and does not generally compensate clients simply because a solicitor has been professionally negligent.

Any application is determined by the SRA in accordance with the rules and eligibility criteria applying at the time of the application.

Further information is available from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Fees and VAT

My fees will be explained before I accept an instruction.

Where a fixed fee is advertised or agreed, I will explain what is included within that fee and identify any additional third-party costs or disbursements.

I am not currently registered for VAT. Accordingly, VAT is not added to my professional fees.

Third-party suppliers may charge VAT on their own fees where applicable.

Apostilles and FCDO Legalisation

My signature is registered with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for document legalisation purposes.

This means that, where solicitor certification is appropriate for the particular document, I can certify or sign the document before it is submitted to the FCDO Legalisation Office for an apostille.

I do not issue apostilles myself. Apostilles for UK public documents are issued by the FCDO Legalisation Office.

Whether solicitor certification, notarisation, an apostille, embassy legalisation or additional steps are required depends upon the document, the country in which it will be used and the requirements of the receiving authority.

I will explain the appropriate process based upon the information provided to me.

Confidentiality

I am subject to the professional duties applying to solicitors, including duties concerning client confidentiality.

Information provided to me in the course of an instruction will be treated confidentially except where disclosure is permitted or required by law, regulation or my professional obligations.

Information about how personal data is collected and processed is contained in my Privacy Policy.

Legal Ombudsman

If I am unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, or eight weeks have passed since you made your complaint without it being resolved, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman.

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation that considers complaints about the service provided by lawyers.

Generally, a complaint must be referred to the Legal Ombudsman:

• within one year of the act or omission being complained about; or
• within one year of when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint;

and

• within six months of receiving my final written response to your complaint where that response properly informs you of this time limit.

The Legal Ombudsman may apply exceptions to its normal time limits in certain circumstances.

Professional Standards

As a practising solicitor I am personally subject to the SRA Principles and the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs and RSLs.

Those professional obligations include requirements relating to:

• honesty and integrity;
• independence;
• acting in clients' best interests;
• client confidentiality;
• conflicts of interest;
• complaints handling;
• client information;
• accurate and non-misleading publicity; and
• ensuring clients understand the regulatory protections applying to the services they receive.