The word "partner" is used to refer to members and certain consultants of Macfarlanes LLP. A list of members, all of whom are solicitors of England and Wales, is open for inspection at the above address.
By accessing and continuing to use this website you agree and acknowledge that you do so upon these terms. In these terms, references to "Macfarlanes", "the firm", "we", "us", "our" and "ours" means Macfarlanes LLP and is deemed to include Macfarlanes Services Limited.
Reliance
The legal commentary and information contained on this website are for illustrative purposes. Their provision does not create a business or professional services relationship. They are not exhaustive and do not attempt to address every issue relevant to any particular situation and therefore specific advice should be obtained from us before acting upon them.
Furthermore, laws and regulations vary with jurisdiction and time. Compliance will always depend upon particular circumstances. Published material is correct as at the date of first publication but is not updated. This material should not be taken as providing legal advice and should not be acted on or relied upon as doing so. Any reliance on the information is therefore solely at the user's own risk.
Investment activity
The firm is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services to clients because we are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide.
Links
This website contains links to servers maintained by other organisations. Macfarlanes excludes all liability for the content of any third party website which links to its website.
Intellectual property
All trade marks referred to on this website are the properties of their respective owners. "Macfarlanes" is a registered trade mark.
Unless otherwise stated, all rights in any content which appears on this website (including, without limitation, the publications displayed on the website, the screen displays, the text, graphics, and look and feel of the website) belong to Macfarlanes or our licensors.
Unless specifically prohibited by a notice published on any page, you may download, temporarily store and/or print a copy of one or more pages of the website for the purposes of viewing them, provided that any copy is unamended and complete and has attached to it the relevant proprietary notices and terms and conditions and it is for use only within your organisation. You may also re-copy downloaded extracts to others on an occasional basis provided that you do not do so for profit.
Any other storage, copying or use of any of the contents of this website is prohibited without Macfarlanes' consent.
Professional indemnity insurance
We maintain compulsory professional indemnity insurance with Aviva Insurance Limited of Pitheavlis, Perth, Scotland, PH2 0NH under policy number P3A55063. This insurance covers all of our practice which is carried on from offices in England and Belgium and by fee earners when practising overseas and will extend to acts or omissions wherever in the world they occur.
Anti financial crime
The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 require independent legal professionals to verify the identity of all their clients and, where the client is an entity, to identify, and in some cases to verify, the natural person/s who is/are its ultimate beneficial owner/s. This means we may ask a client (or persons or organisations who instruct us on a client's behalf) for passport and other identification documents and about our client's wealth and source of funds.
We may also obtain relevant information from external organisations, including credit reference agencies, who may keep a record of the search. Where our client is an entity (or where a person or organisation instructs us on behalf of an entity which is our client) we may ask for a structure chart and for confirmation of who the natural person/s is/are who ultimately beneficially own more than 25 per cent of our client. We will seek this information at the outset of our business relationships, although we may need to update it during the course of our ongoing business relationships.
We may either decline or not be permitted to proceed to act or to handle funds until our client due diligence checks are complete. Where we instruct other professionals, such as counsel or overseas law firms, on a client's behalf, we may provide the other professional with copies of our client due diligence, unless specifically instructed not to.
Slavery and human trafficking statement
Read our Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.
Our tax strategy
We observe the highest standards of professionalism in advising our clients and are equally committed to dealing with our own affairs responsibly.
The following tax strategy summarises our approach to the management of our tax affairs and applies to Macfarlanes LLP and all entities controlled by Macfarlanes LLP.
General
You are entitled to complain about our service, including in relation to our bills, by way of the firm's Complaints Procedure, a copy of which is available on request. Some clients may be entitled to have their complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. However, before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. Further information can be found at: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by email at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, by post at PO Box 6167 Slough SL1 0EH or by telephone on 0300 555 0333 (if calling from the UK) or 0121 245 3050 (if calling from overseas).
You may also have a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If you apply for an assessment, the Legal Ombudsman may not deal with your complaint.
If all or part of our bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest.