Terms of business CURIA
CURIAs term of business apply to any assignment that we accept unless otherwise agreed in writing.
1. Receiving the case
When receiving new cases, we will investigate, in compliance with the Administration of Justice Act, the regulations of the Danish Bar and Law Society, and our own internal procedures that there are no causes for disqualification or conflicts of interest. If we are unable to accept the case as the result of causes for disqualification or conflicts of interest, we can assist in identifying an alternative practice.
CURIA is – as are all other law practices – subject to the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act. In a variety of cases we are, therefore, obliged to collect and retain identify information from our clients and, on an on-going basis, to assess the risk of the presence of money laundering or financing of terrorism related to our cases. Our clients can therefore experience that we ask a variety of questions and request documentation for the clarification of these. This is a routine procedure and the information is not used for any commercial purposes. See also our privacy policy for further information about our processing of personal data.
We are also under obligation to investigate transactions in case of suspicion arising that they may be related to money laundering or the financing of terrorism. In this connection, we may, under very extraordinary circumstances, be obliged to notify the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime or the Danish Bar and Law Society.
2. Confidentiality
All employees of CURIA are subject to a professional secrecy obligation. We treat all information received from clients with complete confidentiality unless otherwise agreed.
In relation to external communications, CURIA, is unable to ensure that third parties observe confidentiality.
3. Insider trading
All employees at CURIA are covered by our internal insider regulations and relevant legislation aimed at preventing insider trading, involving a prohibition against any disclosure of internal knowledge related to listed companies and restrictions on the trading in listed equities.
4. Client account
We manage client funds in compliance with relevant regulations from the Danish Bar and Law Society. Consequently, client funds are deposited in separate client accounts and both positive and negative interest is accrued to the client. The client is debited for any fees charged by the account servicing financial institution for the creation, maintenance, or closing of the client account.
When creating a client account, we are obliged to disclose identity information to the financial institution in which the client account is created, since the financial institution must comply with the money laundering Act.
Client funds in client accounts are protected up to EUR 100,000 per client per financial institution in accordance with the Depositor and Investor Guarantee Scheme Act. The protection limit comprises the client’s own deposits in own accounts, in separate client accounts, and in joint client accounts. CURIA shall not be liable for the loss of client funds as the result of the insolvency proceedings of the account servicing financial institutions.
5. Fees and invoicing
Before we perform an assignment for a client, we are happy to provide – and always will do so for consumers – a price for the same. For smaller cases where it is possible to predict the case progression, we can often provide a combined price for the entire assignments. For larger cases, this is rarely possible. In such a case, we are happy instead to price clearly defined part assignments before performing them and will detail the basis of the calculation. For larger cases, we will also notify the client on an on-going basis of the time spent.
Generally speaking, our prices are based on time spent on the case, although the following factors may also affect the pricing: The scope and complexity of the case, the importance of the case to the client, the results achieved, the responsibility associated with performing the assignment, the value of the case, the scope of specialist knowledge and experience required, and whether the assignment is carried out outside of normal working hours.
Our hourly rates, used when invoicing for time spent, will be available on our website at any time here.
Generally speaking, we will invoice cases monthly in arrears and upon completion unless otherwise agreed. For certain types of cases we may also request payment of our estimated fee in advance. Our payment terms are 14 days net from the invoice date.
The client will be debited separately for disbursements and costs related to the assignment. In relation to disbursements and costs, we will generally request prepayment.
In case of delayed client payment, late payment interest will be applied in accordance with the regulations of the Interest Act.
6. Intellectual property rights
Copyright and other intellectual property rights in the work and materials produced by CURIA belongs, generally speaking, to CURIA, unless otherwise agreed with the client.
7. Closing the assignment
Both CURIA and the client can terminate the collaboration at any time. The right to fees and payment of costs does not be forfeit in case of termination.
Original documents will be returned no later than on completion of the assignment. We will also retain a copy of the case files. In this context, we refer to our privacy policy.
8. Marketing
Unless the client requests otherwise, CURIA shall be entitled to refer to an assignment for marketing purposes when the assignment is complete and if the assignment is in the public domain.
9. Liability, liability limitation, and insurance
CURIA shall be responsible for our advice to our clients in accordance with standard Danish legal practice with the limitations indicated in the following.
The client shall only be able to make a claim against CURIA Advokatpartnerselskab and, therefore, not against individual partners or any other employee.
Our advice is directed at the specific assignment and must not be used for any other purpose without our express consent. We shall only be liable relative to the client for advice provided unless otherwise agreed.
We are Danish attorneys and consequently exclusively provide advice based on Danish legislation. Should foreign legal matters be involved in a case handled by us and we advise the client in relation to this, such advice will either be based on a pure text interpretation based on our Danish legal training and general experience related to the type of assignment in question and/or that the provision only consists of intermediation/summary/resume of advice received from a foreign advisor on behalf of the client. Irrespective of the circumstances, our advice never includes advice regarding relevant foreign legal standing which should always be clarified via a relevant foreign advisor.
The aforementioned notwithstanding, CURIAs liability per assignment is limited to DKK 10 million. Our liability does not include loss of assets, operating losses, loss of data, lost profits, goodwill, or other types of indirect or consequential financial losses.
CURIA shall not be liable for errors committed by advisors introduced by CURIA or for errors committed by subcontractors to which CURIA has delegated parts of the assignment or has introduced.
10. Complaints
If the client is dissatisfied with our assistance or fees, the client is requested to contact the partner responsible for the assignment.
In cases where the complaint cannot be settled, the client can bring the case before the Danish Bar and Law Society Disciplinary Board, Kronprinsessegade 28, DK-1306 Copenhagen K, email: klagesagsafdelingen@advokatsamfundet.dk and website: https://www.advokatsamfundet.dk/Service/English.aspx
11. Choice of law and court
Any dispute between a client and CURIA shall be settled in accordance with Danish legislation at Danish courts with Copenhagen District Court as the first instance.