HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’Avocats (BCE 0678 965 056), hereinafter referred to as the lawyer, is particularly keen to adopt a policy of total transparency with regard to its clients and is therefore disclosing its general conditions of practice.
1. Application of these general conditions
Each time a client uses the services of the lawyer, he is therefore deemed to know and accept these general conditions without reservation.
2. Formation and performance of the mandate
The lawyer’s intervention implies obligations of means and diligence.
This intervention can only be carried out in a spirit of genuine collaboration and insofar as the client communicates in good time all the information necessary for the defence of his interests.
The lawyer will act in accordance with the laws, regulations and recommendations to which the legal profession is subject.
In the performance of his duties, the lawyer will comply with the rules of professional conduct applicable to the Walloon Brabant Bar, which can be accessed on the website https://avocats.be/fr/ouvrages and, for cross-border activities, within the framework of the European Union, with the rules of the Code of Professional Conduct for Lawyers in the European Union, which can be accessed on the website http://www.ccbe.eu.
Within the framework of the mandate entrusted, the lawyer may, if necessary, be replaced by one of his partners or associates, with due regard to the defence of the client’s interests.
3. Missions
The lawyer may only be considered to have been entrusted with an assignment if an order for the assignment has been confirmed in a precise manner and has been expressly accepted by the lawyer and, where applicable, validated by the client.
The lawyer assumes the obligations of diligence and communication specific to the legal profession.
He undertakes to respond to client requests within a timeframe appropriate to their nature.
4. Time limit for intervention
With the exception of legal and procedural deadlines, the intervention time announced to the client by the lawyer is only indicative. The urgency of a service is only granted on the basis of the lawyer’s decision, at the client’s request.
5. Involvement of the lawyer – professional secrecy – intellectual property
Unless otherwise agreed by the client, the lawyer may, at his discretion, call upon other lawyers to carry out certain tasks.
Without prejudice to the rules applicable to the fight against money laundering, professional secrecy applies to any lawyer involved in a case entrusted to him by a client.
Opinions, writings, etc. issued by the lawyer are protected by intellectual property rights and may only be used or reproduced with the express prior written consent of the lawyer. They are specific to a given client and situation and may not be transposed to other situations or other persons without further analysis by the lawyer.
6. Fees and expenses
6.1. Fees
Unless otherwise agreed, fees are calculated on the basis of the time spent on the case, which is valued at the rate agreed prior to the intervention or fixed at the time of the first billing (hourly rate).
This rate is always subject to annual indexation and may be reviewed by the lawyer subject to three months’ notice; in addition, in cases involving claims, proceedings and/or negotiations, the fees may be increased by a success fee.
The amount of time spent on each case is established by means of service sheets kept for each case and on computer, on a daily basis. A brief description of each service is provided. The time actually spent on the service is recorded in minutes (‘units’). The hourly rate includes the cost of national telephone calls and subscriptions to legal databases.
In addition, when a case is closed (by a decision that has become final or by a settlement agreement), an additional fee may be charged that takes into account the result obtained. The result fee is a 50% increase in the hourly rate. Unless otherwise agreed, the concept of success fees does not apply to legal advice, assistance in negotiating contracts or drafting commercial documents (contracts, correspondence, etc.) and cases where a budget or fixed fee has been agreed in advance in writing with the client.
In the cases and under the conditions provided for by law, the amount of the fees is increased by VAT.
At the client’s request, the lawyer will draw up a written budget estimate or fixed fee (absolute or relative). An estimated budget commits the lawyer only within the limits of the services described in the budget. The agreement relating to a budget or a fixed fee is without prejudice to the lawyer’s right to terminate his services if, during the course of the assignment, he discovers elements unknown at the time of the definition of the object of his assignment which no longer allow him to continue it in accordance with the professional obligations of lawyers practising in Belgium.
6.2. Fees
Fees are calculated as follows
VAT is added to the amount of the costs in the cases and under the conditions provided for by law.
Other external costs are only incurred with the client’s agreement. In principle, the lawyer does not advance external costs. When external costs are claimed from the lawyer, a copy of the bill from the third party (bailiff, expert, translator, etc.) is sent to the client with an invitation to pay the third party’s bill directly. If the client wishes the lawyer to pay the third party’s costs and fees directly, the lawyer reserves the right to request a separate advance for these costs before paying the third party’s costs. Where the lawyer has advanced external costs, the reimbursement of these costs is included under a separate heading on a statement of fees.
The possibility cannot be ruled out that the lawyer’s costs and fees may be covered, either in part or in full, by a ‘legal protection’ insurance company of which the client is the beneficiary. If this is the case, it is the client’s responsibility to contact the company directly so that it can confirm to the lawyer that it will cover the said costs and fees. Pending such confirmation, the lawyer’s costs and fees will be paid by the client.
Furthermore, the amount of the costs and fees owed by the client to the lawyer is totally independent of the amount of the insurance company’s intervention.
The lawyer does not provide free legal assistance. The client is informed that, subject to compliance with certain financial conditions, it is possible to benefit from full or partial legal aid and, where appropriate, to request the appointment of a lawyer in this context.
The manner in which and the conditions under which this assistance is provided and a lawyer appointed can be consulted on the Legal Aid website (barreaudubrabantwallon.be) and the Legal Aid website (barreaubruxelles.be).
In accordance with the rules of the Bar, an advance on fees and secretarial costs may be requested when the case is opened, the amount of which will be deducted from the next statement of fees and costs.
The frequency of fee statements is left to the discretion of the lawyer, unless a specific agreement is reached with the client. In principle, it is monthly.
Statements of fees are divided into two parts (three in the case of reimbursement of external costs): the amount of the fees, calculated on the basis of a statement of services attached to the statement (a statement in which the services are expressed in hours and minutes), the amount of secretarial costs, possibly the amount of external costs advanced by the lawyer and the total of the preceding headings.
It is expressly agreed that the lawyer’s fees are fixed in accordance with the method set out in section 2 above and independently of the amount that the opposing party may be ordered to pay by way of contribution to the client’s defence costs (see section 6 below).
In accordance with the law of 2 August 2002 concerning the fight against late payment, both requests for advances and statements of fees must be paid in cash.
Failing this, the lawyer reserves the right to claim late payment interest in accordance with the law of 2 August 2002 and its implementing royal decrees, which are made applicable to the client by agreement if he is a consumer.
The lawyer reserves the right to apply the principle of the exception of non-performance and, in particular, to suspend any intervention in any case whatsoever in the event that the client fails to pay a statement of fees or a request for an advance.
Before the judicial courts, the unsuccessful party is required to pay costs, which include procedural indemnities. These fees have been significantly increased since1 January 2008.
A Royal Decree sets a basic indemnity for each level of claim.
In certain exceptional circumstances (e.g. a particularly complicated dispute), the judge may depart from this basic compensation, while remaining within a range set by the same Royal Decree. For example, for a dispute worth between €20,000 and €40,000, the basic award is €2,200, the minimum €1,100 and the maximum €4,400. In addition to this procedural indemnity, the winning party cannot be ordered to pay the losing party’s actual legal costs.
The unsuccessful party before the Conseil d’Etat is required to pay costs, which are set by regulation according to the procedure followed.
In accordance with the case law of the Constitutional Court, if the unsuccessful party is an administrative authority, it may also be required to pay repeat fees, with application of the amounts referred to in the Royal Decree referred to above.
The amount of the procedural indemnities is independent of the amount of the lawyer’s fees.
7. Right of withdrawal (only applicable to natural persons acting in a private capacity)
When the agreement is signed outside the lawyer’s usual place of practice, i.e. the Nivelles or Brussels office, the client – exclusively a natural person acting in a private capacity – has a right of withdrawal. They have 14 calendar days from the conclusion of the Agreement to withdraw.
This right may be exercised by sending a registered letter to the attention of the lawyer stating that the right has been exercised. A model withdrawal form can be found in Appendix 2 of Book XIV of the Code of Economic Law.
Where the right of withdrawal is exercised, the lawyer will reimburse all payments received from the client within 14 days of being informed of the decision to withdraw.
The client loses his right of withdrawal after the service has been fully performed if performance has begun with the client’s express prior consent and the client has acknowledged that he will lose his right of withdrawal once the contract has been fully performed.
Furthermore, when the client exercises his right of withdrawal, even though he has requested that the services begin during the withdrawal period, he must pay for the services that have been provided up to the moment at which he informed the lawyer of the exercise of his right of withdrawal.
8. Prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism
Lawyers shall comply with their legal obligations to identify their clients or principals. Clients and principals undertake to spontaneously provide all documents required to establish their identity and authorise the lawyer to take copies thereof.
The obligations of the lawyer and the client derive more specifically from the provisions of the law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the restriction of the use of cash.
The information that must be provided by the client varies depending on whether the client is a natural person, a legal person, or a proxy. The client must inform the lawyer as soon as possible and without delay of any change in his situation and provide proof of such change.
When the nature of the case (assistance to the client in the preparation or execution of transactions such as the purchase or sale of real estate or commercial enterprises; management of securities funds or other assets belonging to the client or his principal; opening or management of bank, savings or portfolio accounts; organisation of contributions necessary for the constitution, management or direction of companies ; constitution, management or direction of trusts, companies or similar structures or interventions in the name and on behalf of the customer in all financial and real estate transactions) or when the particular situations provided for by the aforementioned law of 18 September 2017 (country of origin, identification difficulties, unusual relationship between the client and the lawyer or the nature of the transactions, public figure or similar) impose a heightened duty of vigilance on the lawyer, the client undertakes to answer any questions from the lawyer enabling him to comply with his legal obligations in terms of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
When the lawyer assists the client in his legal defence or provides legal advice (assessment of his legal situation), he is bound by strict professional secrecy.
By law, lawyers must inform the President of the Bar whenever they become aware, outside the scope of their legal representation or legal advice, of facts that they suspect to be related to money laundering or the financing of terrorism. The President of the Bar, who is the guarantor of professional secrecy, will forward any suspicious transaction report to the C.TIF (Financial Information Processing Unit). 6. Litigation
9. Lawyers’ liability and insurance
The lawyer’s civil liability is limited to 2,500,000 euros. His professional liability is insured with Ethias assurances for this amount per claim.
10. Applicable law and competent jurisdiction
The relationship between the lawyer and the client is governed exclusively by Belgian law.
Any legal claim relating to the lawyer’s costs and/or fees will fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the judicial district of Brabant Wallon. The lawyer’s general terms and conditions are applicable unless special terms and conditions derogate therefrom.
