General terms and conditions of Life Sciences Legal (2020)
1. Life Sciences Legal B.V. (further: ‘Life Sciences Legal’) is a limited liability company for the purpose of conducting the practice of attorney at law (“advocaat”), patent attorney and proxy attorney.
2. These general terms and conditions govern each assignment, including any subsequent or ancillary assignment, given to Life Sciences Legal, directors of Life Sciences Legal or any person working at or for Life Sciences Legal. Also all persons who are involved in carrying out an assignment for Life Sciences Legal may invoke these terms and conditions (including in private, as a natural person).
3. Professional fees shall be calculated on the basis of the number of hours worked, multiplied by the relevant hourly rates as determined by Life Sciences Legal, unless agreed otherwise. All external costs made by Life Sciences Legal in the course of carrying out an assignment shall be charged separately without surcharge, where applicable including VAT. Professional fees and external costs shall be invoiced on a monthly basis. lnvoices must be paid within 14 days of the date of the invoice, unless agreed otherwise in writing. In the event of late payment, Life Sciences Legal is entitled to charge statutory interest as well as the costs related to the collection of the invoice.
4. lf an incident (including a failure to act) occurs resulting in liability of Life Sciences Legal, any and all liability shall be limited to the amounts to which the professional liability insurance taken out by Life Sciences Legal provides coverage, plus the amount under such insurance of the own risk deductible of Life Sciences Legal for such event. Life Sciences Legal has coverage in accordance with the ordinance on professional liability of the Dutch Bar. In the event that Life Sciences Legal cannot, for whatever reason, claim payment under the professional liability insurance , Life Sciences Legal’s liability shall be limited to € 50.000,-.
5. Life Sciences Legal shall, as far as possible, consult the client before engaging third parties and shall in any event exercise due care in its selection of third parties. The client hereby authorises Life Sciences Legal to accept any limitations of liability as well as other general conditions of third parties on its behalf.
6. Life Sciences Legal does not hold a solicitor’s client bank account and does not accept payments for its clients.
7. The client indemnifies and holds Life Sciences Legal harmless from and against all third party claims, including legal costs, arising in whatsoever matter from the activities carried out for the client, unless those claims result from gross negligence or willful misconduct by Life Sciences Legal.
8. The assignments with Life Sciences Legal are subject to the professional obligation to observe secrecy.
9. The relationship between the client and Life Sciences Legal is exclusively governed by Dutch law. The competent courts of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute which may arise between the client and Life Sciences Legal.