1. Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft is a group practice involving independent lawyers who practise law at their own risk and expense. These terms and conditions apply in relation to the participating independent lawyers and all those who work for the practice, as well as Stichting Beheer Derdengelden Het Gymnasium (and its executive board). Any mention of Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft in these terms and conditions is deemed to refer to any of the independent lawyers who are affiliated with the practice.

2. Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft shall exercise due care when dealing with your personal data. We have a privacy statement, in which we set out why we use your data and how we deal with it. You may find this privacy statement on our website.

3. A client is deemed to be a natural person or legal entity who engages any of the lawyers affiliated with the practice of Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft to carry out work. These general terms and conditions also govern any additional or new instructions issued by a client. The operation of a client’s general terms and conditions is explicitly precluded.

4. Aides and/or other parties may be engaged as the case may be for the purposes of carrying out work under the responsibility of Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft. In this respect Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft shall exercise due care as required and shall consult a client concerning the choice of any aide and/or other party as far as possible. Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft shall not be liable for any shortcomings on the part of such an aide and/or other party. A client shall be deemed to have authorised Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft to consent to any limitation of liability on the part of such an aide and/or other party. These general terms and conditions shall also govern the work of any aide and/or other party engaged by Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft.

5. The liability of Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft shall be confined to the amount which is paid out pursuant to the relevant professional liability insurance in the case concerned plus any excess for which Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft is liable in accordance with the applicable insurance agreement.

6. Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft shall not be liable for any loss that is due to the use of any electronic or other means of communication (for example, any loss due to a delay, a transmission failure, disclosure, virus, interception and/or manipulation by another party).

7. A client shall indemnify Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft against any claim made by a third party except in the case of a wilful act or omission, or gross negligence on the part of Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft.

8. A client shall have a duty to pay Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft the customary fees. To these fees shall be added office expenses equivalent to 5%, VAT and any disbursements (such as court and bailiff’s fees, and the cost of extracts from the Chamber of Commerce, a municipality, the land registry and the like). Every lawyer who is affiliated with the practice reserves the right to adjust his or her fees on an annual basis. A client shall be notified of this in good time.

9. Fee statements must be paid within fourteen (14) days after the relevant invoice date. A client shall be liable for all extrajudicial and other expenses incurred for the purposes of securing payment. Compensation for extrajudicial expenses shall amount to the equivalent of 15% of the relevant invoice amount subject to a minimum of €150.00. A claim for debt collection costs shall be made by means of a so-called 14-day letter. The legally stipulated interest shall be payable as of the date on which the relevant invoice falls due. The legally stipulated commercial interest rate pursuant to Section 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code shall apply in the case of any party other than a private individual.

10. A client shall be deemed to have irrevocably authorised the executive board of Stichting Beheer Derdengelden Het Gymnasium to use on their behalf any amount received for the client on the trust account of Stichting Beheer Derdengelden Het Gymnasium, or the account held by Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft and/or any of the independent lawyers affiliated with the practice to arrange payment of any fee statement issued by such lawyer to the client.

11. Notice of any claim pertaining to work that has been performed and/or an invoiced amount must be given in writing to Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft and/or any of the independent lawyers or private companies with limited liability affiliated with the practice within thirty (30) days after the date on which any document or information in respect of which the relevant client files a claim or after the discovery of any deficiency where the client can show that they could not reasonably be expected to have discovered such deficiency prior to that. A claim such as that mentioned shall not suspend any duty to effect payment.

12. A file which is opened pursuant to an engagement shall be retained for five (5) years. Administrative records shall be retained for seven (7) years. The relevant documents shall be destroyed following the expiry of the aforementioned periods. Any original case documents, such as official copies of judgments and/or rulings shall be retained for fifteen (15) years, as far as possible in electronic form.

13. Vuurens & Lagerweij Advocaten/ Immigration lawyers Delft is affiliated to the Complaints and Dispute Settlement Scheme for the Legal Profession [Klachten- en Geschillenregeling Advocatuur]. The text of this scheme may be found on our website. Within our firm a complaints officer has been appointed, who has the power to assess and deal with any complaint on behalf of every independent lawyer who is affiliated with the practice.

14. Any engagement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of the Netherlands. A dispute shall only be settled by a competent court of law in The Hague. These general terms and conditions have been drawn up in Dutch and English. In the event that there is a dispute concerning their substance, the Dutch text shall prevail.