Terms of Service

You are here: / Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Last updated: 01.12.2025

These Terms of Service set out the basis on which JSH Law Ltd provides litigation support and McKenzie Friend services to clients and prospective clients. Please read them carefully before booking a consultation, requesting work, paying an invoice, instructing us, or using any document, draft, note, template, wording, or material prepared by us.

These terms apply alongside any client agreement, matter description, invoice, task confirmation, email confirmation, engagement note, fee estimate, booking confirmation, written instruction, or other written agreement between you and JSH Law Ltd. Where a signed or expressly accepted client agreement contains more specific terms for a particular matter, those matter-specific terms will take priority to the extent of any inconsistency.

Business details

JSH Law Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16870438.

Our correspondence address is:

JSH Law Ltd
c/o Mayes Business Partnership
Red Rose Court
Accrington
United Kingdom
BB5 5JR

Email: jessica.hill@jshlaw.co.uk

Important status notice

JSH Law Ltd provides litigation support and McKenzie Friend services to litigants in person. Unless expressly confirmed otherwise in writing:

  • we are not acting as your solicitor or barrister;
  • we are not a firm of solicitors;
  • we are not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board, CILEx Regulation, or any other approved legal services regulator;
  • we do not conduct litigation on your behalf;
  • we do not carry out reserved legal activities;
  • we do not go on the court record as your legal representative;
  • we do not sign statements of truth, court forms, or correspondence on your behalf unless clearly indicated as a draft for your own review, signature, or sending;
  • we do not have an automatic right of audience before any court or tribunal.

Any permission for us to attend court with you, sit with you, assist you, take notes, quietly advise you, or address the court is entirely a matter for the judge in the individual case or hearing.

You must not describe JSH Law Ltd, its director, staff, consultants, contractors, or representatives as your solicitor, barrister, advocate, legal representative, or person with rights of audience or conduct of litigation unless the court has expressly permitted a particular role in a specific hearing.

Nature of our service

Our service is designed to help litigants in person understand, organise, prepare, and present their own case more effectively. Depending on what is agreed, our work may include:

  • reviewing papers, orders, correspondence, evidence, and procedural history;
  • helping you organise documents and evidence;
  • helping you prepare chronologies, indexes, hearing notes, position statements, witness statements, schedules, questionnaires, draft correspondence, and bundle materials;
  • helping you understand procedural options and practical next steps;
  • supporting case preparation and document organisation;
  • attending court, conferences, or meetings with you where agreed and permitted;
  • providing administrative and procedural support connected with your matter.

We may help you understand procedural options, organise your position, prepare draft wording, and identify practical next steps. However, you remain responsible for deciding what action to take.

Our service is not a substitute for regulated legal representation where such representation is required or advisable. You remain free, and are encouraged where appropriate, to obtain independent advice from a regulated solicitor, barrister, legal executive, advice agency, or other authorised professional.

Your responsibility as a litigant in person

You remain responsible for your own case at all times. This includes responsibility for:

  • giving full, accurate, and timely instructions;
  • providing complete, legible, and relevant documents;
  • checking all drafts carefully before using, signing, filing, serving, sending, or relying on them;
  • ensuring that all factual statements are accurate and complete;
  • complying with court orders, directions, deadlines, and listing requirements;
  • filing and serving documents unless we expressly agree in writing to assist with an administrative step;
  • attending hearings and speaking for yourself unless the court permits otherwise;
  • telling us immediately about any court order, deadline, hearing, safeguarding concern, change of circumstances, or new evidence;
  • not withholding relevant information, documents, background, risks, or prior orders from us;
  • ensuring that any documents you provide to us may lawfully be shared with us and used for the purpose for which you provide them, including where documents are confidential, subject to family court restrictions, subject to reporting restrictions, or subject to any order limiting publication or disclosure;
  • seeking regulated legal advice where your matter requires it.

We may rely on the information and documents you provide unless we have clear reason to believe they are inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. If you provide information late, omit important facts, fail to provide documents, use drafts without checking them, or act on third-party advice without telling us, you remain responsible for the consequences.

Task confirmations and further instructions

For each substantial piece of work, we may issue a written task confirmation by email, Clio, WhatsApp, invoice, client portal message, or other written communication. A task confirmation may identify the work to be carried out, the estimated time or fee, the urgency, the documents required, and any assumptions on which the work is based.

You are responsible for checking that any task confirmation accurately reflects what you want us to do. If you do not query it promptly and we carry out the work, you may be treated as having accepted that instruction.

If there is any inconsistency between these Terms of Service and a signed or expressly accepted client agreement, the client agreement will take priority to the extent of the inconsistency.

Third-party advice, influence, and responsibility for instructions

You are free to seek independent legal advice or other support at any time. However, you remain responsible for the instructions you give to us, the decisions you make, and the documents you approve, use, file, serve, send, sign, or rely on.

We are not responsible for advice, comments, criticism, interference, delay, confusion, disagreement, or pressure caused by any third party, including friends, family members, campaigners, online groups, McKenzie Friends, solicitors, barristers, advisers, social media commentators, or any other person involved in or commenting on your matter.

A later change of mind, later criticism by a third party, later disagreement with the approach taken, or later decision to take a different approach does not invalidate work already requested, carried out, delivered, reserved, or invoiced.

You should tell us promptly if any third party is advising you, assisting you, communicating with you about the matter, or influencing the instructions you give to us, where that may affect the work we are asked to carry out.

Fees

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, our standard fees are:

  • £100 per hour for general support, including document review, drafting assistance, correspondence support, conferences, telephone calls, video calls, and case preparation;
  • £150 per hour for court attendance, hearing attendance, conference attendance, waiting time at court, and time spent travelling to and from court or another agreed venue.

Time is charged in units of 6 minutes. Booked appointments are subject to a minimum charge of 30 minutes. Court attendance, conference attendance, and travel are subject to a minimum charge of 1 hour unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Third-party expenses, including printing, copying, postage, courier charges, travel tickets, parking, mileage, accommodation, or hearing-related expenses, are payable in addition where incurred with your agreement or where reasonably necessary for the work requested.

Any estimate is not a fixed quote unless we clearly state in writing that it is a fixed fee. Pricing information may also be published at https://jshlaw.co.uk/pricing/.

Informal messages and chargeable work

Short administrative messages may be dealt with without charge at our discretion. However, any message, call, email, voice note, WhatsApp exchange, document review, tactical discussion, procedural guidance, drafting suggestion, or response requiring legal, procedural, evidential, strategic, or case-specific consideration may be treated as chargeable work.

You must not assume that work is free because it is requested informally, urgently, verbally, by WhatsApp, text message, voice note, email, social media message, or other electronic communication.

Payment terms

Payment is due in advance unless we agree otherwise in writing. We usually issue invoices through Clio or another electronic billing system. Work will ordinarily begin only once cleared funds have been received.

We are not obliged to begin, continue, prioritise, deliver file-ready drafts, attend court, reserve diary time, or respond substantively unless cleared funds have been received.

If we choose to carry out work before payment is received, this does not waive our right to payment and does not create any obligation to continue working without funds in future.

We may require payment on account before beginning work, reserving a hearing date, attending court, reviewing documents, or continuing with a matter. If funds paid on account are exhausted, we may pause work until further payment is received.

If any invoice or request for payment is unpaid, we may:

  • decline to start work;
  • suspend or stop ongoing work;
  • decline to attend a hearing, meeting, or conference;
  • withhold delivery of unpaid draft work so far as permitted by law;
  • take appropriate steps to recover unpaid sums.

If you dispute an invoice, you must tell us in writing promptly, identifying the specific item disputed and the reason for the dispute. You remain liable to pay any undisputed part of the invoice.

A general complaint, later dissatisfaction with the outcome of the case, criticism by a third party, or a change of mind about litigation strategy does not of itself amount to a valid dispute about fees for work requested, reserved, carried out, delivered, or used.

Interest, recovery costs, and debt recovery

If any invoice remains unpaid after the due date, we may take reasonable steps to recover the debt. This may include sending reminders, sending a letter before action, instructing debt recovery support, issuing a court claim, and seeking recovery of the court fee, interest, and other recoverable costs where permitted by law.

Where you instruct us as a business, we may claim statutory interest and fixed recovery compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, where applicable.

Where you instruct us as a consumer, we may claim reasonable contractual interest on overdue sums at a fair and proportionate rate, together with court fees and recoverable costs where permitted by law.

We may rely on our records, attendance notes, invoices, correspondence, Clio records, payment records, WhatsApp messages, emails, drafts, and other communications as evidence of instructions given, work carried out, delivery of work, payment terms, and sums due.

Reserved time, hearings, appointments, and cancellation

Where we reserve time for a hearing, conference, appointment, drafting slot, urgent review, travel, or other agreed work, you may be charged for time reserved, time spent preparing, and any non-refundable expenses incurred.

If you cancel, postpone, fail to attend, fail to provide documents, fail to make payment, or decide not to proceed at short notice, you remain liable for time already spent and, where reasonable, time specifically reserved for you that we could not reasonably reallocate.

Where court attendance or travel has been agreed, preparation time, travel time, waiting time, attendance time, and reasonable expenses may remain chargeable even if the court hearing is adjourned, vacated, delayed, moved, shortened, or if the court limits or refuses our participation.

Urgent work and deadlines

We do not accept responsibility for urgent deadlines, hearings, filing dates, service dates, or court directions notified to us at short notice. If documents or instructions are provided late, in incomplete form, or close to a deadline, we may try to assist if capacity allows, but we do not guarantee that work can be completed, reviewed, or returned in time.

Where you ask us to assist urgently, outside ordinary working patterns, close to a court deadline, or with incomplete papers, you accept that the work may necessarily be limited by the time and information available. We are not responsible for consequences arising from late instructions, late disclosure, missing documents, unclear instructions, or insufficient time for proper review.

You remain responsible for checking, approving, signing, filing, serving, and relying on documents by the relevant deadline.

Communications and availability

We may communicate with you by email, telephone, video call, messaging platform, client portal, or other electronic means. You are responsible for checking your inbox, junk folder, portal notifications, and messages regularly, and for keeping your contact details up to date.

We may require important instructions, approvals, complaints, fee disputes, cancellation notices, or termination notices to be confirmed by email or through Clio.

We may decline to accept substantive instructions by voice note, social media message, or fragmented messaging where we consider that written confirmation is needed for clarity.

Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, we do not provide a 24-hour, emergency, out-of-hours, or on-call service. We may respond outside ordinary working hours at our discretion, but doing so does not create any obligation to do so in future.

Electronic communication risk

Electronic communications carry inherent risks, including delay, non-delivery, corruption, misdirection, interception, unauthorised access, platform outage, and technical failure. We are not liable for loss arising from such matters outside our reasonable control.

Professional boundaries and communications conduct

We understand that litigation can be stressful, emotional, and urgent. However, all communications must remain respectful, lawful, and appropriate.

We may suspend or terminate work immediately if communications become abusive, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, excessive, manipulative, defamatory, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate.

We may also suspend or terminate work if third-party involvement, conflict, pressure, publication, online activity, reputational risk, safeguarding concerns, or a breakdown in trust makes the working relationship unsafe, inappropriate, or unworkable.

Court attendance

Any court attendance by us is subject to availability, prior payment, practical arrangements, and the court’s permission where required. Judicial attitudes to McKenzie Friends may differ from case to case and hearing to hearing.

The court may:

  • restrict our role;
  • refuse permission for us to sit beside you;
  • refuse permission for us to speak;
  • require us to sit apart from you;
  • refuse our attendance or assistance altogether;
  • remove us from the courtroom if the court considers it appropriate.

Any such decision is entirely for the court. It does not affect fees already incurred for preparation, travel, waiting time, or attendance. We do not guarantee any particular level of participation at court.

You remain responsible for addressing the court yourself unless the court expressly permits us to assist further.

No guarantee of outcome

We do not guarantee any result, order, settlement, hearing outcome, procedural decision, court listing, litigation advantage, costs outcome, or enforcement outcome. Any views we express about procedure, presentation, prospects, next steps, or possible outcomes are opinions only, based on the information available at the time.

Documents, drafts, and materials

Drafts, templates, chronologies, notes, checklists, suggested wording, and other materials prepared by us are prepared for your use in the matter for which they were supplied. You must review all drafts carefully before using them.

Draft documents are not court-ready until you have reviewed them, approved them, checked the facts, inserted any missing information, and confirmed that they are accurate and complete.

Where we provide suggested wording, you are responsible for deciding whether that wording reflects your evidence, your instructions, and your position.

You must not:

  • use our drafts in another matter without checking suitability;
  • alter drafts in a way that changes factual or legal meaning without checking them carefully;
  • present draft materials as final without reviewing and approving them;
  • give the impression that our drafts have been settled by a regulated solicitor or barrister unless that is true;
  • publish, post, circulate, forward, screenshot, or share our communications, drafts, notes, invoices, working materials, or documents on social media or public platforms without our prior written consent, unless required by law or court order.

We retain ownership of our internal templates, know-how, working notes, precedents, systems, and methods. Once paid for, final materials supplied to you may be used by you for your own case.

Confidentiality

We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is authorised by you, necessary to provide the agreed services, required by law, required by a court or public authority, necessary for safeguarding, or reasonably necessary to protect our legitimate interests in relation to a complaint, unpaid fees, threatened claim, debt recovery, or dispute.

You agree not to disclose our internal notes, working methods, or draft materials to third parties except where reasonably necessary for your case or required by law.

Data protection and file retention

We process personal data for the purposes of administering your file, communicating with you, providing services, billing, payment administration, record-keeping, compliance, safeguarding, complaints handling, debt recovery, legal claims, insurance purposes, and protecting our legitimate interests.

You confirm that any personal data relating to third parties that you provide to us is provided lawfully, fairly, accurately, and only to the extent necessary for your case. You must not provide us with confidential, sensitive, or third-party personal data unless it is relevant and necessary for the work you are asking us to carry out.

We may retain matter files, communications, drafts, attendance notes, invoices, payment records, and related documents for as long as reasonably necessary for legal, contractual, tax, insurance, complaints, safeguarding, debt recovery, and legitimate business purposes. After that period, records may be securely deleted or destroyed.

Further information about how we process personal data is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Recording, publication, social media, and reputation

You must not record calls, meetings, conferences, consultations, court-related attendances, or discussions involving us without our prior written consent, save where recording is expressly permitted or required by law.

If you do record any communication with our consent, the recording must not be published, edited, circulated, used out of context, or shared with any third party except where reasonably necessary for your case, required by law, or agreed by us in writing.

You must not publish, post, share, quote, screenshot, forward, circulate, or otherwise disclose our communications, drafts, attendance notes, invoices, internal comments, working materials, or documents on social media, websites, campaign pages, messaging groups, review platforms, or public forums without our prior written consent, unless required by law or court order.

You must not make or encourage false, misleading, defamatory, malicious, or unfair statements about JSH Law Ltd, its director, staff, contractors, services, communications, fees, or work.

Nothing in this section prevents you from making a genuine complaint, seeking independent legal advice, complying with a court order, exercising statutory rights, making a lawful disclosure to an appropriate authority, or giving truthful evidence where lawfully required.

We may keep internal records of communications, file activity, attendance notes, billing records, and case administration for quality assurance, file management, legal compliance, safeguarding, complaints handling, debt recovery, and dispute resolution.

Cancellation rights for consumers

If you are a consumer and you contract with us at distance, online, by telephone, by email, or away from business premises, you may have a 14-day cancellation right. The cancellation period usually runs from the day after the contract is made.

If you ask us to start work during the 14-day cancellation period and then cancel before the services are fully performed, you must pay for the services supplied up to the date of cancellation.

If the services are fully performed within the cancellation period at your express request, you may lose the right to cancel once performance has been completed.

Urgent work, hearing preparation, document review, drafting, calls, messages, and case-specific procedural support may begin immediately if you ask JSH Law Ltd to start work before the cancellation period ends.

To cancel, email jessica.hill@jshlaw.co.uk with your name, matter reference, and a clear statement that you wish to cancel.

Termination

You may terminate your instructions at any time by notifying us in writing. Termination does not affect your obligation to pay for work already requested, carried out, delivered, reserved, or expenses already incurred up to the date of termination.

Where a hearing or appointment has been reserved for you and you cancel at short notice, you remain liable for any time already spent and any non-refundable expense already incurred.

We may terminate the agreement, stop work, or decline further work immediately if:

  • you fail to pay us as agreed;
  • you fail to provide adequate instructions or necessary documents;
  • you ask us to do something improper, misleading, unlawful, unsafe, or outside the proper scope of our service;
  • there is a breakdown in trust or working relationship;
  • we consider that the matter requires regulated legal representation beyond the scope of our service;
  • continuing would be inappropriate, unsafe, unlawful, professionally improper, or not reasonably practicable;
  • you or a third party acting with your knowledge publish, threaten to publish, misuse, distort, or circulate our communications, drafts, invoices, notes, or materials;
  • you involve third parties in a way that creates confusion, conflict, reputational risk, confidentiality risk, safeguarding risk, or an unworkable professional relationship;
  • you make allegations about our work, fees, role, or conduct which we reasonably consider require the working relationship to pause or end while the issue is addressed.

If we terminate, you remain liable for fees and expenses incurred up to the date of termination.

Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to the above, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising from the same or connected facts, whether in contract, tort including negligence, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, shall not exceed the total fees actually paid by you to us in the 3 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

We are not liable for:

  • any court decision, litigation outcome, procedural ruling, or order;
  • loss caused by inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or late information supplied by you;
  • loss caused by your failure to check, approve, sign, file, serve, attend, or comply with court directions;
  • loss caused by your failure to obtain regulated legal advice where needed;
  • loss caused by third-party advice, pressure, criticism, interference, or involvement;
  • loss caused by your publication, sharing, alteration, misdescription, or misuse of our communications, drafts, notes, invoices, or materials;
  • events outside our reasonable control;
  • indirect or consequential loss, to the extent permitted by law.

Nothing in this clause affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with our service, fees, conduct, or communications, please use our Complaints Procedure. We will review complaints fairly and respond in writing.

Raising a complaint does not automatically suspend your obligation to pay for work already requested, carried out, delivered, reserved, or used. If part of an invoice is genuinely disputed, you must identify that part and the reason for dispute. Any undisputed part remains payable.

Cross-border matters

Our services may, where agreed, include litigation support in relation to proceedings, documents, orders, enforcement steps, background facts, or related issues connected with another jurisdiction, including Ireland.

Any such support is provided under our terms and any applicable client agreement. It does not alter the governing law or jurisdiction clause unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.

We do not hold ourselves out as qualified to advise on the law, procedure, rights of audience, professional conduct rules, costs rules, enforcement rules, or court practice of any jurisdiction outside England and Wales unless expressly agreed in writing. You remain responsible for obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified lawyer in any other relevant jurisdiction where needed.

Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms of Service, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, including any non-contractual dispute or claim, are governed by the law of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales shall have jurisdiction in relation to any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms, subject to any mandatory consumer rights that may apply.