J. ZENONOS & ASSOCIATES LLC

TERMS OF BUSINESS

Terms of business for J. Zenonos & Associates LLC clients.  Reference to ” J. Zenonos”, “we” or “us” in this terms of business shall mean J. Zenonos & Associates LLC.

 

  1. The Agreement

Our Agreement consists of the following terms of business for J. Zenonos “these terms”, as supplemented and/or amended under our engagement letter with you.  These terms are not only to any present instruction, but also to all future instructions, that may be received from you, being accepted by us, unless otherwise agreed in writing and/or agreed to in a new engagement letter.

Any reference to “this Agreement”, shall mean a reference to the Agreement between us, as set out in any engagement letter and incorporating these terms.

 

  1. J. Zenonos and Associates LLC, hereinafter referred to as “J. Zenonos”

J. Zenonos & Associates LLC is a legal office duly registered in Cyprus, with registration number HE404617, with its principal place of business at 27 Themidos Street, 3040, Limassol, Cyprus. J. Zenonos is regulated at the Cyprus Bar Association Authority under practice number 914. We maintain professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the rules and statutory regulations. 

  1. Our Responsibilities

 Zenonos will provide the services as set out in our engagement letter with you, that accompanies these terms. If there is any conflict between these terms and those contained in the engagement letter received, the latter shall prevail.

In order for J. Zenonos to provide you with the services, we shall reply on the information and instructions provided by you and/or your authorized representative acting on your behalf.  When asked to provide advice in an abbreviated format or within a short timeframe you will not receive all the information you might otherwise have obtained by giving us ample time to advice you on your matter.  When providing advice, such advice is given in relation to a specific set of facts relating to the information and/or documentation provide by you, and we do not accept any responsibility for the applicability of that advice to other situations.

J. Zenonos reserve the right to refuse any new instructions and/or not to continue with existing instruction if in so doing we would be presented with a conflict of interest as defined under the Cyprus Bar Association Authority. We have a professional duty to uphold the rule of law and to promote proper administration of justice.

  1. Your Responsibilities

You will as far as reasonably practicably possible, provide us with timely instructions, information, and/or documentation necessary for us to perform the service to you.  You will notify us of any and all material changes in relation to your matter that we might not be aware of.

 

  1. Client Identification

In order for J. Zenonos to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering Legislation in relation to defined work types including work involving property transactions, buying or selling of businesses, the creation/operation of corporate entities and/or trusts, establishing or transferring funds to onshore and offshore bank(s), savings or securities accounts, we are obliged to ask all clients who instruct us in such matter to produce proof of identity and address and where applicable in addition to disclose to us documents verifying the trustee(s) and beneficial owner(s) of any trust and/or list of the director(s) and shareholder(s), in accordance with the provisions of the 5th Anti-Money Laundering EU Directive 2018/843, a copy of the certificate of incorporation and confirmation of the status of any corporate entity and/or the source of any funds.

 

  1. Information and Confidentiality

6.1 Confidentiality

J. Zenonos undertake at all times to take all necessary and reasonable steps to safeguard and maintain the confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of information entrusted to us. In order for J. Zenonos to provide our legal and professional services we may need to release some information where necessary to enable us to provide such services requested. The release of information would be necessary for the administration of your business relationship with us, in matters that we work jointly with duly authorized partners, service providers and/or third parties or in instances required by law or any other regulatory body.

Under some circumstances J. Zenonos may be required by law to report to any relevant governmental authority any evidence or suspicion we have of money laundering and/or any crime in general.  In these specific cases we have no obligation to inform the client of such reporting. The Advocate is under the highest fiduciary duty of care to maintain in confidence any and all information which the Advocate attains and/or becomes aware of in the course of providing the services listed in clause 1 of this Agreement.

6.2 Audits within J. Zenonos

 Our client’s files may be audited for the purpose of legal and/or accounting audits in respect of specific regulatory requirements under the law.  Should your file be part of such audit we will ensure that any third party attending to the audit will take the necessary and reasonable steps to safeguard and maintain the confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of information of your file.

 6.3 Publicity

At no stage will J. Zenonos disclose the nature of the work we carry out on your behalf without your prior written consent, unless same is already public knowledge.

6.4 Privilege

All information provided by you to our office, be that in the form of oral information and/or documentation, such information will be treated as confidential and is secret information that is legally protected.

6.5 E-mail Communications and WhatsApp

Our office will communicate with you during the course of your matter by means of e-mail and WhatsApp correspondence.  J. Zenonos cannot guarantee the security or integrity of such communications, however we ensure you that we will take all necessary and reasonable precaution measures to keep such communications safe and protected and will notify you of any data breach if any within the required timeframe.

6.6 Retention of Documents

J. Zenonos will be entitled to keep all of the documentation relating to your matter if there is money owing to us in respect of services rendered. On matters that has been settled in full, you have the right to request all original documents to be furnished back to you. Our office will keep a full set of copies of your documents in relation to the necessary provisions for at least a period of 5 (five) years.

6.7 Data Protection

J. Zenonos may collect person data from you in providing our services, this data might relate to you, your company, your/its employees and/or contractors or any other individuals connected with your matter. You will comply with your obligations and J. Zenonos will comply with our obligations as set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) “GDPR”, as well as any other applicable data protection laws. Please familiarize yourself with our Privacy Notice to understand for what purpose J. Zenonos will collect personal data in order to provide legal and professional services to you.

6.8 Domicillia citandi et executandi “domicillium address”

Both us and you for all purposes arising from or pursuant to this Agreement, choose as our domicillium address, the physical address as set out in our engagement letter as the address where any legal notice or document may be served pursuant to this Agreement.

 

  1. Copyright and intellectual property

We retain all copyrights and intellectual property rights in all material that we develop, design, draft, or create, during the course of carrying out your instructions, which will include but is not limited to systems, software, reports, written advice, drafts and working papers.

 

8. Fees

J. Zenonos fees are based upon our quoted hourly tariffs, unless otherwise specified in our engagement letter with you. In addition to our hourly rates, we will charge expenses/disbursements, which will include but is not limited to experts, translations, certifications, courier and travel fees, stamping duty, transfer costs and immigration fees, court stamps and tax payments. VAT will also be charged when VAT is applicable, our VAT number is 10404617F.  Our office will inform our clients yearly and no later than by December of each year about our annual escalation. Our escalation will not exceed 10%. Any escalation will be force as from the first day of January for each year. 

8.1 Estimates

Before J. Zenonos start providing our services, we will provide you with an initial estimate in respect of a timescale and costs for completing your instruction.  It must be noted that this estimate is not intended to be the final and binging charges, and such estimation might change as your matter proceed, we will update you as your matter proceed and will provide an indication when other costs could be incurred should we incur delays and/or problems beyond our control.

8.2 Invoices

J. Zenonos will submit invoices to you on a regular basis for services provided and expenses/disbursements incurred by our office, alternatively as soon as we have completed a specific task and/or service for you. Invoices are payable on receipt of same, unless otherwise agreed with you in writing. If you are not satisfied with the invoice provided, you have 48 (forty-eight) hours to object to such invoice in writing, whereafter we will review same and provide you with our response. 

All payments must be made free of bank or other payment costs, and in the nominated bank account as indicated in our engagement letter, invoice, and/or statement of account.  Please note that J. Zenonos will not request you by email seeking to direct a payment to bank details which differ from those which we have already given you in our engagement letter and/or on our invoices and/or statement of account, such email is unlikely to be genuine.  Please under no circumstances reply or act on any information contained in such email and contact our office immediately to inform us of same.

 

  1. Court proceedings and legal costs

In legal matters that end in Court, the tribunal may award costs in such proceedings, and in such instances the costs awarded will be payable within a specific time period.  In these instances, our office will immediately notify you when such costs were awarded.  Please note that when costs are awarded, it is no guarantee that all the costs will be granted by the tribunal, however you will still be liable towards our full costs for services rendered even in the event of not receiving a full cost award.

At the conclusion of a court proceeding the tribunal would assess the costs payable and the losing party in some instances would contribute towards the winning party’s costs in full or in part.  In such instances and when you are the losing party you might be liable to pay your and the other parties’ costs, as well as the costs towards our services.

 

10. Client Care

J. Zenonos value our client’s, and we strive to provide our clients with professional and up to date legal advice when rendering services and we strife to meet our client’s needs effectively to enable us to provide a better-quality service. Should you at any stage have any queries and/or concerns about the services provided, please discuss same with the representative dealing with your matter, alternatively please inform our Office Manager of your query and/or concern by forwarding same to [email protected]. All representatives will attempt to resolve your queries and problems that many arise with our service in a timeous and professional manner.  

  1. Limitation of liability

All and any forms of advice, information and/or reports provided by our office to you is regarded as confidential and solely for the use of the intendent.  Save where imposed by law, we do not accept any responsibility to any third parties in relation to the matter on which we are instructed by you.  During the time of your matter, we render service to you, and your relationship is solely with J. Zenonos.  We have sole legal liability for the work done and for any act or omission in the course of rendering the service, no individual, partner, associate, member, employee, agent of consultant will have any personal legal liability for that work, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise.

 

  1. Termination

You may terminate the Agreement with us, under these terms or the terms mentioned in your engagement letter, at any time, by giving us your request to terminate in writing.  Such termination will be immediate.  In the event of acting on your behalf in a legal proceeding in Court and you request termination, such termination might be subjected to the consent of the Honourable Court.  Our office will also have the right to terminate the Agreement should we not receive timeous instructions from you or in the event that your account is outstanding for 60 (sixty) days or longer.  As soon as an instruction is terminated you will remain liable towards all fees and expenses incurred up and until the date of termination and we will have the right to retain all documents relating to your matter until full payment is received to release same to you. The Advocate may stop acting for the Client subject to the Code of Conduct – Regulations of the Cyprus Bar Association or for good reason on three (3) days’ written notice and/or on giving the Client reasonable notice.

 

  1. Force majeure

Neither you nor we shall be liable for any failure to perform or for any delay in performing any of our obligations under this Agreement if such failure to perform or delays is due to causes beyond our and/or your control, but not limited to extreme weather, riots, curfew(s), war, terrorism, industrial action, conduct of any police or other governmental official’s assistance and/or investigations, national state of emergency and disaster.

 

  1. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Cyprus.  The parties irrevocably agree that the Courts of Cyprus have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of or in connection with this Agreement.

 

  1. Separability

In the event that any Court might decide that any part of this Agreement between us is invalid, this will not affect the remaining terms of the Agreement or the terms of our engagement letter.