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Disclaimer on Website Usage

By using this website you acknowledge and agree to this website.

Use of this website and related products and/or services shall be governed by, and construed in all respects in accordance with the laws of South Africa, and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts.

Use of this website or information, products and services available on this website is at the user’s own risk. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 43(5) and 43(6) of the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act, our firm accepts no liability whatsoever relating to any loss, expense, claim or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from the information on this Website, your use of this Website or any actions or transactions resulting therefrom, even if our firm has been advised of the possibility of such loss, expense, claim or damages.

Our firm makes no presentation or warranty, whether express or implied, as to the operation, integrity, availability or functionality of this Website or as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any information obtained from this Website. Our firm also makes no warranty or representation, whether express or implied, that the products, information or files available on this Website are free of viruses, destructive materials or any other data or code which is able to corrupt, compromise or jeopardise the operation or content of a computer system, computer network or your hardware or software. You accept all risk associated with the existence of such viruses, destructive materials or any other data or code which is able to corrupt, compromise or jeopardise the operation or content of a computer system, computer network or your hardware or software. Our firm accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions on this Website.

Our firm may, in its sole discretion, at any time, suspend or terminate the operation of this website or any of the products or services provided in terms of this Website, without prior notice.

Notwithstanding the fact that this Website may refer to and/or provide links to other websites, your use of such other websites is entirely at your own risk and our firm is not responsible for any loss, expense, claim or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from your use of such other Website. Our firm also does not endorse, warrant or make any representations about the content, products, services, security or reliability of such other websites

All rights reserved.

 

Cybercrime Alert

Cybercrime is an ever-increasing threat all to all businesses and clients worldwide, and law firms are no exception. At our firm we take every precaution within our power to protect our systems and information, including antivirus software and strict compliance with FICA and POPIA law to ensure the accuracy and safety of our clients' information - but no cybercrime protection is complete without your help. Please note:

  1. Our offices will never send you a link in an email or otherwise. You must never open a link contained in an email purporting to be from us, no matter what.
  2. Our offices will never advise you of a change in our banking details via e-mail without a letter issued by our bankers AND telephonic confirmation by one of our employees. Even if you receive such an e-mail or letter, you should assume it is a phishing email. Contact our offices in order to confirm the authenticity of same, and you are encouraged to obtain additional independent confirmation from your banking institution.
  3. Scrutinise every email you receive. Scammers can set the name of their email account to be someone else's email address, but if you hover your mouse over the name in the email, you should see the true email address pop up.
  4. Our offices will never request you to make payment in cash or any form of currency or asset other than EFT.

In the recent of any loss of funds which is not due to the negligence of our firm, we will not be liable for any loss of damages that may be suffered directly or indirectly as a result of any money which belongs to you not being received by you in which we shall be released from all and any claims, loss or liability incurred.

Please do not disclose or forward our firm’s banking details to any third party. Our firm cannot accept any funds from a third party without prior arrangement and approval.

 

Protection of Personal Information and FICA

Our firm is a Responsible Person in terms of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, and we hold the confidentiality and privacy of your personal information in the utmost regard. In order to use our website, contact us and use our services, we require your consent to the processing and of your personal information. We also need to store your personal information and thereby per definition further process it, for the purpose of legal compliance as well as providing our services to you. which may include but is not limited to:

  • your name,
  • your telephone and cellphone numbers,
  • your email address,
  • your home address,
  • your identity number,
  • your biometric information (your face on your ID),

By continuing to use our site and services, you consent to the processing of the above personal information.

When you speak to us via telephone, we process your contact details (telephone number) and we may record the conversation at our discretion, for quality and training purposes, as well as for the safety of our staff.

When you become a client, in the course of our services we will be required to process the following personal information in compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA):

  • your name;
  • your telephone and cellphone numbers;
  • your email address;
  • your home address;
  • your identity number;
  • the name, address and contact details of the juristic person you may represent;
  • your marital status; and
  • your financial information and the information of the juristic person you may represent.

It is necessary to verify and continually process your bank account details:

  • to verify your identity in compliance with FICA; and
  • to transfer payments received on your behalf from debtors, to you.

 

In the course of your attorney-client relationship with us, it may become necessary to divulge highly sensitive information and personal information relating to you personally, your family (e.g. divorce), your children (e.g. divorce / custody disputes), and/or the juristic person you represent. Such information can include but is not limited to:

  • the personal information of a minor;
  • philosophical belief;
  • political affiliation;
  • trade union membership;
  • health / sex life;
  • criminal record; and
  • financial information.

You consent to us processing such information and confirm that you have complied with all obligations imposed on you by POPI in providing such information to us.

In the event that you engage us on behalf of a juristic person, we may require you and another person (for example your spouse) to sign surety for payment. In such an event:

  • you confirm that you have obtained consent from such co-surety to divulge their personal information to us;
  • you confirm that you have taken all reasonable steps to comply with your own obligations under POPI to process the co-surety’s personal information lawfully; and
  • the co-surety also provides their consent to us directly.


In many instances, such as in High Court litigation, or highly specialised legal issues, it may become necessary to involve a specialist attorney or an advocate in your case, and in so doing, we may pass your sensitive information on to third parties. These Legal Practitioners are equally bound by POPI and the ethical requirements of the Attorneys’ Profession. You consent to us passing your personal information on to these third parties.

You consent to us processing your personal information to any Credit Bureau:

  • (in the course of establishing the attorney-client relationship with you) for the purpose of determining your creditworthiness; and/or
  • (in the event that you default on payment to us) for the purpose of reporting your default payment to any Credit Bureau.

 

Transfer of information to foreign countries – nowadays, almost every reputable online service uses data servers located in several international jurisdictions. For example, when you send an email from your gmail account, that email is stored on an international server. It is unavoidable. These data servers are found in several international locations outside of South Africa. Our firm uses Microsoft for its email (Outlook), video calling (Teams) and data storage (Onedrive). These services allow us to provide the best possible services to you, but inevitably store personal information, such as your emails and the documents you provide to us, in international locations. You therefore must consent to the transfer of your personal information to these servers in international locations in order to use our services. While these servers have world-class levels of encryption, and to the best of our knowledge are the safest possible option for storing data, we cannot guarantee the integrity or security of such servers.

 
Providing your personal information and consent to us is voluntary, but is mandatory should you wish to access our services to you. Without such personal information and consent to all of the above, we cannot assist you and no attorney-client relationship will arise.

Safety of your personal information – we take all steps that we possibly can to protect your personal information, including identifying risk, device encryption, antivirus software, and strict procedures for the divulging of any personal information.