1. Legal information
Attorney Reulens (hereafter ‘the attorney’) is enrolled with the Dutch speaking association of attorneys at the Brussels bar and is registered with the Crossroads Bank of Enterprises under the number 0544.324.705, for the purpose of practicing law. The office is located at 1653 Dworp, Zevenbronnenstraat 100.
We act in accordance with the rules of conduct set out in the judicial code, the regulations of the National bar association, the Flemish bar association and the Brussels bar. If requested, we can make these rules available to you.

2. Scope
The following terms and conditions shall apply to every assignment accepted by the attorney.
The client is expected to have knowledge of and accept the general terms and conditions without reservation.
These terms and conditions prevail over any general terms and conditions of the client.. Any modification or deviation from these general terms and conditions must be agreed upon in writing. These general terms and conditions apply not only to the initial assignment of the client but also to any subsequent assignments.

3. Information to be provided by the client
The client shall provide the attorney, on a confidential basis, with any and all necessary and relevant data, information and documents throughout the duration of the assignment. It is the responsibility of the client to ensure that the information provided by him or on his behalf is correct, complete and trustworthy. The attorney cannot be held liable for any damage resulting from erroneous, inaccurate and incomplete or misleading information from the client.

4. Liability and Insurance
Any liability of the attorney is limited to the amount paid by the insurer under the applicable professional liability insurance policy of the Flemish bar association, taken out with the insurance company Amlin Europe NV. At present, the insured amount per damage claim is set at a maximum of 1,250,000.00 euros.
The law firm cannot in any way be held liable for errors or shortcomings of third parties or other experts who were engaged in the performance of services, regardless of whether they charge their costs and fees to the law firm or directly invoice the client.
If, for any reason, the professional liability insurer does not cover the damage, our liability shall be limited to the amount of the fee paid by the client for the services that led to the liability.

5. Third parties
The attorney may engage third parties in the performance of its services such as bailiffs, notary publics, advisors, translators, consultants, experts, arbitrators…
The attorney will, to the extent appropriate, consult with the client in advance and will exercise due care in selecting such third parties. Their appointment is therefore made exclusively in the name and on behalf of the client who is deemed to have contracted directly with these third parties.
The fees and expenses of these third parties will generally be invoiced directly to the client without our intervention. If, exceptionally, the firm has had to advance these fees, they will be charged in full to the client.

6. Commitment of means
The services rendered by the attorney is a commitment of means.
The attorney will perform the assignment with the necessary due care and professional diligence.

7. Fees, costs and advanced payments
The attorney shall charge the client its fees, costs and advanced payments.
The provisions on cost and fee statements are set out in detail under the ‘fees’ section of the website www.advocaatreulens.be
The attorney reserve its right to, in the event of a late payment or lack of payment of the fees, costs and advanced payments, suspend the performance of the assignment automatically and without prior notice. She cannot be held liable for any damages resulting from the suspension of the services due to the non-payment of the statement of costs and fees.

8. Third-party funds
The firm transfers all amounts received on its third-party bank account on behalf of the client to the client’s account as soon as possible.
However, the attorney is entitled to withhold sums from the amounts received on behalf of the client to cover outstanding costs and fee statements. She will inform the client of this in writing in advance.
All amounts received by the firm on behalf of third parties will be forwarded to the parties involved without delay.

9. Intellectual property rights and confidentiality
All documents, such as advices, opinions, contracts, notes, conclusions, procedural documents … , drafted by the attorney are protected by intellectual property rights and may not, under any circumstances, be copied, modified, referred to or disclosed in whole are in parts without the attorney prior written consent

Except for correspondence from a legal representative, a lawyer’s correspondence to the client, to another lawyer or to Bar Association authorities is usually confidential.
However, if the client comes into possession of confidential correspondence, he undertakes to keep it confidential, not to disclose it to third parties and not to use it within or outside the professional relationship with the lawyer.

10. Anti money laundering and terrorism financing
Depending on the nature of the assignment, the attorney is subject to the European Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the Law of September 18, 2017 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and on the Restriction of the Use of Cash.
Under these regulations, the attorney is obliged to impose the duty of client identification and due diligence regarding the client,
Accordingly, the client must actively cooperate in the identification investigation and provide, upon first request, the required information, corroborated by the required documentation.
In addition, the client will inform the attorney as soon as possible of any change in his situation or capacity. during the term in which the services are provided.

This identification obligation concerns not only the client – natural or legal person – but also the agents (representatives, directors) and their ultimate beneficiary/ies.
The attorney reserves the right to terminate the performance of its services in the event of non-cooperation by the client.

As soon as the attorney notifies or suspects suspicious transactions related to money laundering and the financing of terrorism, she is obliged to inform the President of the Bar Association who will decide whether or not he will transmit the information to the Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (“Cel voor Financiële Informatieverwerking”).

11. Severability
Should one or more of the terms of this agreement be invalid, void or in any way unenforceable, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining terms and the agreement as a whole. The invalid, void or unenforceable term shall be replaced automatically by a term which is valid and enforceable, and which corresponds as closely as possible to the objective of the invalid, void or unenforceable term.

12. Termination of the agreement
Both the client and the attorney shall have the right to terminate the agreement for legal services with immediate effect and without any compensation. However the client will remain obliged to immediately reimburse the attorney all the outstanding statements of fees , advance payments and costs until the date of termination of the agreement.
Upon termination of the agreement, after all costs and fees have been settled by the client, the firm will make the file available either to the client or to the designated successor.
The attorney will not be liable for any damage resulting from the termination of the agreement.

13. Archives
After closing, the file will be retained for a maximum period of five years and are automatically destroyed at the end of the five-year period, without prior notice.
Original documents will be returned to the client upon written request.
The office will not be liable for any damage resulting from the destruction of the file, even if it still contains original documents.

14. ambiguity – contradiction
These general terms and conditions have been originally drafted in Dutch and translated in French and English. In case of conflict in the interpretation between the Dutch text and the translated versions the Dutch text shall have priority.

15. Changes
The attorney reserves the right to amend these General Conditions at any time.

16. Applicable law and competence
The present terms and conditions and the relationship between the client and the attorney shall be exclusively governed by the laws of Belgium and the applicable deontological rules
If no amicable settlement is possible, then disputes will be settled exclusively before the courts of Brussels.