PLEASE
KEEP THIS DOCUMENT FOR YOUR RECORDS
This
agreement is made between A + Legal Services - Law Offices
of Greenberg & Lieberman, a/k/a Lieberman Law offices,
A + Legal Services (hereinafter the firm) and all clients
(hereinafter the client).
All
clients have agreed to the Terms & Conditions herein
through the act of ordering work. The Client's signature
at the bottom of the order form or retainer agreements,
though a formality, attests to the Client's acceptance
of the terms found herein. Work will not be done
without acceptance of the terms found herein.
RECITALS
The
Firm is in the business of providing legal services.
Client desires to hire the firm to do legal work.
IN CONSIDERATION
of the foregoing and of the mutual covenants herein contained,
the parties, intending to be legally bound, agree as follows:
THIS
AGREEMENT MODIFIES ALL PRIOR AGREEMENTS:
SIGNATURE UPON ANY FIRM ORDER FORMS, RETAINERS OR OTHER
CONTRACTS IS ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
AND SHALL BE SEEN AS A MODIFICATION OF ANY AND ALL FORMER
CONTRACTS WHETHER OR NOT THEY INCLUDED A RECITAL TO THESE
TERMS & CONDITIONS. FURTHER, IT IS UNDERSTOOD
BY THE CLIENT THAT THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS MAY CHANGE
FROM TIME TO TIME AND UNLESS THE CLIENT RETAINS A COPY
OF THE TERMS & CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF SIGNATURE
THEY DO HEREBY ACCEPT WHAT EVER TERMS & CONDITIONS
ARE CURRENT AT THE TIME OF ANY DISPUTE.
1.
Retention as a law firm
Client hereby retains Firm, and Firm hereby agrees to
render legal services to Client, upon the terms and conditions
set forth herein.
2.
Compensation
a. Client shall pay to Firm, as compensation
for the services to be rendered, the amount set out on
a flat fee or hourly basis.
b. The Firm shall charge $250 p/h unless
modified in writing by Firm partner.
c. The Firm maintains no obligation
to perform additional work once work has been completed.
d. The Firm shall represent the Client
on a work - case by case basis.
e. The Firm reserves the right to charge
additionally for, but are not limited to: copying,
mailing, faxing, and telephoning, depositions, travel,
filing and recording fees, photocopies, and any other
expenses that are incident and necessary to the Client's
case and understands that reimbursement of said expenses
is in addition to the attorneys' fees, unless a written
fixed rate is in effect.
f. The Firm shall impose a $40 returned
check charge. Additionally, if the Client is late paying
monies owed the interest which shall be charges is APR
plus 9% per month.
3.
Covenant of Non-Disclosure
Firm shall not divulge, disclose, or communicate
to any person, firm, corporation or other entity, or use
for its own benefit or for the benefit of any person,
firm, corporation or other entity, any information acquired
from the Client, its parent or subsidiaries, without prior
consent, unless the work ordered implies that such a disclosure
is necessary in order to do the work ordered. Firm
reserves the right to assign the work to any of its employees
or current subcontractors.
4
.Miscellaneous Terms including Fee Division
a. Discussion Time Limits: max 30 minutes
during work, otherwise hourly;
b. No contracts are binding unless
made by a Stevan Lieberman or Michael Greenberg;
c. Government fees not included in
quotes, except for the Invention Disclosure;
d. Work done without a written flat
fee quote shall be billed hourly and the lack of the words
FLAT FEE shall deem the agreement as an hourly fee agreement
with nothing more then an estimate for which the client
may be liable for additional fees based on the number
of hours actually worked;
e. Clients agree to pay for any work
ordered, and that all orders are irrevocable, and that
failure to pay within 60 days of when promised shall be
breach and accept judgment on the basis of that breach;
f. By hiring the Firm to do work Client
accepts the Firm's partners judgment as to the competence
of the person(s) doing the work and understands that the
Firm and all of its personnel shall do their utmost best
to deliver the highest quality work and representation
possible. Further, the Client understands and explicitly
accepts that from time to time Firm personnel may engage
the services of other attorney's who may or may not work
on a full time basis with or in other law firms for the
purpose of delivering to the Client the highest level
of work possible. The Client explicitly gives permission
to the Firm to reveal all information provided to the
Firm by Client to said additional attorney's or firms
under the same terms of confidentiality as provided between
the Firm and the Client. Further, the Client accepts
the judgment of the Firm and its partners as to when it
is necessary to use said other attorney's.
5.
Terms Specific to Patents, Trademarks, Copyright
a. Office actions - are not included
in the original prosecution fee.
b. The Firm shall not be liable for
the actions of the federal government including, but not
limited to: the denial of registration of intellectual
property, the cancellation of intellectual property.
c. In the process of doing work the
Firm will have to mail copies of drafts of patent and
trademark applications and signature forms thereof to
the Client. It shall be the Client's responsibility to
respond to said mailings. The Firm shall not be liable
for delays in filings due to the client's failure to respond
to said mailings.
d. The client should be aware that
intellectual property, patents, trademarks, & Copyrights
may be lost if the piece of intellectual property obtained
by the Firm for the Client is not protected by policing
the field. Policing services shall be understood
to mean a review of the field which the client's intellectual
property resides in order to see if another entity is
infringing on the Client's intellectual property. The
Firm offers policing services. It is understood
by the Client that by providing such policing services
the Firm does not guarantee that any and all infringers
will be found. Further, if the Client does not order
policing services, the firm shall not be liable for any
failure to notify Client of a third party infringer even
if such information may be known by the Firm.
e. Under no circumstances shall the
Firm be liable for the devaluation of a client's intellectual
property due to the actions of any third party or
actions of the client.
6.
Legal Relief
a. In the event Client breaches, or
threatens to breach any of the covenants expressed
herein, the damages to Firm will be great and irreparable
and difficult to quantify; therefore, Firm may apply to
a court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive or other
equitable relief to restrain such breach or threat of
breach, without disentitling Firm from any other relief
in either law or equity.
b. Additionally, if Client breaches this agreement, Client
agrees to accept complete liability for all costs and
judgment thereof. Costs shall include, but not be
limited to: all charges as expressed above, any attorney's
fees, costs and associated expenses, work done on a clients
behalf or time spent prosecuting or defending any law
suit in association with, for or against the client.
c. Clients agree to pay for any work ordered, and that
all orders are irrevocable, and that failure to pay within
60 days of when promised shall be breach and accept judgment
on the basis of that breach;
d. By
hiring Law Firm to do work, Client accepts the Firm's
Members judgment as to the competence of the person(s)
doing the work and understands that Law Firm and all of
its personnel shall do their utmost best to deliver the
highest quality work and representation possible.
Further, Client understands and explicitly accepts that
from time to time Law Firm personnel may engage the services
of other attorneys who may or may not work on a full time
basis with or in other law firms for the purpose of delivering
to the Client the highest level of work possible.
Client explicitly gives permission to Law Firm
to reveal all information provided to Law Firm by Client
to said additional attorneys or firms under the same terms
of confidentiality as provided between Law Firm and Client.
Further, Client accepts the judgment of Law Firm and its
Members as to when it is necessary to use said other attorneys.
d. Arbitration: All matters other then initial
motions in equity filed under exigent circumstances must
be submitted to binding arbitration in accordance with
the rules of the American Arbitration Association.
There shall be one arbitrator who shall be chosen by the
arbitration association. Neither party shall have
any input towards the choosing of the arbitrator.
All of said arbitrations shall take place in the District
of Columbia. At no time may the arbitrator award
punitive damages unless she believes beyond a reasonable
doubt that the party in the wrong acted with malicious
intent to breach the contract. The goal of the arbitrator
shall be to put the wronged party in the same position
they would have been if the party in the wrong had not
acted incorrectly and to finalize the situation as quickly
as possible. The arbitrator may award cost to the
party whom has been wronged. The arbitrator shall take
all terms and conditions found herein as binding on both
parties.
7.
Termination and Liability
The firm retains the right to not accept any additional
work from any client. If the Firm wishes it may
cease any work for any client at any time within the bounds
of what is acceptable under Maryland law. If the firm
decides to cease doing work mid way through a job the
Firm shall return all unused monies and shall have no
liability for the unperformed work. Firm's complete
and actual liability, including any punitives and costs
awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be
limited to the actual amount paid by client within the
calendar year client first complains to the firm, in writing,
or the amount paid on the particular project (issue) complained
of, which ever is less. If there is a question as
to whether the work was done on an hourly or flat fee
basis it shall be assumed that the work was done on an
hourly basis.
8
.Governing Law
This Agreement and all future dealing between Client and
Firm shall be construed in accordance with the domestic
laws of the Maryland, excluding its principles of conflicts
of laws. The parties hereto agree that any actions related
to this Agreement or between the parties and any/or act
performed under the banners of A + Legal Services, Lieberman
Law Offices, or Greenberg & Lieberman shall be venued
solely in the Montgomery County, Maryland and the parties
hereby irrevocably commit to the jurisdiction of the said
courts. No other court shall have jurisdiction over
this agreement, any actions taken under this agreement
or work done by Firm.
9
.Invalidity
The terms of this Agreement shall be severable so
that if any term, clause, or provision hereof shall be
deemed invalid or unenforceable for any reason, such invalidity
or unenforceability shall not affect the remaining terms,
clauses and provisions hereof, the parties intending that
if any such term, clause or provision were held to be
invalid prior to the execution hereof, they would have
executed an agreement containing all the remaining terms,
clauses and provisions of this Agreement.
10
.Waiver of Breach
The waiver by either party hereto of any breach
of the terms and conditions hereof will not be considered
a modification of any provision, nor shall such a waiver
act to bar the enforcement of any subsequent breach.
11
Entire Agreement
This Agreement shall constitute the entire agreement between
the parties hereto and replaces and supersedes all prior
agreements, written and oral, relating to the subject
matter hereof, between the parties to this Agreement.
Each time Client orders additional work, it shall be deemed
they they once again accept and confirm the terms found
in this agreement.
12.
Modification of this agreement: No provisions of
this Agreement may be modified, waived, or amended except
with the written consent of all Parties.
13.
Enforcement: Any failure by any Party to enforce
the other Party's strict performance of any provision
of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of its
rights to enforce subsequently such provision or any other
provision of this Agreement.
14.
Drafted Equally: This Agreement shall be deemed
to have been drafted equally by both parties to this Agreement.
15.
Acceptance: The execution of any Firm Order Form
or Retainer by a Client shall indicate that this Agreement
conforms to the Client's understandings and is acceptable
to the Client. It is further understood and agreed that
(1) the Client has read the terms of this Agreement; (2)
the Client has had the opportunity to consult or has consulted
with counsel of her choice regarding this Agreement; (3)
the Client has been given a reasonable and sufficient
period of time in which to consider and execute this Agreement;
and (4) the Client has entered into this Agreement freely
and voluntarily without coercion or undue influence of
any kind.
16.
Authority: The Client executing this Agreement
represents and warrants that he or she has the authority
and power to do so from the Party on whose behalf he or
she is executing.
Our
Commitment To Privacy: Your privacy is important to
us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice
explaining our online information practices and the choices
you can make about the way your information is collected
and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it
available on our homepage and at every point where personally
identifiable information may be requested.
The
Information We Collect: This notice applies to all
information collected or submitted on the [company name]
website. On some pages, you can order products, make
requests, and register to receive materials. The types
of personal information collected at these pages are:
Name, Address, Email address, Phone number, Credit/Debit
Card Information, date of birth, SS#, [Etc.].
The
Way We Use Information: We use the information you
provide about yourself when placing an order only to
complete that order. We do not share this information
with outside parties except to the extent necessary
to complete that order. Further, as we are a law firm
all of your information is protected under attorney
/ client privilege (where applicable) and may only be
released with your permission, through a court order
or if there is a law suit between you, our client and
the firm. Otherwise, we do not share this information
with outside parties except to the extent necessary
to complete the work.
We
use return email addresses to answer the email we receive.
Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and
are not shared with outside parties.
In
the future we may use non-identifying and aggregate
information to better design our website and to share
with advertisers. For example, we may tell an advertiser
that X number of individuals visited a certain
area on our website, or that Y number of men
and Z number of women filled out our registration
form, but we would not disclose anything that could
be used to identify those individuals.
Finally,
we never use or share the personally identifiable information
provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones
described above without also providing you an opportunity
to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.
Our
Commitment To Data Security: To prevent unauthorized
access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct
use of information, we have put in place appropriate
physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard
and secure the information we collect online.
Our
Commitment To Children's Privacy: Protecting the
privacy of the very young is especially important. For
that reason, we never collect or maintain information
at our website from those we actually know are under
13 (unless required for the work), and no part of our
website is structured to attract anyone under 13.
How
You Can Access Or Correct Your Information: You
will eventually be able to access all your personally
identifiable information that we collect and make changes
to your file. The information will be accessible
by you and you alone unless you give your personal password
(which will be assigned at that time) to some one else.
You can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable
information by sending us a request that credibly shows
error. Until the online capability of making changes
is available please email, mail or phone to make changes.
To
protect your privacy and security, we will also take
reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting
access or making corrections.
How
To Contact Us
| By
phone - toll free: (888) 275-2757 |
| By
phone - local: (301) 588-8393 |
| By
facsimile: (301) 588-3292 |
| Email
us: Questions@APLegal.com |
| By
Snail Mail: 314 Philadelphia Ave., Takoma Park,
M.D. 20912 |
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