Legal and Regulatory Information

“Pallas” is the name of the international practice established by Pallas Partners LLP and Pallas Partners (US) LLP.

Pallas Partners LLP (“Pallas London”) is a limited liability partnership registered in England, with registered number OC437491, located at 110 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AY. A list of members is available for inspection at that address.

Pallas Partners (US) LLP (“Pallas New York”) is a limited liability partnership established in Delaware and registered in New York, located at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY, 10019.

Pallas London and Pallas New York are separate, independent and distinct law firms which are not in partnership with one another. If you are a client, your contractual engagement or retainer will expressly specify which law firm entity is engaged. If both entities are engaged, your contract(s) will make this clear.

The term “partner” denotes a member of Pallas London or a partner of Pallas New York or an employee or consultant of Pallas London with equivalent standing and qualifications, and should not be construed as meaning that any form of partnership exists between the two separate law firm entities or between the partners of the two law firm entities.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only and does not claim to be comprehensive or provide legal or other advice. The information may be modified or rendered incorrect by future legislative or judicial developments. Articles and other publications on this website are current as of their date of publication and do not necessarily reflect the present law or regulations. Pallas London and Pallas New York accept no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained on this website and are not responsible for the content of external internet sites that link to this website or which are linked from it.

Although we take reasonable precautions to ensure that no viruses are present in our emails and any attachments, recipients should also ensure that any email correspondence received from Pallas, including any attachments, are virus-free before opening as we cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from their use.

Pallas London

Pallas London (or, in this section, “we”, “us”, “our”)  is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales (“SRA”), with SRA number 826251. The SRA Standards & Regulations 2019 set out our professional and ethical rules and obligations (including the SRA Codes of Conduct and SRA Accounts Rules) and can be viewed at www.sra.org.uk.

We have set out below some additional information for the benefit of our clients (who have been referred here by our Terms of Business).

Our professional indemnity insurance covers the professional services provided by Pallas London worldwide and our primary layer professional indemnity insurer is Travelers Insurance Company Ltd – contact details are available on their website.

It is our policy to always act in accordance with the highest professional, ethical and business standards, and we expect the same from our clients and their related persons, entities or affiliates. Per our Terms of Business, we have a zero-tolerance approach to bribery or corruption and you agree not to expect or request any conduct from us that might bring our name into disrepute or compromise our integrity and independence.

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business and supply chain. Our commitment reflects our values of being a responsible business which operates ethically and with integrity.

Our supply chains relate to our business as a law firm. These supply chains, which are reviewed regularly, include supplying personnel, goods and services to support the legal services we provide to our clients. We have considered these supply chains and concluded that they are low risk in relation to slavery or human trafficking both in our own business and with regard to our external supply chain.

We educate relevant members of staff to recognise the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains and to assess the human rights and labour performance of suppliers. Our relevant policies and procedures are made available to all staff and establish and describe the ethical standards we expect everyone working for us to meet.

Whilst we are not obliged to, we may at our discretion, respond to reasonable requests for information from a corporate client’s auditors if the directors of the company authorise us in writing to do so.

Any response we provide will be in accordance with the Law Society’s guidelines for dealing with audit letters. We will confirm the amount of any costs and expenses which are due to us, whether we are holding documents and, if so, whether they are held by us as security for our own costs. Non-specific enquiries as to our awareness or otherwise of contingent liabilities or litigation or breach or potential breach of regulations and rules relating to the client’s business will not be answered except in exceptional circumstances. The time we spend responding to an audit letter may be charged at the appropriate hourly rate. We do not provide bank or other references.

The advice which we provide is confined to legal advice. We do not advise on the merits of financial products or investment transactions and no communication from us should be treated as an invitation for you to engage in regulated investment activity of any description.

Some investment-related activities (including insurance distribution activities) of Pallas London are regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”).

Like most law firms, we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) under FSMA. Instead, we are authorised and regulated by the SRA. The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of FSMA, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The SRA is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about lawyers registered in England and Wales. In light of this, we can provide investment-related services (including insurance distribution activities) if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide, if they can reasonably be regarded as a necessary part of our professional services or if we are otherwise permitted to provide them under FSMA. For the purpose of insurance distribution activities (broadly, advising on, selling and the administration of insurance contracts), we are included on a register maintained by the FCA and are permitted by the FCA to carry on insurance distribution activities. This register can be accessed via the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk/register.

Pallas London is registered for VAT purposes under number GB391121814.

If you wish to make a complaint about us then, in the first instance, please contact the person with whom you are working or corresponding to set out your concerns. We will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage and, if applicable, will confirm our complaints handling procedure in writing (which is available to clients at any time on request).

If you are not satisfied with our attempt to handle and resolve matters, you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the issue – write to:

• PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ; or
• email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; or
• phone 0300 555 0333.

If you do wish to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, it should be done within six months of our final response to your complaint and within one year of the act or omission that caused the complaint or, if outside this period, within one year of when you should reasonably have known about the relevant act or omission.

The Legal Ombudsman may refer your complaint to the SRA if they are not the correct body to consider the matter, as the Legal Ombudsman’s services are only available for certain types of complaints and complainants. Further details can be found on the Legal Ombudsman’s website and on the SRA’s website.

Note also that if your complaint is about our invoices, you may also apply to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors’ Act 1974. If all or part of any bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest.

Pallas New York

Attorneys practicing law with Pallas New York are admitted to practice in New York and their professional conduct is regulated by the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.

Nothing contained on this website is intended to necessarily reflect the opinions of Pallas New York or any of their respective attorneys or clients, nor create a contractual or attorney-client relationship. You agree that visiting this website or providing information through the website does not create a contractual or attorney-client relationship.