LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL AND REGULATORY INFORMATION

Synchrony Law Limited (“Synchrony Law”) is a limited liability company registered in England and Wales with registered number 11522572. A list of names of the directors is available for inspection at Synchrony Law’s registered address at 2nd Floor 168 Shoreditch High Street, London, United Kingdom, E1 6RA. The word "partner" is used to refer to a director of Synchrony Law or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications.

Synchrony Law is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales (“SRA”) with the SRA number 652435. 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.

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

Our professional indemnity insurance covers the professional services provided by Synchrony Law worldwide and our professional indemnity insurer is Endurance Worldwide Insurance Ltd.

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000

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.

Synchrony Law is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the “Act”). Instead and as above, 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 through Synchrony Law, 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.or g.uk/register

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING

As a law firm, Synchrony Law is required to verify the identity of clients. The process varies for different categories of clients but generally, the following procedures will apply:

If you are an individual who we meet, please bring one form of proof of identity (e.g. a current passport, national identity card or driving licence) and one form of proof of residential address (dated within the last 3 months, such as a utility bill or bank statement). If you are unable to meet us in person, we will ask you to provide a third document (either proof of identity or address) and have all three documents certified as true copies (photocopies) of the originals by a lawyer, accountant, bank official, embassy or consulate. Unfortunately, we are unable to rely on copies of digital photographs.
If you are a company, in many cases we will be able to obtain all the information we need through online databases. However, if there is insufficient information about you in the public domain, we will ask you to provide certified copies of your corporate records to enable us to understand your ownership and control structure.

If we are carrying out a transaction for you, we will ask you to explain how the transaction will be funded and, in some cases, we may ask you to provide supporting documentation.

Notwithstanding your instructions to us, there may be circumstances where we are required to act instead in accordance with obligations or directions arising under the various relevant anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing legislation.

We are obliged in certain circumstances to disclose otherwise confidential information to the National Crime Agency (“NCA”). Where we have reasonable evidence to know or suspect that a transaction involves criminal proceeds, we may be required by law to make a disclosure to the NCA. In this event, and where we have determined that is necessary to make a disclosure, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or the reasons for it. We will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what actions we may need to take but only where the law permits us to do so. We shall have no liability to you in relation to our duties to comply with such legislation.

ANTI-BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

Synchrony Law’s policy is to act at all times 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. 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 and that you or your related persons, entities or affiliates will refrain from any practices involving bribery or any other corrupt activities.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Synchrony Law is committed to creating an environment in which equality of opportunity is a reality for all members of staff who are able to make best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment, and where all decisions are based on merit. We have recently carried out an equality and diversity survey of our employees and from the anonymous data that has been provided by them (employees are free to decline to complete the survey or to choose “prefer not to say”) we have been able to conclude that they fall into the various protected characteristic types as defined by the Equality Act 2010 (sex, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc.).

Due to the risk of employees being identified through their anonymous data and reference to their staff profiles on our website we are unable to publish more specific details without breaching the Data Protection Act 2018.

INSIDE INFORMATION

You are responsible for notifying us if you are providing us with information, or if we will be acting for you on matters, which constitute "inside information" in relation to your business. Upon such notification, we will maintain a list of persons employed by us who, are acting on your behalf in connection with such a matter and who have access to relevant inside information.

Synchrony Law will take measures to ensure that every person is aware of their duties and the sanctions relating to the misuse or improper disclosure of inside information. You may ask us for a copy of the list at any time within five years from the date upon which the information ceases to be inside information.

CLIENT AUDIT AND REFERENCE REQUESTS

At our discretion, we may, but we are not obliged to, 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 follow the Law Society’s guidelines for replying to 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 enquires 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. Where the directors have in writing estimated the amount of such liabilities on a specific matter in respect of which we are instructed, Synchrony Law may be prepared to comment upon the directors’ estimate if the directors so request. The time we spend responding to an audit letter will be charged at the appropriate hourly rate. We do not provide bank or other references.

MANAGING COMPLAINTS

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact us to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full Complaints Handling Policy here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. 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.

Should you wish to take matters further, the Legal Ombudsman’s details are as follows:

Visit: www.legalombudsm an.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 (between 9am to 5pm)
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

As noted above, Synchrony Law is regulated by the SRA who can assist if you are concerned about our conduct. Further details can be found on the SRA’s we bsite.

VAT REGISTRATION

Synchrony Law is registered for VAT purposes under number 310 8503 42.