Standard Terms of Rechtsanwalt Alexander Baron von Engelhardt

§1 Area of Application

These standard terms will be applicable to each and every of the Client's assignments for the Attorney and also for contractual claims of other persons arising from the Client's assignment for the Attorney insofar as nothing else has been agreed upon in writing or is legally compulsory.

§2 Scope of Assignment and Execution

(1) In case of doubt, the scope of the Attorney's services will be determined at the time of application. The Attorney shall acknowledge the scope of his services in text before beginning his services. Further extensions or reductions of the assignment have to be acknowledged in text.

(2) The assignment will be executed according to the rules of proper professional activities to the best of the Attorney's conscience and knowledge.

§3 Copyright Protection, Duty to Observe Secrecy, and Communication

(1) The law on intellectual property is also applicable to the Attorney's services. The Client will receive necessary copies of written results of the Attorney's services for the intended use. A different use is to be permitted in writing by the Attorney.

(2) The Attorney will be permitted to process, collect, and save personal data entrusted unto him with modern data processing systems.

(3) If the Client informs the Attorney of an email address or a fax number, he will generally agree that the Attorney corresponds with him or her per digital mail (PDF file attached to an email) or per fax. If the Client wishes to communicate in writing even though he has electronically contacted the Attorney, then the client has to explicitly utter this wish. Otherwise, the provisions of sentence no. 1 shall remain in force. The Client assures that only he resp. by him assigned person has access to his email account or fax machine and he will regularly, at least weekly, control the receipt of any mail. The Client knows that unsecured emails only guarantee limited secrecy. In so far the Client has the technical means for electronic signatures and encryption and wishes their implementation he will instruct the Attorney thereupon.

(4) In the event that several persons have hired the Attorney, then all declarations or assignment related actions of one person will be considered as if stemming from all persons. In case, the Clients' instructions indissolubly contradict each other, the Attorney may close the case. If the Attorney has (not yet) closed the case, then the Attorney's only obligation will be to instruct the Clients once on the expiration of a possibly running time limit.

§4 Participation of Third Parties

(1) The Attorney shall be entitled to appoint employed and freelance employees, data-processing companies for the performance of the contract, as well as, if necessary, other third parties in agreement with the Client.

(2) In the case of the consultation of specialized third parties and data processing companies, the Attorney will ensure that they are bound to secrecy as much as he is. This does not incur additional costs for the Client, unless otherwise agreed.

§5. Rectification of defects

(1) The Client shall be entitled to remedy any defects within a reasonable period of time. The Client must, before a third party is charged with the correction of the defect, request the Attorney for the correction of the defect, unless for special reasons, the interest of the Client in the immediate commissioning of a third party prevails. The claim must be demanded immediately in text.

(2) If the Attorney does not remedy the deficiencies which have been claimed within a reasonable period, the rectification fails, or the Attorney wrongfully rejects to remedy the deficiency of the defendant, then the Client may, at the Attorney's expense, remedy the deficiencies by another consultant, demand reduction of the remuneration or cancellation of the contract.

(3) The Attorney may at any time remedy obvious inaccuracies (e.g. typing errors, arithmetic errors) towards third parties. Any other defects may be rectified by the Attorney to third parties only with the consent of the Client. Consent is not required if the legitimate interests of the Attorney or his employees exceed the interests of the Client. Inaccuracies which are likely to call into questionable results in the professional service entitle the Attorney to correct them also against third parties or to withdraw the professional performance.

§6. Terms of Payment

(1) Several contracting entities shall be jointly and severally liable. The Attorney can accept the full or partial amount from one person with effect against all of them. Compensation claims between the parties remain unaffected.

(2) If the Attorney requires an advance or the advance payment of his fees, he may wait until he has been paid in full with processing his legal services. During this time, the Attorney has only the duty to draw attention to possible deadlines once, otherwise the Client has no claim to benefit or even compensation. A repayment of a partial advance or prepayment will not take place even after termination of the order.

(3) Expenses such as value-added tax, travel expenses, absence allowances, writing expenses and the like shall be reimbursed separately. The Client has to reimburse the Attorney for the costs of transcripts and photocopies, the production of which was pertinent to the case, according to No. 7000 of the List of Remunerations of the Act on the Remuneration of Attorneys, even if they are not additional copies and photocopies within the meaning of this act. This reimbursement stipulation for stationary costs, copies and photocopies shall only apply if the customer insists on written correspondence. If the Client complies in an exclusively electronic communication, then the attorney may waive the assertion of no. 7000 of the List of Remunerations of the Remuneration Act of Attorneys towards the client.

(4) The Client's claims for reimbursement against the opponent, the Public Purse or other third parties shall be assigned to the Attorney in the amount of the fee claims of the Attorney, on account of payment, with the authorization to communicate the assignment on behalf of the Client to the debtor. The Attorney's right to collect from the Client shall remain unaffected.

(5) The Attorney is entitled to receive money and monetary values on behalf of the Client. The Client agrees that incoming amounts will first be offset against any mature fees and expenses, also from previous assignments.

(6) The Attorney may refuse to forward the results of his activities to the Client until his invoiced remuneration claims have been settled. This shall not apply if the retention is contrary to the principles of good faith according to the circumstances of the individual case - e.g. due to the relative insignificance of the backward (total) amount.

(7) Offsetting against a remuneration claim by the Attorney is only permitted with undisputed or legally binding claims.

(8) If the Client does not generally agree, to correspond by digital mail or fax, the Attorney may charge a lump sum of € 40 for postage and copies. This stipulation is also applicable in regards to invoicing. The Attorney has a "paperless" office and intends to provide the Client with an incentive for ecologically conform behavior.

§7. Liability, Time-Barred Claims

(1) The Attorney is liable for his own fault and fault of his employees as well as for the observance of the customary diligence in the selection of the third parties whom he has engaged, but not for the fault of a third party consulted by agreement with the Client.

(2) Liability of the Attorney for claims for damages of any kind, even from unauthorized actions, shall be limited by mutual agreement to one million Euros for the individual claim, unless statutory provisions are compulsory, except in the case of gross negligence on the part of the Attorney or his vicarious agents. "Individual loss" means the sum of all claims for compensation of the Client, which result from the one and same action.

(3) Liability is excluded for verbal declarations and oral information from the Attorney or his employees. This also applies if the Attorney is called for advice via his hotline. Liability of the Attorney for violation or non-observance of foreign law is excluded.

(4) Any further liability of the Attorney in individual cases requires separate agreements.

§8 General Obligations of the Client

(1) The Client is obligated to cooperate as far as is necessary for the proper completion of the order. The Client is obliged to provide the Attorney with comprehensive information about all the facts relating to the order. In particular, he shall give the Attorney, without being asked, all the documents necessary for the execution of the order in a complete, correct and timely manner so that the Attorney has an appropriate processing time available. The same shall apply to the disclosure of all transactions and circumstances which may be relevant to the performance of the contract. These obligations also apply to the documents, transactions and circumstances which become known only during the respective activities of the Attorney.

(2) The Client must separately assign the Attorney in each case for lodging any kind of appeal (e.g. countermand, objection, complaint) and the bringing of an action in court. An assignment shall only be effective with a written power of Attorney.

(3) The Client shall refrain from anything that could affect the independence of the Attorney or his employees. In particular, the Client shall, on his own initiative, communicate a change in his contact details to the Attorney.

(4) The Client may only provide professional statements, reports, expert opinions and the like of the Attorney to third parties with the Attorney's written consent. This shall not apply if and to the extent that the consignment is already approved by a third party.

(5) The Attorney may always believe the Client and does not have to do his own research. The Client undertakes to read the correspondence given to him in his affairs carefully, and in particular to check whether the information contained therein is indeed true and complete.

(6) In the case of pure tax declarations, that is to say without a surplus calculation, the Attorney shall submit to paragraph 3 accordingly. In the case of tax records, he shall notify the Client of obvious contradictions and inaccuracies, in particular of a formal nature. An obligation of the Attorney to substantively verify the documents and information submitted to him requires a separate agreement.

§9. Absent cooperation and default of the Client

(1) If the Client does not fulfill his obligation according to §9 without justifiable explaination, the Attorney will remind him of the execution only once and set a reminder to bring the file forward in one month. After the month according to sentence 1, the Attorney can for the last time remind the Client of the completion or terminate the assignment. If the Client does not comply with the second reminder without explanation, the Attorney can understand this as completion of the assignment.

(2) In the case of default or violation of the obligation of cooperation by the Client, the Attorney is entitled to demand compensation for the resulting additional expenses and the damage caused thereby. 13% is agreed as default interest.

§10. Storage and Handing over of Documents

(1) For the purposes of this agreement, all the documents which the Attorney has received from the Client or for the Client for the purpose of his professional activity shall belong to the reference file. However, this does not apply to the correspondence between the Client and the Attorney and to the documents which the Client has already received as original or transcript copies, as well as for the copies for the internal purposes of the Attorney.

(2) The Attorney has to keep the reference file up to five years after the end of the assignment. However, this obligation expires before the end of this period when the Attorney has requested the Client to receive the reference file and the Client has not complied with this request within one month after receiving this notificiation.

(3) At the request of the Client, at the latest after the assignment has been completed, the Attorney shall issue the Client with the information within a reasonable period. The Attorney may make copies of documents which he will return to the Client and retain them for his reference file.

§11 Court Venue, Choice of Law

Jurisdiction and place of fulfillment for all claims arising from this contract will be Berlin, Germany. Contradictory terms and conditions of contracting entities shall not be recognized, unless they are expressly approved.