Terms & Conditions

Effective date: [[DATE]]  |  Last updated: [[DATE]]

Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully before using this Website. By accessing or using legal-services.co.za, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms in full.

1. Who we are

This Website is operated by Southern Africa Experiences CC, registration number [[CC REGISTRATION NUMBER]], a close corporation registered in the Republic of South Africa, trading as Legal-Services.co.za.

• Registered name: Southern Africa Experiences CC
• Registration number: [[CC REGISTRATION NUMBER]]
• Trading as: Legal-Services.co.za
• Physical address: [[BUSINESS ADDRESS – do not use your home address, see guide]]
• Email: [[EMAIL ADDRESS]]
• Telephone: [[BUSINESS TELEPHONE NUMBER – do not use your personal mobile]]
• Members: [[MEMBER NAME OR NAMES]]
• Website: https://legal-services.co.za
• Information Officer: [[NAME]], contactable at [[EMAIL ADDRESS]]

The information above is provided for the purposes of section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 and section 23 of the Close Corporations Act 69 of 1984.

2. Definitions

In these Terms:

• Website means legal-services.co.za and all associated pages and subdomains.
• We, us, our means Southern Africa Experiences CC trading as Legal-Services.co.za.
• You, User means any person accessing or using the Website.
• Legal Partner means an independent law firm, registered with the Legal Practice Council, to which we may refer your enquiry.
• Content means all text, articles, blog posts, summaries, guides, graphics and other material published on the Website.
• Services means the legal information and enquiry referral services we provide through the Website.

3. What this Website is

Legal-Services.co.za is a marketing and legal information platform. Our Services consist of publishing general legal information for educational purposes, receiving enquiries from users who are looking for legal assistance, and passing those enquiries to an independent Legal Partner who may be able to help.

We do not provide legal services. We are not a law firm, an attorney, an advocate, a legal practitioner, a notary or a conveyancer. We are not a legal practice as defined in the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, we are not registered with or regulated by the Legal Practice Council, and we do not employ attorneys. All legal services are provided by independent Legal Partners under their own professional obligations and under a direct agreement between you and that firm.

We do not offer legal advice, online or otherwise. Neither we nor our Legal Partners offer free legal advice or pro bono assistance. Any legal services you receive following a referral will be subject to fees charged directly to you by the Legal Partner.

4. Acceptance of these Terms

Your use of this Website constitutes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy and our Disclaimer, all of which form part of these Terms. By submitting an enquiry form you additionally confirm that you have read and agreed to the Contact Form Disclosure.

5. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to contract in order to submit an enquiry through this Website. If you submit an enquiry on behalf of another person or an entity, you warrant that you are authorised to do so and to share that person’s information with us.

6. Use of Content

All Content is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You acknowledge that South African law is complex and fact-specific, that legal information may be outdated or inapplicable to your circumstances, and that you should consult a qualified legal professional before taking or omitting to take any action.

7. Accuracy and currency of Content

We prepare and review our Content with reasonable care, drawing on primary sources including South African legislation, published court decisions and official guidance. South African legislation, prescribed amounts, court practice and administrative procedure change from time to time, and Content that was accurate when published may no longer reflect the current position.

We give no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any purpose of any Content. Where an article displays a review date, that date reflects when the Content was last checked and is not a warranty that it remains current. You must not rely on Content as a substitute for advice from a qualified attorney on your own facts.

8. Referral to a Legal Partner

When you submit an enquiry form, we pass your enquiry and the personal information you have provided to a Legal Partner so that they can contact you. We allocate enquiries on the basis of the area of law involved, the location of the matter and the capacity of the Legal Partners we work with. We do not allocate enquiries on the basis of any payment.

[[CONFIRM: is an enquiry sent to ONE firm or to SEVERAL? The sentence below says one. If it goes to several, this must say so and you need an opt-in checkbox on the form rather than a notice. See the guide.]]

Unless you agree otherwise, your enquiry is referred to one Legal Partner only, and not to all of the Legal Partners we work with.

You acknowledge and agree that:

• a referral does not guarantee that a Legal Partner will accept your matter or be able to assist you;
• each Legal Partner is an independent entity and is solely responsible for any legal services it provides to you;
• any fee arrangement, mandate or terms of engagement are concluded directly between you and the Legal Partner, and you are solely responsible for paying any fees that firm charges;
• we receive no legal fees from you and are not party to any attorney-client relationship arising from a referral;
• we are paid by Legal Partners for marketing services. We do not receive, and will not accept, any referral fee, commission, or share of legal fees in respect of any matter referred through this Website;
• neither we nor any Legal Partner offers free legal advice.

9. Do not submit confidential or privileged information

Please do not include confidential, sensitive or detailed information about your matter in an enquiry form. Provide only what a Legal Partner needs in order to contact you and understand the general nature of your matter.

Information you submit through this Website is not protected by legal professional privilege, because we are not a law firm and no attorney-client relationship exists at the point of submission. Privilege applies only once you have engaged an attorney directly. Once a Legal Partner has contacted you and you have engaged them, discuss the detail of your matter with that firm and not with us.

10. Urgent matters and time limits

Do not use this Website for urgent or time-sensitive matters. We cannot guarantee when a Legal Partner will contact you, or that any Legal Partner will contact you at all.

Many legal claims in South Africa are subject to time limits. Under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 most debts are extinguished after three years, and shorter periods apply to certain claims, including claims against organs of state. Deadlines also apply in areas such as employment disputes, review applications and the administration of deceased estates.

If your matter may be affected by a time limit, contact an attorney directly and immediately rather than submitting an enquiry through this Website. We accept no liability for any claim that prescribes, or any right that is lost or diminished, while you await contact from a Legal Partner.

11. Prohibited use

You may use this Website for lawful purposes only. You agree not to submit false, misleading or fraudulent enquiries; harass, threaten or defame any person; engage in any activity that is unlawful under South African law; attempt to gain unauthorised access to any system, network or data; introduce malicious code; scrape or harvest Content or data by automated means without our written permission; or reproduce, republish or commercially exploit any Content without our express written permission.

12. Intellectual property

All Content, trade marks, logos and other intellectual property on this Website are owned by or licensed to Southern Africa Experiences CC. Content may be shared for personal, non-commercial purposes with attribution. Commercial reproduction, resale or modification of Content is prohibited without our prior written consent.

13. Material you submit

You retain ownership of any material you submit through this Website. By submitting it you grant us a non-exclusive licence to use, store and share it as needed to provide our Services, including sharing it with a Legal Partner as described in clause 8. You warrant that the information you provide is accurate, that you are entitled to provide it, and that sharing it does not breach any obligation you owe to another person.

14. Limitation of liability

15. Indemnity

You indemnify us and hold us harmless against any claim, loss, damage, cost or expense arising from your breach of these Terms, from any inaccurate, unlawful or unauthorised information you submit, or from your misuse of this Website. This indemnity does not extend to any loss caused by our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

16. Consumer Protection Act

To the extent that the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 applies to your use of this Website, your rights under that Act are acknowledged. Nothing in these Terms limits, excludes or waives any right you have under that Act that cannot lawfully be limited, excluded or waived.

17. Electronic communications

The information required by section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 is set out in clause 1. Electronic communications and agreements concluded through this Website are valid and enforceable in accordance with that Act.

18. Your personal information

We process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. Information you submit through an enquiry form will be shared with a Legal Partner as described in clause 8. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who we share it with and what your rights are. Please read it before submitting any personal information.

19. Third party links

This Website may contain links to third party websites, provided for convenience only. We do not control those websites, do not endorse their content, and accept no responsibility for the material they contain or for any loss arising from your use of them.

20. Suspension and availability

We may suspend, withdraw or restrict access to all or part of this Website at any time, and may decline to process or forward any enquiry, without notice and without giving reasons. We do not warrant that the Website will be available without interruption or free of error.

21. Amendments

We may amend these Terms from time to time. The version published on this page at the time you use the Website is the version that applies to you. The date of the current version appears at the top of this page. We recommend that you check this page periodically.

22. Severability and entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Cookie Policy and Contact Form Disclosure, constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of this Website.

23. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms and your use of this Website are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. You consent to the jurisdiction of the South African courts in respect of any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

24. Complaints and contact

For any query about these Terms, contact us at [[EMAIL ADDRESS]] and we will respond within [[NUMBER]] business days.

• A complaint about legal services provided by a Legal Partner should be directed to that firm, or to the Legal Practice Council at lpc.org.za.
• A complaint about how we have handled your personal information may be made to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.

Related legal documents

These Terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Cookie Policy and Contact Form Disclosure. [[CHECK THESE FOUR URLS MATCH YOUR ACTUAL SLUGS]]