Terms and Conditions – Lawyers and Law Firms

Effective Date: June 2026 | Next Review: December 2026

About These Terms

These Terms and Conditions govern your use of the LawNeeds mobile application (“the App”) as a solicitor, immigration adviser, barrister, Chartered Legal Executive (“CILEX lawyer”), or law firm (“you”, “your”). They form a legally binding agreement between you and LawNeeds Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales (company number 15610058), with registered address at 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ (“LawNeeds”, “we”, “us”, “our”).

By registering for and using the App you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.

These Terms govern your use of the App as a technology product. The commercial relationship between you and LawNeeds, including commission structure, pricing, service delivery obligations, non-circumvention, and cancellation consequences, is governed by your LawNeeds Partner Agreement (“Partner Agreement”), which is a separate document executed between you and LawNeeds. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and the Partner Agreement, the Partner Agreement shall prevail for commercial matters. These Terms shall prevail for all matters relating to the use of the App as a technology platform.

These Terms should be read alongside our Privacy Policy (Mobile Application), our Cancellation, No Show, Rescheduling and Refund Policy (“Cancellation Policy”), and your Partner Agreement. Together these documents constitute the full framework governing your relationship with LawNeeds.

The following groups are subject to separate Terms and Conditions:

• Users of the App who are accessing LawNeeds for personal legal guidance
• Access to Justice (A2J) partners
• SME in-house professional users

1. Eligibility and Professional Registration

1.1 You may only register and use the App as a legal professional if you are one of the following:

• A solicitor holding a valid practising certificate issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
• An immigration adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) at an active registration level
• A barrister holding a valid practising certificate issued by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and authorised to accept public access instructions
• An accredited CILEX lawyer holding a valid certificate granting immigration practice rights issued by CILEX Regulation

1.2 You warrant that at the point of registration and throughout the duration of your use of the App:

• All information provided during registration is accurate, current, and complete
• You hold the regulatory authorisation stated in your registration profile
• You are not subject to any suspension, conditions, or investigation by your regulatory body that would affect your ability to practise or to participate on the platform
• You will notify LawNeeds promptly at support@lawneeds.co.uk if any of the foregoing warranties ceases to be accurate

1.3 LawNeeds reserves the right to verify your regulatory credentials at any time, including by checking the SRA, BSB, or IAA public registers. LawNeeds may decline, suspend, or terminate your registration where it cannot verify your credentials or where your regulatory status changes.

1.4 You may only hold one account on the App. Firms wishing to register multiple practitioners should contact support@lawneeds.co.uk for firm account arrangements. Where a firm registers on behalf of multiple practitioners, the firm and each individual practitioner registered under the firm account are jointly bound by these Terms. The firm is responsible for ensuring that all practitioners using the platform under the firm account comply with these Terms and with the Partner Agreement.

1.5 You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify us immediately at
support@lawneeds.co.uk if you become aware of any unauthorised access to or use of your account.

2. Partner Agreement

2.1 Your commercial relationship with LawNeeds, including the terms on= which you accept user instructions, the commission payable to LawNeeds, the pricing structure for consultations, plans, and casework, your service delivery obligations, and the non circumvention provisions, is governed by your Partner Agreement, not by these Terms.

2.2 You must have executed a Partner Agreement with LawNeeds before you may accept any paid instruction from a user through the App. LawNeeds may restrict your access to paid features of the App until a Partner Agreement is in place.

2.3 Where these Terms refer to obligations that are also addressed in the Partner Agreement, the Partner Agreement provision governs. These Terms address your use of the App as a technology product and do not modify= or supplement the commercial terms in your Partner Agreement.

3. Use of the App

3.1 You agree to use the App only for lawful purposes, in accordance with these Terms, your Partner Agreement, and your regulatory obligations.

3.2 You agree not to:

• Use the App to carry out or facilitate any unlawful, malicious, or unethical activity including fraud, money laundering, or any activity that would constitute a breach of your regulatory obligations
• Interfere with or attempt to disrupt the App or any servers or networks connected to it
• Reverse engineer, copy, modify, or create derivative works from any part of the App
• Upload or transmit any content that is unlawful, harmful, defamatory, or infringes any third party’s rights
• Use automated tools, bots, or scripts to access or interact with the App without our prior written consent
• Misrepresent your identity, regulatory status, or professional credentials
• Bypass, circumvent, or manipulate any feature, safety guardrail, or restriction of the App
• Use the App or any data obtained through it to compete with LawNeeds or to develop a competing product or service

3.3 LawNeeds may be subject to limitations, delays, and other issues inherent in the use of internet and electronic communications. LawNeeds is not responsible for delays or delivery failures arising from such issues.

3.4 LawNeeds is a member of the Legal Software Suppliers Association (LSSA). LawNeeds is bound by the LSSA Code of Conduct which ensures members maintain high service quality, data security, and ethical standards.

3.5 The App may contain links to or integrations with third-party services that are not owned or controlled by LawNeeds. LawNeeds has no control over and assumes no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of those services.

4. Professional Obligations and Conduct

4.1 You are solely responsible for ensuring that all interactions with users through the App comply with your regulatory obligations, including but not limited to:

• SRA Standards and Regulations and the SRA Codes of Conduct (for solicitors)
• IAA Code of Standards 2024 (for immigration advisers)
• BSB Handbook (for barristers)
• CILEX Code of Conduct (for CILEX lawyers)

4.2 LawNeeds does not supervise, direct, or control your legal work and assumes no liability for the advice you provide to users. You retain full and independent professional responsibility for all advice and services delivered through the App.

4.3 You are responsible for ensuring that all interactions with users meet your client care, confidentiality, conflic of interest, and complaints handling obligations. Where your regulatory body requires you to provide a client care letter or written terms of business, you must do so at the outset of any ongoing engagement regardless of how the instruction was received.

4.4 You agree to respond to user queries and instructions through the App in a timely, professional, and competent manner. Excessive delays or a pattern of poor responsiveness that materially affects user experience may result in a review of your platform profile visibility and, where serious, suspension or termination of your account.

4.5 You must not use the App to engage in any form of unsolicited marketing, cold calling, or touting of potential clients, whether on or off the platform, in a manner that would breach your regulatory obligations. LawNeeds operates on the basis of users approaching the platform voluntarily.

5. Platform Features — Consultations, Plans, Casework, and Subscriptions

5.1 Consultations and plans

The App allows users to request single-session consultations and multi-session legal support plans. Where you accept a user’s consultation request, payment is triggered and the terms of service delivery, cancellation, no-shows, and rescheduling that apply to you as the professional are set out in the Cancellation Policy and in your Partner Agreement. You agree to be bound by those terms as a condition of accepting instructions through the App.

5.2 Casework

Where a user instructs you on a casework matter through the App, the commercial terms , including fees, commission, and the written fee agreement you must provide to the user, are governed by your Partner Agreement. You must provide the user with a written fee agreement before commencing casework, in accordance with your regulatory obligations and as required by the Partner Agreement.

5.3 Subscriptions — LawNeeds Pro and other professional features

LawNeeds offers subscription plans giving access to professional platform features including AI assisted legal research, document drafting, proofreading, case management tools, and other LawNeeds Pro functionality. Subscription pricing and features are set out in the App at the point of purchase. Subscription cancellation and refund rights for professional subscriptions are set out in the Cancellation Policy. As a professional subscriber contracting in a business capacity, you are not a consumer for the purposes of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and the 14 day statutory right to cancel does not apply to your subscription.

5.4 Fees and payments

5.4.1 Access to certain features of the App, including the ability to accept paid instructions from users, is conditional on the commercial terms set out in your Partner Agreement, including the commission structure applicable to consultations, plans, and casework. Those terms are governed exclusively by your Partner Agreement and are not reproduced in these Terms. You are directed to review your Partner Agreement before accepting any paid instruction through the App.

5.4.2 Subscription fees for LawNeeds Pro and other professional platform features are payable in advance at the rates displayed in the App at the point of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled in accordance with the Cancellation Policy.

5.4.3 All payments are processed via the platform’s appointed payment service provider (currently Stripe). LawNeeds does not hold client money. Commission deductions and payouts to you in respect of user instructions are made in accordance with your Partner Agreement.

5.4.4 Late or failed subscription payments may result in restricted access to the relevant platform features. LawNeeds will notify you of a payment failure and provide a reasonable opportunity to remedy it before restricting access. Where a payment failure is not remedied within 14 days of notification, LawNeeds may suspend your access to the affected features without further notice.

6. AI Tools and Professional Responsibility

6.1 The App provides AI-powered tools including the LawNeeds AI Support Assistant, document generation, legal research assistance, and proofreading. You acknowledge that:

• AI-generated outputs are automated informational tools and do not constitute legal advice
• AI outputs may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information
• Legal developments are subject to frequent change and AI tools may not  reflect the most recent changes in law or practice
• You must independently review, verify, and apply your own professional judgment to any AI generated output before relying on it or communicating it to a client
• Using an AI tool does not discharge your professional duty of competence or your obligation to provide accurate and complete advice

6.2 Where you use AI tools on the App in the course of providing services to clients:

• You remain solely and fully responsible for the accuracy, quality, and legal sufficiency of any advice or document produced with AI assistance, in accordance with your regulatory obligations
• You must ensure that client data is not inputted into any AI tool in a manner that would breach UK GDPR, legal professional privilege, or your duty of confidentiality
• You must comply with your regulatory body’s guidance regarding the use of AI

6.3 LawNeeds maintains governance and review processes for its AI systems but cannot guarantee the accuracy of all AI outputs. LawNeeds accepts no responsibility for any interpretation, reliance, or use of AI-generated outputs by you or any client.

6.4 Use of the AI tools on the App does not create any advisory relationship between you and LawNeeds. LawNeeds is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice through its AI systems.

7. Non-Circumvention

7.1 The non-circumvention obligations governing your relationship with users introduced through the LawNeeds platform are set out in your Partner Agreement. By registering and using the App you confirm that you are bound by those obligations and that a breach of the non-circumvention provisions in your Partner Agreement shall also constitute a breach of these Terms.

7.2 Where LawNeeds has reasonable grounds to believe you have breached this Clause or the non circumvention provisions of your Partner Agreement, LawNeeds may suspend or remove your profile and visibility on the App with immediate effect pending investigation and may terminate your account and Partner Agreement in accordance with the termination provisions of the Partner Agreement.

8. Intellectual Property

8.1 The App and all its content, features, and functionality are and shall remain the exclusive property of LawNeeds Ltd and its licensors, protected by copyright, trademark, registered design rights, database rights and other laws of the United Kingdom.

8.2 You are granted a limited, non exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the App for the purpose of delivering legal services to users and accessing LawNeeds Pro features in accordance with these Terms and your Partner Agreement. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the App without our prior written consent.

8.3 You retain ownership of any content you upload to the App, including legal documents, advice, and case materials. By uploading content you grant LawNeeds a limited licence to process that content for the purposes of delivering the services you and your clients have requested, in accordance with our Privacy Policy. LawNeeds may use anonymised and aggregated data derived from your platform activity for the purpose of improving its services, from which no individual or specific legal matter could reasonably be identified.

8.4 AI-generated documents produced using the App’s drafting tools are generated on your instruction and for your professional use. LawNeeds does not assert ownership of AI-generated outputs produced on your instruction through the App. You are responsible for ensuring that any use of those outputs complies with applicable intellectual property law.

9. Anti-Money Laundering

9.1 Your AML obligations are set out in detail in your Partner Agreement. This Clause summarises the key points and should be read alongside the Partner Agreement.

9.2 You acknowledge that:

• You are the regulated person for AML purposes in respect of any client introduced through the platform
• LawNeeds is not a regulated person under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 in respect of the services it provides through the App
• LawNeeds does not conduct client due diligence on users and makes no representation that users have been verified or screened against sanctions lists

9.3 LawNeeds may suspend your account and restrict payment processing without notice where there is reasonable suspicion of unlawful= activity including money laundering, fraud, or terrorist financing.

10. Confidentiality and Data Protection

10.1 You are responsible for handling all client and user data obtained through the App in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the confidentiality obligations imposed by your regulatory body.

10.2 You and LawNeeds are independent data controllers in respect of the personal data processed through the App for your respective purposes, as set out in the Privacy Policy (Mobile Application). Where you enter client data into the App for the purposes of AI-assisted research, document drafting, or case management, you act as an independent data controller for that client data and remain responsible for obtaining your clients’ consent and for complying with your regulatory obligations. Where LawNeeds stores client case files, case management records, or other work product on your behalf through LawNeeds Pro features, LawNeeds acts as your data processor in respect of that data. In such circumstances the parties will enter into a Data Processing Agreement as required by UK GDPR Article 28.

10.3 You must not misuse, disclose, or distribute any data shared with you through the platform. Client data must be retained and deleted in accordance with your regulatory body’s record keeping requirements and applicable data protection law.

10.4 You must notify LawNeeds promptly at support@lawneeds.co.uk if you become aware of any data breach involving user data received through the platform that is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of those individuals.

10.5 Your personal data as a registered professional is processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy (Mobile Application), which is available within the App and at lawneeds.co.uk.

11. Professional Indemnity Insurance

11.1 You represent and warrant that you hold valid and adequate Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) meeting the minimum requirements of your regulatory body, including the SRA minimum terms and conditions for solicitors, IAA requirements for immigration advisers, BSB requirements for barristers, and CILEX requirements for CILEX lawyers, throughout the duration of your use of the App.

11.2 Your PII must cover legal services and advice provided through the LawNeeds platform. LawNeeds does not provide professional indemnity cover for practitioners using the platform.

11.3 You must notify LawNeeds promptly if your PII lapses, is cancelled, or becomes insufficient to cover the services you provide through the platform. Lapse of PII is a ground for immediate suspension of your account under these Terms and may constitute grounds for termination of your Partner Agreement in accordance with its terms.

12. Limitation of Liability

12.1 To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, LawNeeds shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from or in connection with your use of the App, including loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity.

12.2 LawNeeds shall not be liable for:

• The accuracy, completeness, or legal sufficiency of any AI-generated output produced through the App
• Any professional liability arising from advice or services you provide to users through the App
• Any regulatory sanction imposed on you by your regulatory body
• Any loss arising from your use of or  reliance on AI tools in the course of providing services to clients
• Any loss arising from technical failures or service interruptions, subject to the remedies in the Cancellation Policy

12.3 LawNeeds’ total liability to you under these Terms shall not exceed the total fees received from you (including commission deducted and subscription fees paid) in the three months preceding the relevant event. This cap does not apply to liability for death or personal injury caused by LawNeeds’ negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

12.4 Force majeure: LawNeeds shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms where such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to:

• Acts of God, natural disasters, flood, fire, earthquake, or extreme weather events
• Epidemic, pandemic, or public health emergency
• Cyberattack, distributed denial of service attack, or other malicious interference with LawNeeds’ systems or infrastructure
• Failure or unavailability of third-party services or infrastructure on which the App depends, including cloud hosting, payment processing, or AI model providers
• Action or inaction by any government, regulator, or public authority, including changes in law or regulation
• Industrial action, whether involving LawNeeds’ own staff or third parties
• Prolonged power failure or failure of telecommunications networks

12.4.1 Where a force majeure event occurs, LawNeeds will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable and will use reasonable endeavours to resume normal service as quickly as possible.

13. Termination

13.1 You may close your account at any time through the App’s account settings. Closing your account does not affect any rights or obligations already accrued, including any outstanding commission obligations or user instructions in progress. Termination of your account does not terminate your Partner Agreement, which must be separately terminated in accordance with its own provisions. You are directed to review your Partner Agreement before closing your account.

13.2 LawNeeds may suspend or terminate your account immediately without prior notice (or subject to a cure period where applicable), where you have:

• Breached these Terms in a material way
• Had your regulatory authorisation suspended, revoked, or made subject to conditions that prevent participation on the platform
• Engaged in conduct that, in LawNeeds’ reasonable opinion, constitutes or is likely to constitute professional misconduct or a serious breach of your regulatory body’s standards
• Allowed your PII to lapse and failed to provide evidence of renewed coverage within 7 days of LawNeeds’ written request
• Breached the non-circumvention provisions of your Partner Agreement
• Created a risk of regulatory or reputational harm to LawNeeds in LawNeeds’ reasonable opinion

13.3 LawNeeds may close your account with 30 days written notice in all other circumstances.

13.4 On termination of your account, your right to use the App ceases. Your obligations in respect of client confidentiality, data protection, ongoing client matters, and the non circumvention period in your Partner Agreement survive termination.

13.5 Where your account is terminated, you retain an obligation to complete any ongoing client matters in accordance with your regulatory obligations. Data retention following account closure is governed by our Privacy Policy (Mobile Application) and by the applicable record-keeping requirements of your regulatory body.

14. Changes to These Terms

14.1 We may update these Terms from time to time. Where a change is material we will give you at least 30 days notice by in-app notification or email before the change takes effect.

14.2 By continuing to use the App after any revised Terms take effect, you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree to the revised Terms you may close your account in accordance with Clause 13.

15. Governing Law and Disputes

15.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Both parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

15.2 If you have a complaint about the App or our services, please contact us first at support@lawneeds.co.uk. We aim to resolve complaints within 30 days. If your complaint relates to data protection, our Privacy Policy sets out the escalation route to the ICO. LawNeeds’ ICO registration number is ZC027272.

15.3 Before commencing legal proceedings under these Terms, the parties should first attempt to resolve the dispute as set out in the Partner Agreement.

16. Contact

General enquiries:  info@lawneeds.co.uk 

Support and complaints: support@lawneeds.co.uk

Post: LawNeeds Ltd, 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ

17. General

17.1 No failure or delay by LawNeeds in exercising any right under these Terms shall constitute a waiver of that right.

17.2 If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

17.3 Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, employment, or franchise relationship between the parties. You act at all times as an independent regulated professional.

17.4 These Terms, together with the Partner Agreement, the Privacy Policy (Mobile Application), and the Cancellation Policy, constitute the entire agreement between the parties in respect of your use of the App and supersede all prior representations, discussions, and agreements relating to the same subject matter.

17.5 Any notice required under these Terms shall be given in writing by email to the address notified by each party, or by recorded delivery to the registered address of the relevant party. Notices sent by email shall be deemed received on the next business day following transmission unless a delivery failure notification is received.