General terms and conditions of mandate

Scope of application

These General Terms and Conditions shall apply to all services provided by the law firm Müller, Altmeyer & Partner, Rechtsanwälte, PartGmbB, Beethovenstraße 13, 66111 Saarbrücken, Germany, in particular to the provision of legal services, litigation and the provision of expert opinions and/or legal information.
The scope of application also extends to all future legal relationships with the client, insofar as the client is an entrepreneur.
Deviations from the terms and conditions of the mandate shall require our express confirmation in order to be effective. Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions shall not become part of the contract even if we are aware of them, unless we expressly agree to their validity.

Subject of the legal advice

The legal advice provided by the lawyers refers exclusively to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany. The subject matter of the mandate agreement does not include tax advice. The client shall have tax questions and effects examined by competent third parties (tax advisors, auditors, etc.) on his own responsibility.

Mandate processing, correspondence by e-mail, oral information; authoritative work result

We handle the mandate on the basis of the relevant professional regulations. The professional regulations are standardised in the German Federal Lawyers’ Act (BRAO), the Professional code for lawyers (BORA), Lawyers’ Fees Act (RVG). These professional regulations can be found on the homepage of the Federal Bar Association at www.brak.de, there under the keywords Berufsrecht/Berufsregeln.
In order to speed up the processing of your order, we will, if you provide us with your e-mail address, exchange information and documents with you (and, if applicable, third parties) electronically without a separate encryption procedure. If you provide us with an e-mail address, you revocably agree at any time that we may send you mandate-related information by e-mail without any restrictions. If you do not wish to receive unencrypted data by e-mail, please let us know. In this respect, you warrant that only you or persons authorised by you have access to the e-mail box and that you regularly check incoming mail. You are obliged to inform us if there are any restrictions, for example if the mailbox is only checked irregularly for incoming mail or if e-mails are only desired after prior notification. You are aware that only limited confidentiality is guaranteed for unencrypted e-mails. If you have the technical prerequisites for the use of signature and encryption procedures and wish to use them, please let us know.
We point out that e-mails can be moved to the spam folder even if they come from legitimate senders. You will therefore also regularly check this folder for arrivals and adjust the settings of your e-mail programme.
If you wish, confidential data can be exchanged via an encrypted cloud service. Should you wish to do so, please let us know.
Information given verbally shall only be authoritative if confirmed by us in writing.
Only the document designated by us as the final version of our work results (reports, expert opinions, etc.) shall be authoritative for the fulfilment of our obligation under an order.

Involvement of other law firms and external translators

To the extent necessary for the fulfilment of our mandate, we will engage other law firms and/or tax advisors on your behalf and after having informed you in advance – or in the case of smaller enquiries by way of subcontracting. With regard to the exchange of information on a mandate given to us, you release us and the other law firms from their respective duties of confidentiality.
We either carry out translations with our own translators or, with your consent, use external translators on your behalf or as subcontractors. You release us and the external translators from the respective confidentiality obligations.

Duties to cooperate/ Duties of the client

You shall provide us with all documents necessary for the execution of an order in a timely manner, even without an express request, and shall truthfully inform us of all processes and circumstances that may be of importance for the execution of an order.
During the term of the mandate, you will only contact courts, authorities, the opposing party or other parties in consultation with us.
You inform us if you change your address, telephone and fax number, e-mail address etc. or if you cannot be reached for a longer period of time due to holidays or other reasons.
You will carefully check the letters, drafts and pleadings submitted by us to ensure that the factual information contained therein is true and complete.
Insofar as you also instruct us to conduct the correspondence with the legal expenses insurance, we are expressly released from the obligation of confidentiality in relation to the legal expenses insurance. You have been informed that the collection of the cover note from the legal expenses insurance company and the correspondence conducted in this connection constitutes a separate matter within the meaning of § 17 RVG, which is to be remunerated separately. The costs are based on the value of the matter and are not covered by the legal expenses insurance.
You are obliged to pay an appropriate advance upon our request and the full remuneration of the lawyers after completion of the mandate. This shall also apply if there are claims for reimbursement of costs against legal expenses insurance, the opposing party or third parties.

Passing on our work results

Our consultancy services are provided solely within the framework of our contractual relationship with you. Therefore, our expert opinions and other professional statements – even in the case of electronic transmission – may not be passed on to third parties without our written consent. Disclosure to your employees and the employees of companies affiliated with the client within the meaning of § 15 et seq. of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) is permitted insofar as they need to be informed of this in order to fulfil the purpose of an order. Disclosure to third parties is also permitted, provided that the respective third party has signed and handed over to us a valid and binding liability release declaration or a disclosure agreement deemed appropriate by us prior to disclosure. We may provide in a transfer agreement that any claims made against us by third party recipients as a result of such transfer shall be included in the maximum liability amount agreed with you.
You may also pass on our expert opinions and statements to your other advisors, insofar as they are professionally obliged to maintain confidentiality. Disclosure may also take place if you are obliged to do so by virtue of a legal, unappealable or immediately enforceable court or official order. Insofar as legally permissible, we must be informed of such disclosures in writing without delay, if possible in advance.
You will not change any work results sent electronically without our written consent.

Data protection

We, Müller, Altmeyer & Partner, Rechtsanwälte, PartGmbB, Beethovenstraße 13, 66111 Saarbrücken, are responsible for the personal data we collect. The responsible contact person is Mr. Pikolleck, lawyer, pikolleck@map-rechtsanwaelte.de.
If you mandate us, we will collect the following information:

first name, surname, title
a valid e-mail address,
address,
telephone number (landline and/or mobile),
information necessary for the assertion and defence of your rights under the mandate.

The collection of this data takes place,

to check the presentation of a conflict of interest and to determine the beneficial owners, insofar as we are obliged to do so under the regulations on the prevention of money laundering,
to be able to identify you as our client;
to be able to provide you with appropriate legal advice and representation;
to correspond with you;
for invoicing;
for the settlement of any existing liability claims and the assertion of any claims against you.

The data processing is carried out in response to your request and is necessary in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR for the aforementioned purposes for the appropriate processing of the mandate and for the mutual fulfilment of obligations arising from the mandate agreement.
The personal data collected by us for the mandate will be stored until the expiry of the statutory retention obligation for lawyers (6 years after the end of the calendar year in which the mandate was terminated) and then deleted, unless we are obliged to store the data for a longer period pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR, we are obliged to store your data for a longer period of time due to tax and commercial law or other statutory provisions on storage and documentation obligations, or you have consented to storage beyond this period of time in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR.
Your personal data will not be transferred to third parties for purposes other than those listed below.
Insofar as this is necessary in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR for the processing of client relationships with you, your personal data will be passed on to third parties. This includes in particular the disclosure to opposing parties and their representatives (in particular their lawyers) as well as courts and other public authorities for the purpose of correspondence and the assertion and defence of your rights. The data passed on may only be used by the third party for the purposes stated.
The attorney-client privilege remains unaffected. Insofar as the data is subject to legal professional privilege, it will only be passed on to third parties in consultation with you.
Data processing for Zoom videoconferences:

We use the tool “Zoom” to conduct video conferences, telephone conferences, online meetings, and/or web seminars (hereinafter: “video conferences”). “Zoom” is a service of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. based in the USA. When using “Zoom”, the following types of data are processed. The scope of data processing depends, among other things, on the personal data you provide before or during participation in a video conference.

The following personal data are subject to processing:

User details: first name, last name, telephone (optional), e-mail address, password (if “single sign-on” is not used), profile picture (optional), department (optional).

Conference metadata: Topic, description (optional), participant IP addresses, device/hardware information.

For recordings (optional): MP4 file of all video, audio and presentation recordings, M4A file of all audio recordings, text file of the online meeting chat.

For telephone dial-in: Information on incoming and outgoing call number, country name, start and end time. If necessary, further connection data such as the IP address of the device can be stored.

Text, audio and video data: You may have the opportunity to use the chat, question or survey functions in a video conference. In this respect, the text entries you make are processed in order to display them in the video conference and, if necessary, to log them. In order to enable the display of video and the playback of audio, the data from the microphone of your terminal device as well as from any video camera of the terminal device are processed accordingly during the meeting. You can switch off or mute the camera or microphone yourself at any time via the “Zoom” applications.

To participate in an “online meeting” or to enter the “meeting room”, you must at least enter your name.

Scope of processing:

If we want to record video conferences, we will inform you transparently in advance and – if necessary – ask for your consent. The fact of the recording will also be displayed to you in the “Zoom” app. If it is necessary for the purposes of logging the results of an online meeting, we will log the chat content. However, this will not usually be the case. In the case of web seminars, we may also process questions asked by seminar participants for the purposes of recording and following up on webinars. If you are registered as a user with “Zoom”, then reports on video conferences (metadata, data on telephone dial-in, questions and answers in webinars, survey function in webinars) may be stored by “Zoom” for up to one month. Automated decision-making within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR is not used.

“Zoom” is a service provided by a provider from the USA. Processing of personal data therefore also takes place in a third country (USA). We have concluded an order processing agreement with Zoom Video Communications, Inc. that meets the requirements of Art. 28 GDPR.

An adequate level of data protection is guaranteed by the conclusion of the so-called EU standard contractual clauses.

Legal basis:

The legal basis for data processing when conducting video conferences is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR, insofar as the meetings are conducted within the framework of contractual relationships. If there is no contractual relationship, the legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Here, too, our interest is in the effective implementation of video conferences.

Your rights:

You have the right:

revoke your consent at any time in accordance with Art. 7 Para. 3 GDPR. This has the consequence that we may no longer continue the data processing based on this consent in the future;
request information about your personal data processed by us in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR. In particular, you can request information about the processing purposes, the category of personal data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned storage period, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right of complaint, the origin of your data if it has not been collected by us, as well as the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, and, if applicable, meaningful information about its details;
demand the correction of incorrect or complete personal data stored by us without delay in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR;
in accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, request the erasure of your personal data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims;
demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, insofar as the accuracy of the data is disputed by you, the processing is unlawful, but you object to its deletion and we no longer require the data, but you need it for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or you have lodged an objection to the processing in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR;
in accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, to receive your personal data that you have provided to us in a structured, common and machine-readable format or to request the transfer to another controller; and
complain to a supervisory authority in accordance with Art. 77 GDPR. As a rule, you can contact the supervisory authority of your usual place of residence or workplace or our registered office.

If your personal data is processed on the basis of legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR, provided that there are grounds for doing so that arise from your particular situation.

If you wish to exercise your right of objection, simply send an email to pikolleck@map-rechtsanwaelte.de

Remuneration

The remuneration owed for an assignment shall result from the remuneration agreement.
In the case of remuneration agreements based on time spent, travel time shall also be remunerated, whereby the most favourable form of travel in terms of time shall be chosen. As far as possible, travel time shall be used to deal with the specific mandate or other matters. If several appointments can be combined in one trip, the time spent and travel costs shall be settled on a pro rata basis.
Any estimate of our likely remuneration represents our best possible preliminary assessment of the work likely to be involved in handling a mandate or part thereof based on the information known to us at the relevant time. Such an estimate is not intended to be a maximum amount of our remuneration or a fixed price.
The agreement of flat-rate fees shall be based on the circumstances recognisable to us. If we subsequently become aware of new or changed circumstances or of circumstances unknown to us through no fault of our own which have a significant influence on the calculation of the flat-rate fee, we shall notify you of this without delay. We shall then be entitled to an appropriate adjustment of the flat-rate fee. In the event of premature termination of an order for which a flat-rate fee has been agreed, this fee shall be owed pro rata in accordance with the processing status at the time of termination.
In the case of one and the same contractual relationship, several clients shall be jointly and severally liable to us for payment of the remuneration in accordance with the remuneration agreement.
The remuneration and expenses under the remuneration agreement shall be invoiced monthly, unless otherwise agreed. We are entitled to request an appropriate advance on fees.
In court proceedings and if a claim for compensation is due against third parties, our remuneration shall be calculated in the same way as stated in the remuneration agreement, but at least in the amount of the statutory fee according to Lawyers’ Fees Act (RVG). In the event that costs are reimbursed by the opposing party, a party to the proceedings or the state treasury, no higher fee than the statutory fee will be reimbursed as a rule. However, under § 12a Para. 1 sentence 2 of the Labour Court Act (ArbGG), the winning party is not entitled to reimbursement of costs in disputes before labour courts at first instance.
If no remuneration agreement has been concluded or as long as our offers to conclude a remuneration agreement have not been accepted, we shall calculate our remuneration exclusively on the basis of the value of the matter in question in accordance with the statutory provisions. We are entitled to calculate our remuneration in accordance with the RVG if the remuneration agreement is invalid or contested and the remuneration in accordance with the RVG is likely to be higher than the fee resulting from the remuneration agreement.
Any remuneration and expenses shall be understood to be exclusive of the applicable statutory value added tax, if any.
All invoices are issued in euros and are due for payment immediately upon receipt without deduction. Incoming sums of money shall be used to repay the oldest claim in each case.
Offsetting and the exercise of a right of retention against our claims arising from the remuneration agreement are excluded, unless the offsetting or the right of retention relates to an undisputed or legally established claim. To secure our claims for payment under the remuneration agreement, you hereby assign to us all claims for compensation of remuneration and costs to which you are currently entitled or will be entitled in the future against third parties in connection with the contractual relationships covered by the remuneration agreement.

Termination, notice of termination

This mandate agreement may be terminated by either party without notice and without cause with immediate effect by notice to the other party. However, we will never terminate at an inopportune moment.

Text form

Any amendment or cancellation of the mandate and remuneration agreement, including this clause, must be made in text form in order to be effective.

Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply.
Before resorting to the courts, the parties shall seek an amicable settlement of any dispute that may exist between them. For this purpose, a period of 60 days is provided for from the time when one party first notifies the other in text form, with sufficient specification of the cause of action, of its intention to assert claims against it.
If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law or have no general place of jurisdiction in Germany, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with an order placed with us shall be Saarbrücken. However, we are also entitled, at our discretion, to call upon any other competent court.

Information according to VSBG (Consumer Dispute Settlement Act ) and ODR regulation

Pursuant to § 36 VSBG, the client has been informed that the arbitration board of the legal profession, Neue Grünstraße 17, 10179 Berlin, www.s-d-r.org, is responsible for disputes arising from the client-lawyer relationship. The lawyers Müller, Altmeyer & Partner, Rechtsanwälte, PartGmbB are in principle willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings at the Arbitration Board of the Bar. In the case of service contracts that are concluded online, there is the possibility of dispute resolution on the online dispute resolution platform (OS platform) of the EU.

Final provisions

The legal invalidity of a provision shall not affect the legal validity of the other parts of the contract. The contracting parties undertake to replace an invalid provision with a valid provision that comes closest to it in terms of the economic result and best corresponds to the purpose of the contract.