Terms and Conditions
ATB.LAW is a brand under which the following independent attorneys-at-law
- Mag. Daniel Azem
- Mag. Roman Taudes
- Mag. Anela Blöch
act together in constant cooperation toward clients.
ATB.LAW is not a partnership, and respective client relationships always exist solely with the respective attorney-at-law, and in particular there is no joint and several liability among the attorneys.
The following General Terms and Conditions apply to every individual client relationship concluded with any of the aforementioned lawyers.
1. Scope of application
1.1. The terms of engagement apply to all activities and judicial/administrative as well as out-of-court acts of representation performed in the course of a contractual relationship (hereinafter also referred to as the „mandate“) existing between an attorney-at-law (hereinafter referred to simply as „legal representative“) and the client (hereinafter referred to simply as the „client“).
1.2. The terms of engagement shall also apply to new mandates unless otherwise agreed in writing.
2. Order and Power of Attorney
2.1. The legal representative is authorized and obliged to represent the client to the extent that this is necessary and expedient for the fulfillment of the mandate. If the legal situation changes after the end of the mandate, the legal representative is not obliged to point out changes or any resulting consequences to the client.
2.2. Upon request, the client must sign a written power of attorney in favor of the legal representative. This power of attorney may be directed at the execution of individual, precisely defined, or all possible legal transactions and/or legal actions.
3. Principles of Representation
3.1. Legal counsel shall conduct the representation entrusted to them in accordance with the law and shall represent the rights and interests of the client vis-à-vis all persons with zeal, loyalty, and diligence.
3.2. The legal representative is fundamentally authorized to perform their services at their own discretion and to take all steps, in particular to use means of attack and defense in any manner, as long as this does not contradict the client's instructions, their conscience, or the law.
3.3. If the client gives the legal representative an instruction whose compliance is incompatible with the principles of proper professional conduct of an attorney based on statute or other professional law (e.g., the „Guidelines for the Practice of the Profession of Attorneys“ [RL-BA] or the decision-making practice of the Supreme Appeals and Disciplinary Commission for Attorneys and Trainee Attorneys [OBDK]), the legal representative must refuse the instruction. If instructions are, from the perspective of the legal representative, inexpedient or even disadvantageous for the client, the legal representative must point out the potentially disadvantageous consequences to the client before carrying them out.
3.4. In cases of imminent danger, legal counsel is also authorized to take or omit actions not expressly covered by the given mandate or contrary to an issued instruction, if this appears urgently necessary in the interest of the client.
4. Duty of the client to provide information and cooperate
4.1. After the mandate has been granted, the client is obliged to provide the legal representative immediately with all information and facts that could be relevant to the execution of the mandate, and to make all necessary documents and evidence accessible.
4.2. The legal representative is entitled to assume the correctness of the information, facts, documents, records, and evidence, unless their incorrectness is obvious.
4.3. The legal representative shall ensure the completeness of the facts through targeted questioning of the client and/or other suitable means.
4.4. During the active term of the mandate, the client is obliged to inform the legal representative immediately upon becoming aware of any changed or newly occurring circumstances that could be relevant to the execution of the assignment.
5. Confidentiality obligation, conflict of interest
5.1. The legal representative is obligated to maintain confidentiality regarding all matters entrusted to them and all facts that have otherwise become known to them in their professional capacity, the secrecy of which is in the interest of their clients.
5.2. The legal representative is authorized to assign the processing of matters to all employees within the framework of applicable laws and guidelines, provided that such employees have been demonstrably instructed regarding their obligation of confidentiality.
5.3. Only to the extent necessary for the pursuit of claims by the legal representation (in particular, claims for legal fees) or for the defense against claims directed against the legal representation (in particular, claims for damages by the client or third parties against the legal representation), the legal representation is released from the obligation of confidentiality.
5.4. The client may release the legal representative from the duty of confidentiality at any time. The release from confidentiality by the client does not relieve the legal representative of the obligation to examine whether their testimony serves the client's interests.
5.5. Legal counsel must examine whether the execution of a mandate poses the risk of a conflict of interest within the meaning of the provisions of the Regulations for Attorneys-at-Law.
6. Reporting obligation of the legal representation
The legal representative must inform the client orally or in writing to a reasonable extent about the actions taken by them in connection with the mandate.
7. Sub-agency and Substitution
7.1. The legal representative may be represented by a trainee lawyer employed by them or by another lawyer or their authorized trainee lawyer (sub-authorization).
7.2. In the event of an impediment, the legal representative may transfer the mandate or individual partial actions to another attorney (substitution).
8. Fee
8.1. Unless otherwise agreed, the legal representative is entitled to a reasonable fee.
8.2. Even if a lump-sum or time-based fee has been agreed upon, the legal representative is entitled to at least the amount of costs recovered from the opposing party in excess of this fee, provided that this amount can be collected; otherwise, the agreed lump-sum or time-based fee shall apply.
8.3. In addition to the fee due to/agreed upon with the legal representative, value added tax at the statutory rate, necessary and reasonable expenses (e.g., for travel costs, telephone, telefax, copies), as well as cash expenses paid in the name of the client (e.g., court fees) must be added.
8.4. The client acknowledges that any estimate made by the legal representative regarding the amount of the anticipated fee that is not expressly designated as binding is non-binding and is not to be seen as a binding cost estimate (pursuant to Section 5 Para 2 of the Consumer Protection Act [KSchG]), because the extent of the services to be provided by the legal representative cannot, by their very nature, be reliably assessed in advance.
8.5. The effort and expenses for billing and the preparation of fee notes will not be charged to the client. However, this does not apply to the effort incurred as a result of translating bill of quantities into a language other than German at the client's request. Unless otherwise agreed, charges will apply for the effort incurred for letters written at the client's request to the client's auditor, stating, for example, the status of pending cases, a risk assessment for the formation of provisions, and/or the status of outstanding fees as of the reporting date.
8.6. The legal representative is entitled to issue invoices and demand fee advances at any time, but in any event on a quarterly basis.
8.7. If the client is an entrepreneur, a fee note transmitted to the client and properly itemized shall be deemed approved if and to the extent that the client does not object in writing within one month (determined by receipt by the legal representative) from receipt.
8.8. If the client defaults on payment of all or part of the fee, the client shall pay the legal representative default interest at the statutory rate, but at a minimum of 4 % above the respective base interest rate. Any additional statutory claims (e.g., Section 1333 of the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB)) remain unaffected.
8.9. All court and official costs (out-of-pocket expenses) and disbursements (e.g., for purchased external services) may – at the discretion of the legal representative – be forwarded to the client for direct settlement.
8.10. If an order is placed by multiple clients in a single legal matter, they shall be jointly and severally liable for all resulting claims by the legal representative.
8.11. Claims for reimbursement of costs held by the client against the opposing party are hereby assigned to the legal counsel in the amount of the legal counsel's fee claim as soon as such claims arise. The legal counsel is entitled to notify the opposing party of the assignment at any time.
9. Liability of Legal Representation
9.1. The liability of the legal representative for faulty advice or representation is limited to the sum insured available for the specific damage case, but amounts to at least the sum insured specified in Section 21a of the Austrian Attorneys' Act (RAO) as amended. This is currently EUR 400,000 (in words: four hundred thousand euros). If the client is a consumer, this limitation of liability shall only apply in the event of slightly negligent causation of damage.
9.2. The applicable maximum amount covers all claims existing against the legal representative due to faulty advice and/or representation, such as in particular claims for damages and price reduction. This maximum amount does not cover claims by the client for the refund of the fee paid to the legal representative. Any deductibles do not reduce the liability. The applicable maximum amount refers to a single insurance event. If there are two or more competing injured parties (clients), the maximum amount for each individual injured party is to be reduced in proportion to the monetary amount of the claims.
9.3. The legal representative shall only be liable for negligence in the selection of third parties (in particular external experts) who are neither employees nor shareholders and whom the legal representative has engaged with the client's knowledge to provide individual partial services within the scope of the service provision.
9.4. The legal representative is only liable to its client, not to third parties. The client is obligated to expressly inform third parties who come into contact with the services of the legal representative due to the client's actions of this circumstance.
9.5. The legal representative is liable for knowledge of foreign law only in the event of a written agreement or if they have offered to examine foreign law. EU law is never considered foreign law, whereas the law of the member states is.
10. Limitation/Preclusion
Unless a shorter statutory limitation or preclusion period applies, all claims against the legal representative (excluding warranty claims if the client is not an entrepreneur within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act [KSchG]) shall lapse unless asserted in court by the client within six months (if the client is an entrepreneur within the meaning of the KSchG) or within one year (if the client is not an entrepreneur) from the time the client gains knowledge of the damage and the identity of the tortfeasor or of the event otherwise giving rise to the claim, but in any event no later than five years after the damage-causing (claim-triggering) conduct (breach).
11. Legal Expenses Insurance of the Client
11.1. If the client has legal expenses insurance, they must notify the legal representative of this immediately and provide the necessary documents (where available). Regardless of this, however, the legal representative is also obligated on their own initiative to obtain information as to whether and to what extent legal expenses insurance exists and to apply for insurance coverage.
11.3. The notification of a legal expenses insurance policy by the client and the obtaining of legal protection coverage by the legal representation does not affect the legal representation's claim for fees against the client and is not to be regarded as the legal representation's consent to be satisfied with what is paid by the legal expenses insurance as a fee. The legal representation must inform the client of this.
11.3. Legal counsel is not obliged to claim the fee directly from the legal expense insurance, but may demand the entire remuneration from the client.
12. Termination of the mandate
12.1. The client-lawyer relationship may be terminated by the legal representative or by the client at any time without notice and without stating reasons. The legal representative's claim to fees shall remain unaffected thereby.
12.2. In the event of termination by the client or the legal representative, the latter shall continue to represent the client for a period of 14 days to the extent necessary to protect the client from legal disadvantages. This obligation does not apply if the client revokes the mandate and expresses that they do not wish any further activity by the legal representative.
Duty to surrender
13.1. Upon termination of the mandate, the legal representative must return original documents to the client upon request. The legal representative is entitled to retain copies of these documents.
13.2. To the extent that the client requests documents (copies of documents) again after the end of the mandate which they have already received in the course of the processing of the mandate, the costs shall be borne by the client.
13.3. The legal representative is obligated to retain the files for a period of five years following the termination of the retainer and, during this time, to provide the client with copies as needed. If longer statutory retention periods apply, those periods must be observed. The client agrees to the destruction of the files (including original documents) upon expiration of the retention obligation.
14. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
14.1. The terms of engagement and the mandate relationship governed by them are subject to substantive Austrian law.
14.2. For any disputes arising from or in connection with the contractual relationship governed by the Terms of Engagement, including disputes regarding its validity, the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of competent subject-matter jurisdiction at the registered office of the legal representative is agreed, unless mandatory law provides otherwise. However, the legal representative shall be entitled to bring claims against the client also before any other court, domestically or abroad, within whose district the client has its registered office, residence, a branch office, or assets. With respect to clients who are consumers within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act (KSchG), the jurisdiction rules of Section 14 of the KSchG shall apply.
15. Final provisions
15.1. Amendments or additions to these terms of engagement must be in writing to be valid, unless the client is a consumer within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act (KSchG).
15.2. Statements by the legal representative to the client shall in any event be deemed to have been received if they are sent to the address provided by the client when the mandate was given or to the changed address subsequently notified in writing. However, unless otherwise agreed, the legal representative may correspond with the client in any manner deemed appropriate.
15.3. Unless otherwise provided, declarations that must be submitted in writing under these terms of engagement may also be made by fax or e-mail. In the absence of contrary written instructions from the client, the legal representative is authorized to conduct e-mail communication with the client in unencrypted form. The client declares that they have been informed of the associated risks (in particular access, confidentiality, and alteration of messages during transmission) and, with knowledge of these risks, agrees that e-mail communication will not be conducted in encrypted form.
15.4. The client expressly agrees that the legal counsel processes, discloses, or transfers personal data relating to the client and/or their company (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act) to the extent that this is necessary and appropriate for the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the legal counsel by the client or results from legal or professional obligations of the legal counsel (e.g., participation in electronic legal communication, etc.).
15.5. The invalidity of one or individual provisions of these General Terms of Order or of the contractual relationship governed by the General Terms of Order shall not affect the validity of the remaining agreement. The contracting parties undertake to replace the invalid provision(s) with a provision that comes as close as possible to the economic result of the invalid one.