Virtual Lawyer – Terms of Use
Note: There is a later version of this document offering a £99 + VAT letter. See /virtual-lawyer-terms-of-use-2021/
Thank you for your interest in our Virtual Lawyer letter drafting service. Here are our terms of use and some important information about this service.
Scope of the £120 service
[1] We create a bespoke ‘without prejudice’ letter template asking for a settlement amount, for you to send to your employer. This is written as coming from you.
[2] You complete it with your case details.
[3] We review your details and finalise your letter for you.
[4] You send it to your employer.
[5] If at any stage your employer makes you a settlement offer, we’ll be able to sign settlement documentation for you and we may be able to provide further legal assistance. be able to sign may be able to represent you in the negotiations.
If your employer is happy to settle the case, we may be able to provide further legal assistance. This will be at least to sign any settlement agreement document for you. In some circumstances we may also be able to negotiate a better deal for you.
Virtual Lawyer will have more impact on your employer than if you approach them without our help for two reasons: they may think you’re being assisted by lawyers, so you will be much more likely to obtain a fair settlement deal; and this is more likely to cover the main heads of claim than if you write it yourself. You can also use some of the content in related matters, e.g. a grievance or employment tribunal claim.
NB: we won’t be able to review any of your documents. The lawyer’s review will be focused on your added bullet points and perhaps the order of the paragraphs. The lawyer will not be in a position to conduct a comprehensive review of your letter.
Who is the ‘without prejudice’ letter service for?
This service is for people who have left their job or who want to leave their job, and would like to negotiate a fair exit package (‘settlement agreement’) with their employer.
It will mainly apply to people who feel that they have been badly treated at work. You don’t need to know whether you have a legally strong case, and you don’t need to be able to win an employment tribunal claim either. But you do have to make sure you have at least an arguable case – check our ‘Do I have a case?’ guide here.
What happens if my employer makes an offer?
At the successful conclusion of a negotiation, both sides may agree to sign a ‘settlement agreement’ document, which would set out the terms of the settlement – essentially you sign away your right to sue the employer, and the employer agrees to pay you a sum of money in return.
Normally the employer drafts the settlement agreement document itself, and it can often be quite a lengthy document.
If you do receive a settlement agreement document at any point, then you should contact us and we will arrange an appointment with our lawyers to onboard you as a client of Monaco Solicitors.
Once you are on board as a client, they will go through the settlement agreement document with you. There is always a legal fee for that, but your lawyers will invoice the employer directly, meaning there is no extra cost for you.
We would then go through the settlement agreement in detail with you, and we would countersign it to confirm that all of the legal wording in the document has been explained to you in plain English.
What happens if the case doesn’t settle?
Sometimes the employer does not offer an acceptable amount during or after the negotiation process.
To progress your matter further you could start an employment tribunal claim, but there would be absolutely no obligation on you to do that.
You may want to commence an employment tribunal claim before your negotiation has ended, in order to protect your position and bargaining power because of time limits (see below).
Is this service equal to lawyer representation?
This is not a substitute for instructing an actual lawyer and does not constitute legal representation from us.
Nothing in these terms of use is intended to create a lawyer/client relationship – it is an advanced form of self-representation with bespoke signposting.
The use of this service is at your own risk. Some examples of things which this service cannot do which an actual lawyer could do is:
-Advise you on Employment Tribunal time limits (see below)
-Speak to you on the phone;
-Answer queries about your case (beyond what is programmed into our software)
-Assess your evidence and tell you what evidence to gather
-Assess the value of your case (beyond what is output by our online calculator).
Employment Tribunal time limits
As stated above, it may not be necessary to go to an employment tribunal in all cases, as some cases settle by out-of-court negotiation. Some employers, however, will not settle unless a Tribunal claim is issued.
You should be aware that tribunals treat time limits very strictly, and it is your responsibility to make sure that you submit a Tribunal claim before your time limit expires, even if you are in the middle of a negotiation.
3 months, or more often 3 months less a day, is the usual time limit for issuing employment tribunal claims. After the time limit expires you will usually not be permitted to bring employment tribunal proceedings. In a claim for unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal, the 3 months less a day will normally run from the day before your last day of employment.
For other claims such as discrimination, harassment or unpaid wages, then the 3 months less a day will normally run from the date of the alleged misconduct by the employer. There is more info on time limits available in an article on our website here
Acas (The Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, but they always call themself ‘Acas’) is a government organisation which attempts to conciliate and arbitrate actual and potential claims.
The majority of Tribunal claims must be submitted to Acas prior to being issued in order for Acas to formally ask the employer whether they wish to settle the claim or not. A period of Acas early conciliation then follows.
For the purpose of time limits, time pauses during early conciliation. This may affect the time limit for submitting a claim to the Tribunal. Here is the ACAS article on time limits: https://www.acas.org.uk/making-a-claim-to-an-employment-tribunal. If you have any doubt about time limits, you should submit an ACAS form here: https://tell.acas.org.uk/find-a-solution-to-your-employment-dispute
Meetings with your employer
You may be asked to attend a meeting with your employer, for example a grievance meeting, a disciplinary meeting, or an occupational health assessment.
You may be entitled to bring a colleague or a trade union rep. Often however this is stressful for our clients, and the stress can make you ill.
If that does happen then please consult your GP, as you may be signed off sick, in which case you may be able to arrange any such matters to be done by email, so you don’t have to attend a meeting.
Please also note that we do not need to meet your employer or you in person in order to negotiate a fair exit package for you as we conduct negotiations in writing and by telephone or zoom.
Personal Injury
When you enter into a settlement agreement with an employer you normally agree to give up all your employment rights, and that often includes warranting that you are not aware of any circumstances which might give rise to a personal injury (‘PI’) claim.
Personal injuries arising from mistreatment at work (which often tend to be claims for psychological damage) can be difficult to prove due to the need for evidence of ‘causation’, ie proving that the injury was caused by the employer’s conduct, rather than by an underlying condition.
PI claims are conducted in the County Courts rather than the employment tribunals, and they are often conducted by specialist law firms.
If you think that you might have a PI case because your health has suffered as a consequence of an accident at work or other reasons caused by your employer, you should take separate legal advice from a specialist law firm.
The Law Society can direct you to such a firm here https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/
If you have a potential or actual personal injury case against your employer, but you still proceed to sign a settlement agreement, please be aware that your employer may try to settle your employment matter for an amount of money which only takes into account your employment situation, not your personal injury. You should, therefore, carefully consider whether that’s worth it to you or try to carve out the PI claim.
Applying for jobs
If you have been dismissed or left your job, you should keep evidence of job applications, just in case this needs to be produced at tribunal later on. That’s because the tribunal will want to see evidence that you’ve tried to reduce the loss you’ve suffered.
Keep a record of each job applied for, application date, job title, response date and chase date.
You should also keep a folder of documentary evidence to support this, including copies of job applications, notes of phone calls, copies of chase up emails, job seekers logs, newspapers, emails and receipts for job search costs.
If you are still in employment now then be aware that your employer will be able to check your LinkedIn profile, so if you have updated your status to show that you are looking for other work, you may need to remove that update as your employer may seek to rely on that to suggest that you wanted to leave anyway.
Confidentiality
We take confidentiality very seriously and we will do everything we can to ensure that information regarding your matter is kept strictly confidential at all times.
At the completion of your matter we will dispose of your paper and electronic files unless you specifically arrange for these to be returned to you.
Tax & benefits advice
We do not give accounting advice on tax or Social Security implications of any proposed settlement or potential court order.
If you require such advice, you should take it from your accountant.
Limitation of Liability
We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses, or any damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profits or opportunities.
We can only limit our liability to the extent the law allows, in particular, we cannot limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.