MAAK Advocaten NV (“MAAK”) is a public limited company under Dutch law. MAAK is registered in the trade register of the Chamber of Commerce in Amsterdam under file number 75953668. These general terms and conditions apply exclusively to all assignments to MAAK, including follow-up assignments. The applicability of the general terms and conditions of the client (“client”) is expressly rejected. The persons authorized by MAAK to accept assignments on its behalf are hereinafter also referred to as “partners”.
The legal relationship between MAAK and the client qualifies as a contract of assignment . All assignments involve best efforts obligations and never result obligations. MAAK only advises, and can only be deemed to advise, with regard to Dutch law, including the law of the European Union. All assignments are deemed to have been given exclusively to MAAK, and not to a person affiliated with MAAK. This also applies if the intention of the parties is for an assignment to be carried out by a specific person affiliated with MAAK. The operation of article 7:404 BW, article 7:407 paragraph 2 BW and article 7:409 BW is excluded. Persons affiliated with MAAK are understood to mean the employees, the advisors, the partners, the directors, the persons working via the flexible shell and the officers or shareholders of MAAK. Not only MAAK but also every person affiliated or formerly affiliated with MAAK and their legal successors can invoke these general terms and conditions.
MAAK is never liable for (in)direct damage, consequential damage and business damage. MAAK’s liability never extends beyond what is stipulated in these general terms and conditions, regardless of whether claims are made under an agreement or on other grounds, in particular unlawful acts .
If, despite the provisions of Article 3, MAAK is nevertheless liable for damage suffered by the client, this is limited to the amount for which MAAK is liable under its general liability insurance (AVB) (for persons and property) or under its professional liability insurance, increased by the amount of MAAK’s deductible under that insurance. The client can request access to the relevant policy at MAAK’s office. If, for whatever reason, no payment is made under the insurance referred to in Article 4 and Article 3 unexpectedly remains inapplicable, any liability of MAAK towards the client is limited in its entirety to the amount that MAAK has charged the client for the work (in connection with which the damage occurred) and paid by the client, or will be charged for the work in the period of 12 months prior to the claim for liability, with a maximum of € 25,000 (in words: twenty-five thousand euros).
If MAAK engages a person not affiliated with it in the execution of an assignment, MAAK is not liable to the client for any errors made by this person. If such a person engaged by MAAK wishes to limit his liability, MAAK has the authority to accept this limitation of liability also on behalf of the client.
The limitation of liability contained in these general terms and conditions also applies if the damage is caused by (defects in) equipment, software, registers, internet connection and/or other items or information sources of third parties used in the execution of the assignment.
The limitation of MAAK’s liability does not apply in the event of intent or deliberate recklessness on the part of MAAK’s management or the managerial subordinates belonging to its management.
Client indemnifies MAAK against all claims by third parties, including reasonable costs of legal assistance, that are in any way related to or arise from the work performed or to be performed for Client, except in the case of intent or gross negligence on the part of MAAK.
In a file, MAAK can only be deemed to interrupt current limitation periods and expiry periods on behalf of the client if MAAK and the client have explicitly agreed to this in writing in the signed assignment agreement.
Any claim for damages shall lapse one year after the day on which the client became aware or could have become aware of the damage and MAAK’s liability for it.
MAAK and Stichting Derdengelden MAAK Advocaten may retain funds from clients or third parties in connection with the execution of assignments. MAAK and Stichting Derdengelden MAAK Advocaten will deposit these funds with a bank selected by MAAK in consultation with those who have an interest in them. MAAK and Stichting Derdengelden Maak Advocaten are not liable if this bank fails to meet its obligations.
MAAK charges a fee for its work, which is generally based on an hourly rate, a flat-rate fee of 6% for office costs (plus VAT), as well as the costs incurred by third parties. The hourly rates to be charged are adjusted on 1 January, except for (interim) rate adjustments. In addition, changes in the interest of the case, urgency, years of experience and specialisms may lead to (possibly temporary) adjustment of the agreed rate. However, this will be announced to you as soon as possible and in principle will not have retroactive effect. MAAK is always entitled to request an advance payment on the fee from the client and to offset this against the final invoice.
Payment of MAAK’s invoices must be made within 14 days of the invoice date. After the expiry of this fatal term, the client is deemed to have accepted the correctness of the invoice, unless the client has previously objected in writing, and the client may be charged an interest of 1% per month. The client does not have the right of settlement or suspension. All (extra)judicial costs of MAAK related to the collection of its claims shall be borne by the client, with a minimum of 15% of the outstanding invoices.
MAAK has the right to offset any conditional and/or reasonably foreseeable claim it has and/or will have from the client against any amount it owes or will reasonably owe the client. For the purpose of this provision, the term client also includes group companies and/or majority interests of the client. If timely payment of invoices is not forthcoming, MAAK is entitled to suspend its activities under the assignment given.
As a result of applicable regulations (including the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (“Wwft”), MAAK is obliged to establish the identity of the client and to report unusual transactions to the authorities under certain circumstances.
All personal data of the client are processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
The client’s data may be used for new cases to check for any conflicting interests. To this end, we only use the necessary data to check this and explicit permission is given for this by accepting these general terms and conditions.
MAAK shall exercise the care that may be expected of it in the given circumstances when securing the data of the client and third parties. The client agrees to electronic data exchange (internet and e-mail) and realises that, despite all the security measures taken by MAAK, no absolute guarantee can be given against consultation by unauthorised persons. MAAK shall not be liable for loss of data or damage resulting from unauthorised access, regardless of whether the loss and/or damage is the result of the transmission of this data.
The digital file created with the assignment will be kept for ten years after the case has been archived, after which MAAK has the right to destroy the digital file. After digital archiving, MAAK will send the original documents to the client by registered mail.
The legal relationship between MAAK and its clients is governed by Dutch law. Complaints about the execution of this assignment, including complaints of a financial nature, will be submitted to the competent court in Amsterdam, which will initially take cognizance of a dispute between MAAK and the client.
The MAAK complaints procedure applies to legal work performed by MAAK lawyers, see https://www.maakadvocaten.nl/klachtenregeling/
The Dutch text of these general terms and conditions shall prevail in the event of any deviation from the text of these general terms and conditions in a foreign language.
