LawPracticeZA Terms and conditions

LawPracticeZA, a product of Nitric Industries CC, is a hosted (web-based) Matter Management and Billing application, with integrated business and trust accounting, for South African law firms. Nitric Industries CC trades under the name LawPracticeZA for the purposes of providing the LawPracticeZA service/product.

The service enables you (the client) to load your client and matter details and capture accounting and billing data relating to your practice; the program processes your data and provides you with appropriate reports. The LawPracticeZA website describes the functionality provided and includes a detailed user manual as well as several training aids. The website also includes a Cost Calculator that enables you to establish the monthly subscription cost for using LawPracticeZA.

Access to LawPracticeZA is via a browser, and can be accessed using a computer, tablet or smartphone, with an internet connection.

The important stuff

You subscribe on a monthly basis for use of the service and are assigned one or more users, each with a unique login name and password.

The main user (the Administrator) will have the ability to change users; change passwords, add users or delete users, and assign users as Fee Earners or Bookkeepers or both. The Admin user will have full access to the system, including the Bookkeeping and Fee Earner modules. The subscription charge at the end of each month is calculated with a base cost plus a charge per each eligible user based on the price list agreed when signing up for the service. Additional users that joined the service later will be charged according to the advertised price list at the time of joining. The subscription may be subject to periodic increases not more than the prevailing inflation rate. We generally regard a user as being eligible for charging if they are a registered legal professional (attorney or advocate). We generally do not charge for support, clerical or admin staff users, however there may be exceptions to this model (for example where the service is used in an organisation which isn’t characterised as law firm) which to be negotiated and agreed on by both parties.

Your monthly subscription amount, invoiced monthly in arrears on the 25th of each month, is due for payment on presentation of our invoice, which is sent via email. Your data is securely stored on our file servers in South Africa, as described in detail in our Privacy Policy, which can be accessed here. You can cancel your subscription at any time via email or other written communication with one months notice. We will retain your data for up to six months before destroying it, or destroy your data at your request.

The Small Print

LawPracticeZA does not review or pre-screen the contents of electronic data uploaded or posted to the Service (“Content”) by Authorized Users (as defined below), and LawPracticeZA claims no intellectual property rights with respect to the Content. You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit access to the Service, use of the Service, or any portion of the Service, including, but not limited to the HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”) or any visual design elements without the express written permission from LawPracticeZA. You agree not to modify, reverse engineer, adapt or otherwise tamper with the Service or modify another website so as to falsely imply that it is associated with the Service, LawPracticeZA, or any other software or service provided by LawPracticeZA. You agree not to use the Service in any manner which may infringe copyright or intellectual property rights or in any manner which is unlawful, offensive, threatening, libellous, defamatory, pornographic, and obscene or in violation of these Terms of Service. You agree not to use the Service to upload, post, host, or transmit unsolicited bulk e-mail “Spam”, short message service “SMS” messages, viruses, self-replicating computer programs “Worms” or any code of a destructive or malicious nature. The Service is protected by South African and international copyright laws and treaties, as well as other laws and treaties. Except for the non-exclusive licence granted pursuant to this Agreement, you acknowledge and agree that all ownership, licence, intellectual property and other rights and interests in and to the Service shall remain solely with LawPracticeZA. LawPracticeZA reserves the right at any time, and from time to time, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any feature associated with the Service, with or without notice. Continued use of the Service following any modification constitutes your acceptance of the modification. LawPracticeZA reserves the right to temporarily suspend access to the Service for operational purposes, including, but not limited to, maintenance, repairs or installation of upgrades, and will endeavour to provide reasonable notice prior to any such suspension. LawPracticeZA stores all Content on redundant storage servers and all Content associated with the subscription will be replicated at a regular interval, to an offsite storage server. LawPracticeZA cannot guarantee the operation of any service or integration that relies on a third-party's continued cooperation.

Access to the Service

You are only permitted to access and use the Service if you are an Authorized User. “Authorized User” means an individual subscriber or the partners, members, employees, temporary employees, and contractors of an organization with a subscription to the Service (“Subscriber”). Authorized Users are required to provide their full legal name, a valid email address, and any other information requested by the Service. Each Authorized User will be provided with a unique identifier to access and use the Service (“Username”). The Username shall only be used by the Authorized User to whom it is assigned, and shall not be shared with, or used by any other person, including other Authorized Users. Each Subscriber shall designate an Authorized User as administrator for the Subscriber’s subscription (“Administrator”). Each Subscriber may have multiple Authorized Users, and the Administrator will manage the list of active Authorized Users associated with the subscription. The Administrator will deactivate an active Username if the Administrator wishes to terminate access to the Service for any particular user. Subscribers are responsible for all use of the Service by Authorized Users on the list of active Authorized Users associated with their subscription to the Service. All access to and use of the Service via mechanical, programmatic, robotic, scripted or any other automated means not provided as part of the Service is strictly prohibited.

Security of Passwords

Authorized Users and Subscribers shall be responsible for protecting the security of Usernames and passwords, or any other codes associated to the Service known to them, and for the accuracy and adequacy of personal information provided to the Service. Subscribers will implement policies and procedures to prevent unauthorized use of Usernames, and will promptly notify LawPracticeZA, upon suspicion that a Username has been lost, stolen, compromised, or misused.

Payment, Refunds and Subscription Changes

Subscribers with paying subscriptions will receive an account on the 25th of each month for the month's subscription, depending on the number of users assigned at the end of the month, via email. No refunds or credits will be issued for partial months of service, upgrade/downgrade refunds, or refunds for months unused with an active subscription. There are no charges for cancelling a subscription, and paying subscriptions cancelled prior to the end of the current month will not be charged again in the following month or thereafter. The amount charged on the next billing cycle will be automatically updated to reflect any changes to the subscription, including upgrades or downgrades. All prices are subject to an annual increase on the anniversary of the first use of LawPracticeZA. The increase may not exceed the official Consumer Price Index (CPI) ruling at that time. Notice of the increase will be provided together with the invoice for the month where the increase becomes effective.

Cancellation and Termination

Subscribers are solely responsible for cancelling their subscription. Subscribers may cancel their subscription at any time by emailing LawPracticeZA. LawPracticeZA in its sole discretion, has the right to suspend or discontinue providing the Service to any Subscriber without notice for non-compliance with these Terms of Service, and pursue any other remedy legally available to it. Upon cancellation or termination of a subscription, the service associated with such subscription will immediately and irrevocably cease to operate. All Data, if any, will nevertheless continue to remain available for a period of six months upon cancellation or termination of a subscription, whereafter the data will be destroyed.

Limited Warranty and Limitation of Liability

The Service is provided on an “as is”, “as available” basis and LawPracticeZA expressly disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. LawPracticeZA, its affiliates, and any officer, director, employee, subcontractor, agent, successor, or assignee of LawPracticeZA or its affiliates does not warrant that:

the Service will meet any specific requirements; the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; the results that may be obtained from the use of the Service will be accurate or reliable; the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained through the Service will meet any expectations; and that any errors in the Service will be corrected.

LawPracticeZA, its affiliates, and any officer, director, employee, subcontractor, agent, successor, or assignee of LawPracticeZA or its affiliates, shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if LawPracticeZA has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from:

the use or the inability to use the Service; any unauthorized access to or alteration of Authorized User transmissions or Content; any price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Service; any loss of Content, modification to a feature or to the Service itself; any loss of Content subsequent to a cancellation or termination of a subscription to the Service; statements or conduct of any third party on the Service; or any other matter relating to the Service.

Miscellaneous

Technical support is only provided to Authorized Users with paying subscriptions, and is available by accessing SUBMIT A SUPPORT REQUEST, found at the bottom of every LawPracticeZA screen. The failure of LawPracticeZA to enforce any provision hereof shall not constitute or be construed as a waiver of such provision or of the right to enforce it at a later time. The Terms of Service constitutes the entire agreement between you and LawPracticeZA and governs your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and LawPracticeZA (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service). You may not assign your rights or delegate your duties under this licence to access the Service without the prior written consent of LawPracticeZA. These Terms of Service shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of South Africa.