1. Introduction

Who we are. We are Strand Sahara International Limited (“Strand Sahara “we”, “us” or “our”). We are a company registered in England under the company number is 11484189 and our registered office is at 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX, United Kingdom.

The Terms. These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) set out the terms and conditions on which we provide you (“you”, “your” or “Customer”) with legal support services (the “Services”). By selecting the “I have read and agree to the Terms of Service” check-box during the checkout process on our website (the “Site”), you’ll be accepting these Terms and be legally bound by them.

We’re a consultancy, not a law firm. You understand that as a legal consultancy, not a law firm, we’re not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. This means that we don’t carry out “reserved” activities (such as conducting litigation or preparing certain documents relating to probate and conveyancing) and you’re unable to make claims to the SRA Compensation Fund. However, all of our solicitors are UK qualified, with years of experience working in global law firms and hold up-to-date practising certificates.

We work with partners across Africa. We partner with established and regulated law firms and legal consultancies across Africa to provide products and services relevant to their respective jurisdictions. We may refer you to work directly with our partners in Africa where this is required by the legal services regulations in the relevant African country, in which case they will provide you with their own terms of service.

Contact. You can contact us by email at hello@strandsahara.com or any other email address we provide you from time to time. We will contact you using the email address you provide to us.

”Writing” includes emails. When we use the words “writing” or “written” in these Terms, this includes emails.

2. Services

Specific services. We offer a number of specific services and provide you with the ability to place an order for such specific services via the Site (“Services”). Our acceptance of your order will take place when we confirm to you that we have accepted your order. If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this and refund any charges paid by you for the order. Please see the full description of the Services at the time of placing your order for details of what you will receive.

Membership subscription. We offer a membership service, whereby you commit in advance to pay an annual fee for use of our services and to pay upfront or on a periodic basis in advance of use. The annual fee and any monthly instalments payable for membership to our platform will be as describe on the Site and all displayed amounts will be exclusive of VAT.

Third-party tech tools. We may recommend or suggest you use certain third party technology tools as part of our Services. These are provided by third parties and are provided on an “as is” basis so we aren’t liable or responsible for them and we don’t make any warranties in relation to their performance or fitness for purpose.

3. Membership subscription

Becoming a member on our platform. Our acceptance of your request to become a member will take place when we email you to accept it, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.

If we cannot accept your request. If we are unable to accept your request, we will inform you of this and will not charge a fee. This might be because of unexpected limits on our resources which we could not reasonably plan for, because we have identified an error in the price or description of the membership service, we discovered that a digital product is faulty or there is a bug or defect that makes the digital product unusable specified.

Initial minimum term. Memberships are available for an initial minimum term of 12 months.

Your rights to make changes. If you wish to make a change to the membership type which you requested, please contact us. We will let you know if the change is possible. If it is possible, we will let you know about any changes to the fee, the timing of supply or anything else which would be necessary as a result of your requested change and ask you to confirm whether you wish to go ahead with the change. If we cannot make the change or the consequences of making the change are unacceptable to you, you may want to end the contract. If you have downloaded a product or began streaming before you request a change, we will unfortunately be unable to accept any such requests.

Minor changes to our membership service. We may change our services or digital products:

(a) to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements; and

(b) to implement minor technical adjustments and improvements, for example to address a security threat. These changes will not affect your use of the product.

More significant changes to the services and these terms. We may make changes to these terms or the membership, but if we do so we will notify you and you may then contact us to end the contract before the changes take effect and receive a refund for any products paid for but not received.

Updates to digital content. We may update or require you to update digital content, provided that the digital content shall always match the description that we provided to you before you bought it.

Reasons we may suspend your membership. We may have to suspend your access to our platform or our supply of digital products to you to:

(a) deal with technical problems or make minor technical changes;

(b) update any digital products or the platform to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements;

(c) make changes to the product as requested by you or notified by us to you.

Your rights if we suspend access to our services or supply of digital products. We will contact you in advance to tell you we will be suspending access to our services or supply of digital products, unless the problem is urgent or an emergency. If we have to suspend your access to the service or digital product for longer than 30 days, we will adjust the price so that you do not pay for your membership while it is suspended. You may contact us to end the contract for a membership if we suspend it and we will refund any sums you have paid in advance for the product in respect of the period after you end the contract.

We are not responsible for delays outside our control. If access to our supply of digital products or services is delayed by an event outside our control, then we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay. Provided we do this we will not be liable for delays caused by the event, but if there is a risk of substantial delay you may contact us to end the contract and receive a refund for any services or digital products you have paid for but not received.

We may also suspend supply of the membership if you do not pay. If you do not pay your membership fee when you are supposed to and you still do not make payment within 7 days of us reminding you that payment is due, we may suspend your membership until you have paid us the outstanding amounts. We will contact you to tell you we are suspending your membership. We will not suspend the products where you dispute the unpaid invoice. We will not charge you for the membership during the period for which they are suspended. As well as suspending the membership we can also charge you interest on your overdue payments.

4. Your undertakings

Status. By placing an order through the Site you warrant that you are at least 18 years old and are legally capable of entering into binding contracts and that all information provided by you is complete, accurate and up-to-date.

Co-operation. You agree to cooperate with us in connection with the performance of the Services and respond to queries promptly and accurately to enable us to perform the Services to the best of our ability without delay.

Review and confirmation. After we deliver an agreed deliverable to you, you’ll need to tell us whether the deliverable is accepted within a reasonable timeframe.

Implementation. Where applicable, you understand that you are entirely responsible for the method of implementation and / or execution of the deliverables in your website, app, business processes or other processes. We’re not liable for any costs you incur in implementing our deliverables.

5. Payment of fees

Fees. For subscriptions or purchases made on the Site, payment is due on the terms applicable to that subscription or purchase as displayed at the point of purchase. For purchases that are invoiced by Strand Sahara, payment is due on invoice date. Unpaid amounts may result in termination of service. You will be responsible for all taxes associated with your use of services that are attributable or due by you. Unless otherwise agreed in the Order Confirmation, all payments shall be made in pounds sterling. We reserve the right to change the fees or applicable charges and to institute new charges and fees at the end of the then-current renewal term upon prior notice to you, which may be sent by email. If you believe that we have billed you incorrectly you must contact us no later than 7 days after the invoice in which the error or problem appeared.

Interest. If you’re delayed in making any payments to us, we may charge interest to you on the overdue amount under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment. You’ll need to pay us the overdue amount plus any interest.

6. Data protection

Complying with Data Protection Legislation. Both you and Strand Sahara agree to comply with all applicable requirements of the Data Protection Legislation. “Data Protection Legislation” means (i) any data protection legislation from time to time in force in the UK including the Data Protection Act 2018 or any successor legislation; and (ii) the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) and any other directly applicable European Union regulation (for as long as they are applicable in the UK).

Roles. Both you and Strand Sahara acknowledge that for the purposes of the Data Protection Legislation, you’re the data controller and we’re the data processor (each as defined in the Data Protection Legislation).

Consents and notices for transfer of data. You’ll make sure you have all necessary appropriate consents and notices in place to enable lawful transfer of the Personal Data (as defined in the Data Protection Legislation) to us for the duration and purposes of these Terms. By proceeding to use the Site you consent that we may process the personal data (including sensitive personal data) that we collect from you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. In particular, we will use information we hold about you for the purposes of carrying out our contractual obligations, informing you about our services and to monitor compliance with our legal obligations. You agree that we have the right to transfer data that we collect from you to a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) as necessary for you to use the Site and receive our Services. If you expressly agreed to this during the booking process, we may use your contact details to provide you with information about similar products or services that we offer, but you may stop receiving this at any time by contacting us.

7. Confidentiality

Our confidential obligations to you. We will treat all personal and business information you provide to us and about matters dealt with by us (other than information which is in the public domain) as confidential. We will not disclose any confidential information to any third party, except with your written consent or if necessary or customary in the normal performance of our services (e.g. passing it to other professionals and consultants assisting us or you with your matter, unless you ask us not to) or if required or permitted by law or any regulatory authority to which we are subject. We reserve the right to use external service providers as long as they are bound by appropriate obligations to maintain the confidentiality of the information. Unless you instruct us otherwise in writing, we are entitled to state in promotional material and tender documents that we worked for you generally or on a particular matter or matters as long as we do not otherwise break our duty of confidentiality to you.

Your confidentiality obligations. You will treat all information we give you (other than information which is in the public domain) as confidential. You will not disclose that confidential information to any other person, unless we have given our written consent or as required or permitted by law or any regulatory authority to which you are subject.

Return of property. On the expiry or termination of these Terms, you can request us to return all documents and materials containing your Confidential Information and Personal Data. To the extent technically possible, we’ll also erase all of your Confidential Information from our storage systems, but you acknowledge and agree that we may retain materials that we’re required to retain by applicable law or as permitted by these Terms.

8. Liability

Information on our website, including the membership portal. Although we take reasonable effort to ensure that the information and documents on our Site are up-to-date and legally sufficient, the legal information on this Site is not legal advice and is not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up-to-date, and you are responsible for the use to which you put material and documents that you access on our Site. Because the law changes rapidly, is different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and is also subject to varying interpretations by different courts and certain government and administrative bodies, we cannot guarantee that all the information on the Site is completely current.

Availability of our website, including the membership portal. Although we try to make the site available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, (except for planned maintenance and required unscheduled maintenance) we do not warrant that your use of the Site will be uninterrupted or error-free; and we are not responsible for any delays, delivery failures, or any other loss or damage resulting from the transfer of data over communications networks and facilities, including the internet, and you acknowledge that the Site may be subject to limitations, delays and other problems inherent in the use of such communications facilities. We will try to make sure that customer data is stored securely and backed-up. If we lose or damage it we will try to restore it. But if it is lost or damaged by a third party, we are not responsible to you unless they cause the loss or damage when working on it for us.

We’re only responsible for foreseeable loss. If we breach these terms, we are only responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill. We’re not responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable.

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for fraud, death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

Insurance. Strand Sahara will at all times during the performance of the Services, and for a period of no less than one year following completion of the Services, have and maintain in place both professional indemnity and public liability insurance, in each case to a level of £1,000,000 per claim.

Claims. Strand Sahara alone will be responsible to you for the provision of the Services. You agree that you will not bring any claim against any individual employee or officer in connection with these Terms or their subject matter.

Reliance. Our services are provided to and intended to be relied upon you alone. It cannot be relied on by anyone else. Any guidance we provide is also based on the law and practice as at the date our guidance is given – we aren’t obliged to provide you with any updates to reflect subsequent changes in law and practice.

9. Termination and suspension

Term. Subject to earlier termination as provided below, our agreement under these terms is for the duration specified in the plan you signed up for. Upon expiry, the plan may auto-renew (if applicable) or you may sign up for additional Services as made available on the Site at that time.

Breach of contract. In addition to any other remedies it may have, either party may also terminate our agreement under these terms with immediate effect on giving notice to the other party, if the other party materially breaches any of these Terms.

If you are ending the contract for a reason set out at (a) to (e) below the contract will end immediately and we will refund you in full for any products which have not been provided and you may also be entitled to compensation. The reasons are: (a) we have told you about an upcoming change to the product or these terms which you do not agree to; (b) we have told you about an error in the price or description of the product or service you have ordered, and you do not wish to proceed; (c) there is a risk that supply of the services or products may be significantly delayed because of events outside our control; (d) we have suspended supply of the services or products for technical reasons, or notify you we are going to suspend them for technical reasons, in each case for a period of more than 30 days; or (e) you have a legal right to end the contract because of something we have done wrong.

Changing your mind. Our Services are only intended for businesses and so the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 don’t apply to these Terms. You don’t have the right to change your mind in respect of tech tools or digital products after you have started to download, stream or use the Services after these have been provided.

Membership. You subscription shall remain in force for a period of 12 months. Your subscription shall auto-renew for consecutive 12-month periods until you cancel your subscription by giving us notice of your intention to terminate the agreement in writing. If you cancel your subscription before the Term has expired, you are liable to pay 100% of the charges for the remainder of the Term.

Tell us you want to terminate the contract. To end the contract with us, please let us know by emailing us at hello@strandsahara.com. Please provide your name, email address and details of the order. Any fees owed at the time of cancellation will become due immediately.

Consequences of termination. On termination, any fees owed to us by you to the date termination will become due immediately. All sections of these Terms which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including, without limitation, accrued rights to payment, confidentiality obligations, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. The expiry or termination of this Agreement shall not affect the accrued rights, remedies, obligations or liabilities of the parties under it as existing at expiry or termination.

Existing rights. The expiry or termination of these Terms won’t affect the accrued rights, remedies, obligations or liabilities of the parties under it as existing at expiry or termination.

Return of property. On the expiry or termination of this Agreement, the you may request in writing that Strand Sahara returns all documents and materials containing your confidential information and personal data and shall (to the extent technically possible) erase all of your confidential information from its computer and other software or media storage systems, provided that Strand Sahara may retain materials containing your confidential information to the extent required by any applicable law or where retention is required to back-up data or IT systems in accordance or otherwise as permitted by these Terms.

We may end the contract if you break it. We may end the contract for a service or product at any time by writing to you if:

(a) you do not make any payment to us when it is due, and you still do not make payment within 7 days of us reminding you that payment is due;

(b) you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information that is necessary for us to provide the services or digital products;

If we end the contract in the situations set out above, we will refund any money you have paid in advance for products we have not provided but we may deduct or charge you reasonable compensation for the net costs we will incur as a result of your breaking the contract.

We may withdraw the membership or digital product. We may write to you to let you know that we are going to stop providing the services, membership option or digital product. We will let you know in advance and will refund any sums you have paid in advance for services or products which will not be provided.

10. Intellectual property

Ownership. Each of us retains ownership of our intellectual property rights. We may use your intellectual property only to the extent necessary for the delivery and use of the Services and deliverables in the way they are intended to be used. All intellectual property created by either of us in the course of the Services will belong to the creating party.

Licence to use deliverables. Strand Sahara will grant you a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable licence in the deliverables to use, copy and distribute, in whole or in part.

Prohibited from reselling deliverables. You agree that you can’t and won’t resell the deliverables, offer for sale any service based on the deliverables or publish the deliverables (unless they are obviously intended for publication, for instance, if the deliverables are website terms and conditions).

11. Force majeure

Force Majeure event. Neither Party shall be liable for a breach of these Terms directly or indirectly caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control (a “Force Majeure Event”). These circumstances don’t include any requirement to comply with applicable law or anything caused by a party’s wilful act or negligence.

Notice. On the occurrence of a Force Majeure Event, the affected party must notify the other immediately including all relevant details of the event and the steps they are taking to mitigate its effects.

12. Dispute resolution

Good faith. If there is a dispute between us, we both agree that we’ll use reasonable endeavours to resolve any dispute in good faith.

Parties should attempt settlement. We both agree to attempt to reach an amicable settlement and, if necessary, will refer the matter to arbitration before commencing court proceedings.

13. Relationship

Contractual relationship. These Terms do not constitute, establish or imply any partnership, joint venture, agency, employment or fiduciary relationship between you and us.

Authority. Neither you nor us will have, nor represent that it has, any authority to make or enter into any commitments on the other’s behalf or otherwise bind the other in any way.

14. Remedies

Rights and remedies. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, the rights and remedies provided under these Terms are in addition to, and don’t exclude, any rights or remedies provided by law.

Limitation. Any right or remedy expressly included in any provision of these Terms (or the exercise of them) shall not be considered as limiting a party’s rights or remedies under any other provision of these Terms (or the exercise of them).

15. General

Survival. Any provision of these Terms which is intended to remain in force on or after the expiry or termination of these Terms will remain in full force and effect after these Terms expire or terminate.

Assignment. We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms to a third party on notice to you. You may not assign your rights and obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent.

Third-party rights. This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we don’t enforce any right we have under these Terms immediately, we haven’t waived that right and may enforce it later. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you, but we continue to provide the products, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

Governing law and jurisdiction. These Terms will be governed by the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to hear disputes in relation to it.

16. Complaints

We are committed to providing a high-quality service. If you have any questions or a complaint about the service provided by us please write to us at hello@strandsahara.com.