Terms and Conditions of the use of Real Law Limited services (by site visitors and registered Firms)

  1. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions
    1. Real Law Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”, “Real Law”) offering specific services promoting law firms and in particular operating the website known as reallaw.nz, provides the services contained in this site to you under these terms and conditions.
    2. Each time you access this internet site (“Site”), you confirm that you have read and understood the terms and conditions. We may amend these terms and conditions from time to time in our sole discretion and we recommend that you check them on a regular basis.
    3. By accessing this Site you are indicating your agreement to be bound by all of these terms and conditions, including any amendments made to them from time to time.
  2. General Services
    1. The services provided by Real Law (“Services”) include a dynamic online directory of law firms in general (“Firms”) and specifically of registered Real Law network members. Real Law also provides a range of related services.
  3. General Provisions
    1. Intellectual Property
      1. Real Law Limited via reallaw.nz images and logos referenced in this Site and the contents of this Site are subject to intellectual property rights belonging to us. Other product and firm names mentioned herein may be the intellectual property of the respective owners.
      2. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. You agree not to breach any trade mark, copyright, patent, design or other rights in relation to all trademarks, information, images, logos and other intellectual property included in this Site. No logo, graphic, review, sound or image from this Site may be copied or retransmitted unless expressly permitted in writing by us.
      3. You agree not to download, copy, transmit, “data-mine”, “scrape” or otherwise replicate any of the information on this Site, including reviews, ratings and comments, for any business purpose, whether by electronic or any other means whatsoever.
    2. Governing jurisdiction
      1. This agreement is governed by the laws in force in New Zealand. You irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New Zealand.
      2. This Site is serviced by us from our offices in New Zealand. We make no representation that materials on this Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside New Zealand, and do not authorize access to them from territories where their contents might be illegal or prohibited under the laws of such territories.
    3. Assignment
      1. We may legally assign any of our rights and obligations under this agreement at any time by giving you notice on the Site.
    4. Links to Third Party Sites
      1. We are not responsible for the contents of any linked site. We do not imply any endorsement of links from and to this Site except where expressly stated. e. Copyright Notice © 2017, Real Law Limited, New Zealand.
    5. Entire Agreement
      1. These terms and conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and us and supersede all prior representations, agreements, statements and understandings whether verbal or in writing.
  4. No Warranties/Disclaimer
    1. You expressly understand and agree that:
      1. Your use of the Site is at your sole risk. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Real Law disclaims and excludes all implied conditions or warranties, including, but not limited to, any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement;
      2. Real Law does not warrant that the Services provided will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error free, or that any information (including feedback) provided on the Site is accurate, error-free or reliable;
      3. Real Law does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy, quality, currency, validity, completeness or suitability of the Services or any other information available on
        this Site for any purpose. The Site and Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis;
      4. Real Law does not warrant that this Site and the Services will be free of infection by viruses, worms, trojan horses or anything else containing destructive properties;
      5. No advice or information that is obtained by you from the Site or Real Law or anyone else shall create any warranty by Real Law that is not expressly stated in these terms and conditions;
      6. Real Law does not make any warranties in respect of the Firms featured or recommended on this Site or the services performed by those Firms, including the services provided by those Firms.
      7. Real Law does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with the ratings and/or comments posted by users of the Site;
      8. Responsibility for the content of promotions appearing on this web site (including hyperlinks to Firms’ own websites) rests solely with the Firms. The placement of such promotions on the web site does not constitute Real Law’ recommendation or endorsement of the Firms promotion. Each Firm is solely responsible for any representation made in connection with its promotion.
      9. In no event shall we be liable for any loss sustained by you arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this Site by you or others, whether direct or indirect, including, without limitation, loss of profits, loss of data, loss of business or anticipated savings, general and special damages, and consequential and incidental loss whether at law or in tort or otherwise.
  5. Ratings and Comments on Firms
    1. You acknowledge that Real Law provides a forum in which the performance of Firms can be rated by their clients. In posting such ratings and/or comments, you warrant that:
      1. You have engaged this Firm to act for you;
      2. The statements of fact reflected in the ratings and/or comments posted by you are true or not materially different from the truth;
      3. The opinions reflected in the ratings and/or comments posted by you are genuine and honestly held by you.
      4. You will not use obscene or offensive language or submit any material that is, or may potentially be, defamatory, abusive or hateful, an invasion of anyone’s privacy, harmful to other users, harmful to the Firms interests, of Real Law, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, national or international law or regulation;
      5. You will not submit or post any material which constitutes junk mail or unauthorised advertising, including solicitation of other users to buy or sell any products or services without the prior written consent of Real Law.
      6. The service reviewed was completed within the 12 months prior to posting the review
      7. You will not post more than 1 rating per 12 month period per Firm even if you have engaged them to work for you more than once per that 12 month period. Only one rating per engagement is permitted subject to the 12 month limit above.
    2. Irrespective of any monitoring of ratings, comments or other content on the Site which Real Law may choose to undertake, Real Law shall not be responsible for screening, editorial, or other control over ratings, comments or other content and you acknowledge that the Site may include material through no fault of Real Law that a Firm could perceive as distasteful, misleading, inaccurate, offensive, or otherwise objectionable.
    3. Real Law assumes no responsibility or liability for the preservation of content on the Site and may modify or remove it at its sole discretion.
    4. A Firm may reply to a review within the first 2 months of the review being posted. Replies to reviews cannot be edited once posted, except at the sole discretion of Real Law.
    5. A Firm may request evidence of custom (proof of engaging the Firm to act) within the first 2 months of the review being posted. The evidence, if provided, is to be sent directly to Real Law and may be shared with the Firm.
    6. Real Law Ltd reserves the right to audit ratings to ensure their legitimacy. When an audit is undertaken reviewers will be asked to provide evidence of the Firm having acted for them. While ratings are being audited they will be temporarily removed – and will be reinstated when sufficient evidence has been provided.
  6. Registered Firms
    1. If you have registered your Firm with Real Law, the additional terms and conditions set out in clause 6 will also apply.
    2. Real Law, subject to these terms and conditions, will provide your Firm with the Site improvement benefits described in the link entitled “Why Register?” on reallaw.nz.
    3. In posting or submitting material about your Firm on the Site, you warrant that:
      1. All such material is not private and is intended for publication on the Site;
      2. You grant Real Law the unrestricted right to use, reproduce, modify, translate and distribute any material you post or submit to the Site in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial uses;
      3. All such material is truthful and accurate to the best of your knowledge;
      4. You will not use obscene or offensive language or submit any material that is, or may potentially be, defamatory, abusive or hateful, an invasion of anyone’s privacy, harmful to other users, harmful to the business interests of Real Law, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, national or international law or regulation or breaches any code of ethics requirements that apply to the Firm.
    4. You agree not to post, or to encourage or procure others to post, ratings and/or comments about your Firm on the Site which are untrue, inaccurate or misleading.
    5. You agree to not coerce or intimidate to acquire or change ratings or comments about your Firm and you understand that such activity may result in the removal of your Firm from the Site.
    6. You agree not to disclose your login details to third parties. If you do so, you are liable for any breach of these terms and conditions by third parties using your login details and the indemnity referred to in clause 7 below is extended accordingly.
    7. You acknowledge and accept that Real Law is entitled to withdraw the benefits of registration or to remove your Firm from the Site at Real Law’s sole discretion.
    8. You acknowledge that, as at the date of these terms and conditions, the charges for becoming a registered Firm are $NZ 1,000 plus GST per month.
    9. You acknowledge that Real Law may increase or reduce its charges for registered Firms and that 30 days notice in writing and/or alteration of the charges in these terms and conditions shall be adequate notice to you.
    10. You acknowledge and accept that Real Law is entitled to withdraw the benefits of registration or to remove your Firm from the Site in the event of non-payment of fees by you.
    11. You acknowledge that charges for registered Firms will not be refundable except at the discretion of Real Law.
  7. Indemnity
    1. You agree to indemnify Real Law and its employees, contractors, agents and representatives and to hold them harmless from any and all claims and liabilities (including fees) which may arise from your breach of these terms and conditions.
  8. Privacy Policy
    1. The Privacy Act 1993 applies to the collection, use, storage and disclosure of information that you provide to us when accessing this Site.
    2. Any information that you provide to us when accessing this Site is collected and stored by us. Real Law will only collect personal information which is necessary for our business functions and activities, or to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
    3. Real Law collects, uses and discloses your information for a range of purposes. The information we collect is used for the following purposes:
      1. to be able to offer safe and simple use of the Site;
      2. to avoid ratings and/or comments being posted on the Site which are untrue, inaccurate or misleading;
      3. to be able to communicate, by means of electronic mail or otherwise, with you in connection with the Site;
      4. to ensure that you can access members only areas (where relevant);
      5. to fix system errors and for support services;
      6. to customise the information you receive from our Site;
      7. for our research, so that we can improve our products and services and tailor them to better suit your needs;
      8. to track how the Site is used and to identify popular areas, internet trends and demographics.
    4. You may contact us to request access to any information that we hold about you and you may also ask us to correct that information if you consider it to be inaccurate.
    5. We will release your information only when we believe release is appropriate: to comply with any applicable legal obligations; to comply with any request from a law enforcement agency; to enforce or apply our terms and conditions; or to protect the rights of Real Law, our users, or others.