Client FAQs

How the conversion affects you?

It remains important to us to provide you with the best possible service and as a result of conversion, there is no change to that or to the cost of our services. The same people will be carrying out your work from 3 Waterfront Business Park (although many of our teams are working remotely as we work our way out of the pandemic), with the same telephone numbers and they will all continue to work in accordance with the instructions you have given.

There is no significant change to the operation or management of the firm and the only obvious change will be to our name (see below).

The only change we have made on conversion is to update the titles given to some of our lawyers. To align ourselves with the broader legal market, our pool of Associates have become Senior Associates and our pool of Solicitors have become Associates. For further information, click here, but rest assured, there will no change to the hourly rates you are charged as a result of this change in title.

What is the new name of the firm?

Our name is Higgs LLP and any reference to Higgs & Sons Solicitors or Higgs shall mean Higgs LLP. We shall continue to use ‘Higgs’ as our trading name. Our letter heading, emails and invoices will be in the name of Higgs LLP. If you have bills outstanding at the date of the conversion in the name of Higgs & Sons, they have been automatically transferred, as unpaid invoices, due to the LLP.

Will the LLP still be regulated by the SRA?

There will be no change to the rights you enjoy by instructing a solicitors’ practice authorised under the Legal Services Act 2007. The LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) which has approved our application to convert to an LLP, with SRA Number 819589. There will be no change to any rights you have to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

Do our Professional Indemnity Insurance obligations move across to the LLP?

Our change in status will not affect the professional indemnity insurance we have in place and we will continue to have the same level of cover as was in place for the Partnership. Our professional indemnity insurance has been updated with the name of the LLP.

What about money we are holding for you?

If we held any money on your behalf in our client account on 1 July 2021, the money has been moved to the client account of Higgs LLP to be held on your behalf. The conversion will not affect the terms on which any monies are held or the timing of any transactions.

To combat the risks of cyber fraud, we are not changing the bank account sort codes or account numbers for any of our client and office accounts, although the names on each of our bank accounts will now be Higgs LLP.

If you receive any requests to send money to different account numbers, please do not comply with the requests, as the requests will not have been made by Higgs & Sons or Higgs LLP. Please instead telephone the lawyer dealing with your matter to notify us of the position.

What does the change of legal status to an LLP mean?

The LLP will trade with limited liability. A limited liability partnership is governed by the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2000 and is a corporate body which has Members rather than Partners or Shareholders. The LLP itself is liable for any debts or liabilities of the business and not the individual Members. As a Limited Liability Partnership, no personal liability attaches to any Member or Partner.

Who are the Partners?

A list of Members of the LLP (the business owners) is maintained at the registered office of the LLP.

Following conversion, we will not be practising in general partnership. We will however, use the term 'Partner' to refer to a person who is a Member of Higgs LLP or an employee of a subsidiary of Higgs LLP who is a lawyer with equivalent standing and qualifications and not as a reference to a partner in a partnership.

What has changed upon our conversion to an LLP?

This change should not affect you on a day-to-day basis. The main difference is that the legal relationship between us and our clients will be with Higgs LLP. There is no change to our dedication and commitment to provide the best possible service and to maintain the highest professional standards. There has also been no change in personnel as a result of the conversion and if we are currently instructed by you, the same people will look after your work.


Responsibility for advice and services provided on or after 1 July 2021 (and whether in connection with existing matters or new matters) will become that of the LLP, which will assume responsibility for all existing and new matters.

Your continuing instructions

As part of the conversion, the Partnership has transferred its business and assets to the LLP, which will assume certain rights, obligations, liabilities and commitments of the Partnership. The transfer includes all client engagements with related documents, records, and confidential or privileged information. The LLP has taken over the conduct of and now has responsibility for all clients' legal work and any contracts with our clients for the provision of legal services have been assigned to the LLP. We have  proceeded with the conversion on the basis that your continuing instructions will be confirmation that you are content to instruct Higgs LLP to:


• act for you on the same basis on which you instructed the Partnership (save as referred to below and where we may notify you otherwise); and

• to hold any client monies on your behalf, after the conversion.

Will existing Terms of Business between us change?

As a consequence of transfer of the Partnership to the LLP, clients’ consent is required to allow the transfer of files and information concerning client matters to the LLP. The LLP has accepted and assumed any rights and obligations of the Partnership performed from 1 July 2021 under all continuing agreements between clients and the Partnership and accordingly files and confidential information have been transferred to the LLP. Any client which continues to deal with or instructs the LLP on or after 1 July 2021, will be deemed to have agreed to the actions set out in this paragraph and to the LLP continuing to provide services on the basis of the LLP’s Terms of Business except to the extent otherwise agreed (whether before or after 1 July 2021).

The LLP’s Terms of Business will apply to all work which the LLP is instructed to carry out, on or after 1st July 2021. Existing terms which have been agreed with the Partnership in relation to; our role, the scope of services we have agreed to provide, the team working for you, costs and timescales (or any other terms which have not been superseded by the LLP’s Terms of Business) will continue to operate as set out in your original engagement letter with the Partnership, but will then be under the terms of your contract with the LLP. For the avoidance of doubt, all aspects of your relationship from 1 July 2021 will be with the LLP. From 1 July 2021, the Partnership will assign its rights to any fees from its engagements to the LLP and all future invoices will be in the name of the LLP.

Has this change been prompted by the pandemic?

No. We have been planning the conversion to LLP status for a number of years so we have been able to put in place plans to make the transition as seamless and straight-forward as possible. We intended to convert in 2020 but paused the project when the pandemic started to impact the UK.

Have our email addresses changed?

As of the 1st July 2021, our email addresses have changed from: forename.surname@higgsandsons.co.uk to forename.surname@higgsllp.co.uk, however any emails that you send to the old Partnership email addresses will also still be forwarded to the new LLP email addresses.

Still have questions?

If you have any questions about the conversion, please do not hesitate to click here to contact us.

Senior Partner statement

Commenting on the conversion, Nick Moxon, Higgs' Senior Partner said:

"As we continue to strive to become one of the Midlands’ leading law firms, it made sense for us to convert to an LLP and this change has been supported tremendously by all of our Partners. The conversion will have no effect to our clients and we will continue to provide the same quality service.

In practical terms it will be very much business as usual. The change will not affect the services we provide and the same dedicated team will continue to provide their services to you as before.”

 

Contact us

3 Waterfront Business Park
Brierley Hill
West Midlands, DY5 1LX

Email: law@higgsllp.co.uk
Call Us: 0345 111 5050

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Higgs LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority number 819589.