Terms of Service - Attorneys
Terms of Service for Attorneys
This is a legal agreement ("Agreement") between you and TEC Law Firm, PLLC, a District of Columbia limited liability partnership ("TEC Law") with a principal place of business at 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington D.C. 20008. By accessing the TEC Law website, currently located at www.TECLawFirm.com (the "Site"), using any of the Services (as defined below), information, software, or products accessible through the Site, and by checking the box indicating your consent, you become a user and agree to, and are bound by, the terms and conditions of this Agreement for as long as you continue to use the Site or Services. The terms “You”, Your”, and “Yourself refer to the individual use of the Service. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT INDICATE YOUR CONSENT OR USE THE SITE OR THE SERVICES. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO USE THE SERVICE. Your use of, or participation in, certain Services may be subject to additional terms, and such terms will be either listed in this Agreement or will be presented to you for your acceptance when you sign up to use such Services.
Please review this Agreement carefully, including the Arbitration provision in Section 15, which describes how Disputes (as defined below) will be resolved between us, and that no class actions may be brought under this Agreement. This Agreement is subject to change by TEC Law in its sole discretion at any time, and any such changes will be posted on the Site. Your continued use of this Site or the Services after the posting of revisions to this Agreement will constitute your acceptance of such revisions. Please consult the beginning of this Agreement to determine when the Agreement was last revised.
TEC Law Services
The TEC Law services consist of the following, without limitation: a wholly automated, double-blind patent-pending referral service for people in the general public who need an attorney and wish to solicit an attorney for legal services (“Referral Services"), and any premium or exclusive services offered by or on behalf of TEC Law ("Premium Services") (collectively, the "Services"). You are entering this Agreement in your capacity as an attorney who wishes to be matched with people in the general public through the Services. TEC Law may offer you additional services or revise any of the Services, at its discretion, and this Agreement will apply to all additional services you consent to or revised Services offered by TEC Law. TEC Law also reserves the right to cease offering any of the Services at any time without prior notice.
1. Eligibility.
a. Minimum Age. You must be at least 18 years old to use the Site or to register for the Services. By using the Referral Service and consenting to this Agreement, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old.
b. For Attorneys. By requesting to use, registering to use, and/or using the Referral Service, you have affirmatively represented and warranted that you are an attorney, and a member in good standing with your state bar association. TEC Law reserves the right to confirm that you are a member in good standing with your state bar association, at any time using available public records, to confirm your compliance with this subsection (the “Soft Background Check”). WHEN CONSENTING TO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU ARE ALSO AUTHORIZING TEC LAW TO CONDUCT A “SOFT” BACKGROUND CHECK. Your use of the Site and the Services is contingent upon your providing such representations, consent, and maintaining your membership in good standing with your state bar association.
By using the Site and Services, you represent that you have not been designated by the United States government, any state government, regulatory body and/or bar association as a person, of whatever kind, to whom use of the Site and/or provision of the Services are prohibited. Registration for, and use of, the Site and Services are void where prohibited. You are responsible for determining whether the use of the Site and Services is legal in your jurisdiction.
2. Use of Site and Services.
As a party to this Agreement, user of the Site or a user registered to use any of the Services (a "Registered User"), you agree to the following:
a. Exclusive Use of Your Account. Your account is for your individual use only. You may not authorize others to use your account, and you may not assign or otherwise transfer your account to any other person or entity. You acknowledge that TEC Law is not responsible for third-party access to your account that results from theft or misappropriation of your usernames and/or passwords.
b. Restrictions on Giving External Referrals. TEC Law’s Site and Services are intended to allow members of the public to be matched with multiple attorneys at a time and given the opportunity to select the one they decide is most suited to their needs. If you do not accept representation of a potential client, you agree to notify them so they may select another attorney through TEC Law. You further expressly agree not to make referrals to external attorneys for potential clients with whom you are matched. Providing external referrals or otherwise taking clients off the TEC Law platform may result in forfeiture of your TEC Law membership, access to clients, and potential client users or pecuniary penalties.
c. Geographic Limitations. The Site and Services are intended solely for use in the United States and U.S. territories. TEC Law does NOT currently intend to collect data or information from any foreign national. You hereby represent and warrant that you are NOT foreign national, and your use of the Site and Services is contingent upon the truthfulness and ongoing validity of those representations and warranties. You will only use the Site and Services in a manner consistent with this Agreement and any and all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations.
d. Information Submitted. You are solely responsible for, and assume all liability regarding the truthfulness and validity of, (i) the information and content you contribute to the Site and Services; (ii) the information and content you post, transmit, publish, or otherwise make available (hereinafter "post") through the Site and Services; and (iii) your interactions with other Registered Users through the Site and Services. The service will share your information with your match(es) only after the match(es) is/are confirmed by you.
e. Risk Assumption and Precautions. You assume all risk when using the Site and Services, including but not limited to all of the risks associated with any online or offline interactions with other users. You agree to take all necessary precautions when meeting individuals once the match is confirmed by you. Important: as an attorney user, you may require an upfront partial flat fee payment prior to delivery of legal services. You may also require additional payment for out-of-pocket expenses such as court costs and travel costs. The terms of any such agreements between you and any potential client are your responsibility to arrange for and memorialize.
f. Exclusive Use of TEC Law Platform and TEC Law Direct Pay. As part of your attorney user membership in TEC Law’s Services, TEC Law provides you with a private and secure message board to be notified of and send messages to general users who wish to solicit you for legal representation, and to facilitate your finalizing the terms and scope of legal representation including, but not limited to, flat fee rate agreements and reimbursement for out-of-pockets costs and filing fees. These features are provided as a convenient tool for you, to facilitate secure communication, to assist you with managing your tasks, and to provide assurances that the fees for your services will be transferred following the terms of this Agreement. The terms of your agreement with any client remain solely between you and your potential client; however, you understand and assume the risk that failure to finalize the terms of legal representation on the private message board and/or upload your engagement agreement may result in lack of evidence of proof of your agreement if a dispute arises. Moreover, you agree to exclusively utilize TEC Law Direct Pay to process payments and understand and assume the risk that failure to utilize the TEC Law Direct Pay system may result in loss of payment protection, forfeiture of your TEC Law membership, and access to clients and potential client users.
g. Processing of Payments. TEC Law will process payments through TEC Law Direct Pay as follows: attorney users who first respond to clients who wish to use their services will accept and schedule a client consultation. Once the client accepts the legal consultation, TEC Law’s fee will be immediately transferred, and the attorney’s fee will be immediately transferred to the attorney’s designated escrow account.
It is strongly suggested to attorney users that before they authorize and accept the release of a retainer fee, they confirm that they have signed a written engagement agreement with their client user. TEC Law will not be responsible for or resolve any fee dispute or other dispute between its attorney users and client users.
You authorize TEC Law to charge the credit card(s) that you freely and voluntarily enter on the Site for the services defined below. The payment authorization is for the amount indicated in your membership plan and subsequent payments following the terms of this Agreement. You further certify that you are the authorized user of the credit card(s) that you freely and voluntarily enter on www.teclawfirm.com and that you will not dispute the payment with your credit card company or bank, so long as the payment corresponds with the terms indicated in this Agreement.
h. No Guarantees. TEC Law may not be able to provide referrals for everyone seeking to use the Services. Further, TEC Law makes no guarantees as to the number or frequency of referrals generated through the Referral Service, or to such referrals’ ability, desire or criteria to communicate with any user, regardless of the type of membership you choose. You understand that, except as otherwise stated in this section, TEC Law makes no guarantees, either express or implied, regarding your ultimate ability to engage any potential client that you are connected with through the Referral Service or as to the conduct of such individual(s) during the representation. For the purposes of this section, "referrals" are defined as the point when general users accept consultations with attorney members they chose from TEC Law's wholly-automated referral system.
i. Reporting of Violations. You will promptly report to TEC Law any violation of the Agreement by others upon such violation becoming known to you, including but not limited to, any violation by Registered Users.
j. Content Removal. TEC Law reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor the information or material you submit to the Site and through the Services. TEC Law will have the right to remove any such information or material that in its sole opinion violates, or may violate, any applicable law, the letter or spirit of this Agreement, or upon the reasonable request of any third-party. TEC Law further reserves the right to remove matches previously delivered to you, in its reasonable discretion, in order to assure that you and/or other members have quality experiences on the Site.
k. Posting and Communication Restrictions. You will not post on the Site, transmit to other users, communicate any content (or links thereto), or otherwise engage in any activity on the Site or through the Services, that:
i. promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
ii. is intended to or tends to harass, annoy, threaten or intimidate any other users of the Site or Services;
iii. is defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, offensive, sexually oriented, obscene or otherwise objectionable;
iv. contains others’ copyrighted content and/or content in which others have intellectual property rights (e.g., music, movies, videos, photographs, images, software, etc.) without obtaining express written permission first;
v. contains video, audio, photographs, or identifying images of another person without his or her express written permission; however, in no case shall you post on the Site, transmit to other users, or communicate any content (or links thereto) containing any information, video, audio, photographs, or identifying images referring or relating to anyone under 18;
vi. promotes or enables illegal or unlawful activities, such as instructions on how to make or buy illegal weapons or drugs, violate someone's privacy, harm or harass another person, obtain others' identity information, create or disseminate computer viruses, or circumvent copy-protect devices;
vii. intended to defraud, swindle or deceive other users of the Services;
viii. contains viruses, time bombs, trojan horses, cancelbots, worms or other harmful, or disruptive codes, components or devices;
ix. promotes or solicits involvement in or support of a political platform, religion, cult, or sect;
x. disseminates another person's personal information without his or her permission, disseminates personal information referring or relating to anyone under 18, and/or collects or solicits another person's personal information for commercial or unlawful purposes;
xi. is off-topic, meaningless, or otherwise intended to annoy or interfere with others' enjoyment of the Site;
xii. impersonates, or otherwise misrepresents affiliation, connection or association with, any person or entity;
xiii. solicits gambling or engages in any gambling or similar activity;
xiv. uses scripts, bots or other automated technology to access the Site or Services;
xv. uses the Site or Services for chain letter, junk mail or spam emails;
xvi. collects, solicits, uses or reveals data or information about anyone under 18; or
xvii. is in any way used for or in connection with spamming, spimming, phishing, trolling, or similar activities.
l. No False Information. You will not provide inaccurate, misleading or false information to TEC Law or to any other user. If you discover that information provided to TEC Law or another user subsequently becomes inaccurate, misleading or false, you will promptly notify TEC Law of such change.
m. No Junk or Spam Email. You will not transmit any chain letters, junk or spam e-mail to other users. Further, you will not use any information obtained from the Site or Services in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any user without their prior explicit consent. If you breach the terms of this subsection and send or post unsolicited bulk email, "spam" or other unsolicited communications of any kind through the Site or Services, you acknowledge that you will have caused substantial and irreparable harm to TEC Law, and, further, that legal, monetary relief would not fully compensate TEC Law for the breach. You therefore agree that TEC Law may seek immediate, extraordinary relief in a court of competent jurisdiction, including but not limited to temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions and/or permanent injunctions, in addition to any request for legal, monetary relief, without posting bond or other security, in the event of any alleged breach of this subsection. Moreover, you also agree that the exact amount of harm caused TEC Law would be extremely difficult to ascertain. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay TEC Law $500 for each unsolicited communication you send and/or that is received through the Site or Services as the result of your actions. Finally, in any dispute arising under this subsection of this agreement, the prevailing party shall be awarded his or her reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
n. Unique and Bona Fide Profile. As a Registered User of the Referral Services, you will create only ONE unique profile. In addition, your use of the Referral Service must be for the purpose of getting matched with general users. By way of example only and without limitation, you may not become a Registered User solely to compile a report of potential clients. Not all registered users are available for referral. From time to time, TEC Law may create test profiles in order to monitor the operation of the Services.
o. No Harassment of TEC Law Employees or Agents. You will not harass, annoy, intimidate or threaten any TEC Law employee or agent engaged in providing any portion of the Services to you.
p. Social Media. We may provide you the option to connect your TEC Law account to your account on social networking sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn) for the purpose of logging in, uploading information or enabling certain features on the Service. THIS IS STRICTLY OPTIONAL AND INTENDED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING CONVENIENCE TO YOU AS THE USER WHEN ACCESSING YOUR TEC LAW ACCOUNT. When enabling this feature, we will disclose to you the information we collect from the connected social networking site and will use such information to populate your profile and share the profile in compliance with our Privacy Policy. By connecting your TEC Law account to your account on any social networking site, you hereby consent to the continuous release of information about you to TEC Law. You can always disconnect the accounts via your TEC Law Account Settings page. Each social network may further allow you to set privacy controls around your information on their system, and TEC Law’s collection of information will always follow such controls and permissions. This feature is subject to continuous change and improvement by us and each social networking site involved, and therefore the available features and shared information are subject to change.
q. Payment Processing. TEC Law has a secured payment portal, TEC Law Direct Pay, for holding and processing payments. TEC Law has partnered with Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”) for the use of Stripe’s payment processing services. By using Stripe’s payment processing services, you agree to Stripe’s Checkout User Terms of Service Agreement and Stripe's Privacy Policy.
3. Proprietary Rights.
a. TEC Law’s Ownership of Confidential Information. You hereby acknowledge and agree that TEC Law is the owner of highly valuable proprietary information pertaining to the Site and Services, including without limitation, TEC Law’s referral system, profiles, and automated questionnaires (collectively, "Confidential Information"). TEC Law owns and hereby retains all of its proprietary rights in the Site and Services, including but not limited to, its proprietary rights in any and all Confidential Information.
b. No Use of Confidential Information. You will not post, copy, modify, transmit, disclose, show in public, create any derivative works from, distribute, make commercial use of, or reproduce in any way, any Confidential Information or other proprietary information accessible via the Site or Services, without first obtaining the express prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights, specifically: TEC Law Firm, PLLC.
c. TEC Law’s Intellectual Property Rights. “Intellectual Property” and “Intellectual Property Rights” shall have the broadest possible meaning, and shall include, without limitation, any and all common law and registered intellectual property rights, patents and/or applications, trademarks and/or trademarks and/or trademark applications, copyrights and/or copyright applications, trade secrets, processes or systems, sales and distribution networks, logos, websites, designs, advertising or promotional materials, automated questionnaires or related research, and/or information related in any way to TEC Law and its Site and Services which now exist, or at any point in the future shall exist, as well as any derivative works, moral rights, and/or other artistic rights associated in any way whatsoever with any of the foregoing.
You hereby acknowledge that any and all of TEC Law’s Intellectual Property Rights pertaining to TEC Law, its Site and Services, remain the sole and exclusive rights of TEC Law. You further acknowledge that nothing in this agreement intends to or does grant any Intellectual Property Rights to you or allows you the right to access or use TEC Law’s Intellectual Property. You agree to respect and not infringe TEC Law’s Intellectual Property Rights, and further agree not to make commercial use of TEC Law’s Intellectual Property, without first obtaining the express prior written consent of The TEC Law Company, Inc.
d. Other Users’ Information. Other Registered Users may post copyrighted information on the Site or through the Services, which has copyright protection whether or not it is identified as copyrighted. You agree that you will not copy, modify, publish, transmit, distribute, perform, display, commercially use, or sell any proprietary information of TEC Law or any third party user that may be made available via the Services or the Site, without first obtaining the express prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights.
e. License to Posted or Accessed Content. You may elect to post information or content to any profile pages or other public area of the Site or Services, and you may further elect to link your TEC Law account to any of your social network accounts, for the purpose of linking or posting content to the public areas of the Site or Services, or to populate your profile. You agree that you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to TEC Law and its users, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, worldwide license to use, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute information and content you link or post to the public areas of the Site or Services and your profile, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sub-licenses of the foregoing. From time to time, TEC Law may create, test, and/or implement new features or programs on the Site in which you may voluntarily choose to participate or may be a part of a test group with special access, in accordance with the additional terms and conditions of such features or programs. By your participation in such features or programs, you grant TEC Law the rights stated in this subsection in connection with the additional terms and conditions (if any) of such features or programs.
4. User Information.
a. Privacy Statement. For information about the collection and possible use of information and material provided by you to TEC Law, please click on TEC Law's Privacy Policy located on the Site. Your use of the Site and the Services is contingent upon your consenting to the terms of TEC Law's Privacy Policy.
b. Exchange of Information. You may, at your discretion, exchange your information with your potential client after you have agreed to a consultation and a confirmation notice has been sent to both you and your potential client.
c. Disclosure by Law. You acknowledge and agree that TEC Law may disclose information you provide if required to do so by law, at the request of a third-party provided that notice has been given to you of the request, or if we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure is reasonable to: (1) comply with the law, requests or orders from law enforcement, or any legal process (whether or not such disclosure is required by applicable law); (2) protect or defend TEC Law's, your, or a third party's, rights or property; or (3) protect someone's health or safety, such as when harm or violence against any person (including a user) is threatened.
d. Use of Anonymous Information for Research. You agree to allow TEC Law to anonymously use the information from you and your experiences provided through the Site and Services to continue TEC Law's research to improve the Site and Services. By way of example only, TEC Law could monitor the popularity of certain areas of its Site and Services and their features, to improve the functionality of the Site and Services and assess what further products, features and services to offer in the future. However, we will not publish research containing your personal information. For further information on this, please see our Privacy Policy.
5. Links to Third-Party Web Sites / Dealings with Advertisers and Sponsors.
The Site, Services, and TEC Law newsletters may contain links to web sites of third-parties, including without limitation, advertisers, which are not under the control of TEC Law, and TEC Law is not responsible for the content of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such websites. TEC Law provides these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply that TEC Law endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on such third-party web site. Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers or sweepstakes sponsors found on or through the Services (including payment and delivery of related goods or services, any personal information or opt-in contact information voluntarily given to advertisers and sweepstake sponsors, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings) are solely between you and such advertiser or sweepstakes sponsor. You agree that TEC Law will not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings, including the sharing of the information you supply to TEC Law with advertisers or sweepstakes sponsors, or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on the Services. Please read our Privacy Policy to learn more about how we use your information.
6. Disclaimer of Warranty.
a. No Warranties. THIS SECTION WILL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. TEC LAW PROVIDES THE SITE AND SERVICES ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS AND GRANTS NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES OR THE SITE (INCLUDING ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN), INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. TEC LAW DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND SERVICES WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, ALWAYS AVAILABLE, ERROR-FREE OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS IN THE SITE AND SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED. TEC LAW DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR, AND NO WARRANTY IS MADE WITH RESPECT TO, THE CONNECTIVITY AND AVAILABILITY OF THE SITE AND SERVICES.
b. Disclaimer. TEC LAW IS NOT AN ATTORNEY, A LAW FIRM, A LAWYER REFERRAL SERVICE, OR A LAWYER DIRECTORY, AND THE EMPLOYEES OF TEC LAW ARE NOT ACTING AS ATTORNEYS. TEC LAW DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY LEGAL ADVICE. THE USE OF TEC LAW, THE SITE, OR SERVICES DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND TEC LAW, NOR DOES IT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEC LAW AND ANY OTHER USER. ALL USERS ARE TOLD THAT USE OF THE SITE AND SERVICES IS INTENDED FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD BE USED ONLY AS A STARTING POINT FOR ADDRESSING ANY LEGAL ISSUES, WHICH THEY ARE ADVISED SHOULD BE ADDRESSED THROUGH CONSULTATION WITH A LICENSED ATTORNEY. FOR FURTHER CLARITY, ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY TEC LAW TO A USER IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR AN IN-PERSON OR TELEPHONE CONSULTATION WITH AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN A USER’S JURISDICTION ABOUT A SPECIFIC LEGAL ISSUE AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON. TEC LAW WILL NOT INFLUENCE OR INTERFERE IN ANY MANNER WITH AN ATTORNEY’S INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT AND/OR ITS GENERAL USERS’ JUDGMENT OR DECISIONS.
ANY COMMUNICATION WITH TEC LAW IS NOT SUBJECT TO AN ATTORNEY’S DUTY OF CONFIDENTIALITY AND IS NOT PROTECTED BY THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE OR WORK-PRODUCT DOCTRINE. FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, WHEN CONTACTING TEC LAW, YOU HEREBY EXPRESSLY WAIVE ANY DUTY OF CONFIDENTIALITY THAT MAY BE IMPLIED TO ALL OF YOUR COMMUNICATIONS WITH TEC LAW WHILE USING THE SITE OR THE SERVICES.
Attorney users must confirm for themselves that their activities, including their use of the Site and Services, are lawful. The laws governing attorneys vary by state, and the prevailing national view could vary in some instances in certain states. TEC Law is constantly at work to comply with new ethical rules in all states. However, attorney users, not TEC Law, are responsible for ensuring their own compliance with applicable rules and regulations.
Moreover, TEC Law does not investigate, verify or warrant the accuracy of any information provided by its attorney users in their profiles. You are solely responsible for the accuracy of all information you provide TEC Law and other users. TEC Law is not liable for any statements, representations, ratings, endorsements, advertisements, testimonials, responses, comments, information, opinions, advice, links to any third party websites and content contained on such third party websites, or content of any other kind transmitted by you or any other users, and reference(s) to any such content on the Site are not a sponsorship, endorsement, or recommendation by TEC Law. All users are told that TEC Law makes no representation that the quality of the legal services to be performed by any attorney user is greater than the quality of legal services performed by any other attorney; similarly, TEC Law makes no representation as to the outcome of any legal representation or matter. Finally, all users are told that results of an attorney’s prior legal representation do not guarantee a similar outcome in the future.
As an attorney user you retain the right and responsibility to exercise your own independent professional judgment regarding the legal engagements you undertake and the legal services you provide, including but not limited to whether to accept a match, undertake an engagement, and/or how to handle any and all engagements. For further clarity, TEC Law has no influence on, involvement in, or responsibility for the professional services of its attorney users. You are solely responsible to the other users for establishing and maintaining any attorney-client relationship you undertake, as well as for all legal services provided. Specifically, you represent and warrant that you will obtain a valid and enforceable, separate attorney engagement agreement with any other user to whom you provide legal services, and that the scope of the legal services to be provided will be specified in, and governed by, that agreement. Any and all disputes between you and any other users, including but not limited to disputes regarding whether an attorney-client relationship has been established, the scope of services to be provided, the quality of the services provided, the propriety of the fees charged and/or payments made, shall be resolved between you and the other users, not TEC Law.
c. Third-Party Content. Opinions, advice, statements, offers, or other information or content made available through the Site or Services, but not directly by TEC Law, are those of their respective authors, and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such authors are solely responsible for such content. TEC LAW DOES NOT: (i) GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE SITE OR SERVICES AUTHORED BY OTHERS, OR (ii) ADOPT, ENDORSE OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT MADE BY ANY PARTY OTHER THAN TEC LAW. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL TEC LAW BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM ANYONE'S RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OR OTHER CONTENT AUTHORED BY, POSTED ON THE SITE OR SERVICES BY, OR TRANSMITTED TO OR BY, ANY PARTY OTHER THAN TEC LAW.
d. Beta Features. From time to time, TEC Law may offer new "beta" features or tools with which its users may experiment on the Services. Such features or tools are offered solely for experimental purposes and without any warranty of any kind and may be modified or discontinued at TEC Law’s sole discretion. The provisions of this Disclaimer of Warranty section apply with full force to such features or tools.
7. Limitation of Liability.
a. Incidental Damages and Aggregate Liability. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL TEC LAW BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR SERVICES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA OR PROGRAMS, SITE OR SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS AND PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, EVEN IF TEC LAW KNOWS OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL TEC LAW’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY, IN ANY FORM OF ACTION WHATSOEVER IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF THE SERVICES OR THE SITE, EXCEED THE PRICE PAID BY YOU FOR YOUR ACCOUNT, OR, IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID TEC LAW FOR THE USE OF ANY SERVICES, THE AMOUNT OF $10.00 USD OR ITS EQUIVALENT.
b. No Liability for Non-TEC Law Actions. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL TEC LAW BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, GENERAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, COMPENSATORY, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE CONDUCT OF YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SITE OR SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, BODILY INJURY, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, AND/OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES RESULTING FROM COMMUNICATIONS OR MEETINGS WITH ATTORNEYS OR OTHER USERS OF THE SITE OR SERVICES. THIS INCLUDES ANY CLAIMS, LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE CONDUCT OF USERS WHO HAVE REGISTERED UNDER FALSE PRETENSES OR WHO ATTEMPT TO DEFRAUD OR HARM YOU.
c. Information Verification. TEC Law may use various ways of verifying information that users have provided, with their consent. However, none of those ways are perfect, and you agree that TEC Law will have no liability to you arising from any incorrectly verified information.
8. Indemnification.
For Attorneys. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless TEC Law, its subsidiaries and/or parent companies, and each of their officers, directors, employees, agents, attorneys, and related third parties, for any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs) relating to or arising out of any third party claim regarding, referring or related to (a) your use of or inability to use the Site or Services, (b) any user postings made by you, (c) your violation of any terms of this Agreement or your violation of any rights of a third party, or (d) your violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations regarding, referring, or relating to the Site or Services. TEC Law reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with TEC Law in asserting any available defenses. You further agree to indemnify and hold TEC Law harmless for the representation of other users and services requested to be performed by other users, your ultimate ability to engage and/or provide services to any other user, and your representation of any other user.
9. Complaints / Law Enforcement or Government Contact.
To resolve a complaint regarding the Services, you should review our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) by clicking on the FAQs link located at the top of any page of the Site, or e-mail us at talib@teclawfirm.com. Law enforcement officials may send correspondence (such as subpoenas, court orders and warrants) to: TEC Law Firm, PLLC, attn.: Talib Karim, Esq., 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington D.C. 20008. All other communication or inquiries sent to this facsimile number related to TEC Law will be discarded.
10. Communication and Privacy.
We may use your email address to send you messages notifying you of important changes to the Site or Services or special offers or promotions. Further, we may contact you by telephone if you voluntarily provide us with your telephone number, in order to communicate with you regarding the Site and Services. If you do not want to receive such email messages or telephone calls (including at any wireless number you may have voluntarily provided us), please refer to our Privacy Policy to review your options.
11. Term and Termination.
This Agreement will become effective upon your acceptance of the Agreement and your use of the Site or Services and will remain in effect in perpetuity unless terminated hereunder. Either you or TEC Law may terminate your account at any time, for any reason or no reason, without explanation, effective upon sending written notice to the other party. TEC Law reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate your access to the Site or Services, without notice, for any reason or no reason. We also reserve the right to remove your account information or data from our Site or Services and any other records at any time at our sole discretion. In the event your access to the Site or Services is suspended due to the breach of this Agreement, you agree that all fees then paid to TEC Law by you will be non-refundable and all outstanding or pending payments will immediately be due. You may terminate your account by selecting "Contact Us" on the drop-down menu in the top right corner or bottom of the Site, selecting "Membership And Subscription" under Inquiry Type, and sending a message which states that you are canceling this Agreement, or words of similar effect, or by sending an email to: talib@teclawfirm.com. Please include the e-mail address associated with your TEC Law account in this notice. Following any termination of any user's use of the Site or Services, TEC Law reserves the right to send a notice thereof to other users with whom you have corresponded.
12. Cancellations.
a. Cancellation. At Any Time with No Refund. Except as otherwise stated in this section, you may cancel your membership or subscription to any Services at any time during the term of such registration or subscription or any renewal period by selecting "Contact Us" on the drop-down menu in the top right corner or bottom of the website, selecting "Membership And Subscription" under Inquiry Type, and sending a message which states that you are canceling this Agreement, or words of similar effect, or by sending an email to: talib@teclawfirm.com. Please include the e-mail address associated with your TEC Law account in this notice. In such case, your membership or subscription will terminate at the end of the membership or subscription term for which you have paid, and you will not receive any refund for any unused days of such membership or subscription term. For example, if you are a monthly member and started your membership on June 30th and you cancel on July 15th, you would not be billed on your next payment date or July 30th and will not receive a refund for the unused membership days of July 16th to July 30th. If you purchase a membership or subscription on an installation payment basis (such as a 12-month or 24-month payment plan), your ability to cancel your membership as described above will be available to you only once your final installment payment has been paid.
b. 48-Hour Cancellation with Refund. Regarding the Referral Service, you may cancel your membership or subscription at any time prior to midnight of the second business day following the date of this Agreement, excluding holidays. To cancel this Agreement, select "Contact Us" on the drop-down menu in the top right corner or bottom of the website, select "Membership And Subscription" under Inquiry Type, and send a message which states that you are canceling this Agreement, or words of similar effect, or by sending an email to: talib@teclawfirm.com. Please include the e-mail address associated with your TEC Law account in this notice. For Referral Services, the day that you submit a completed subscription form will be the date of this Agreement. Any refunds under this 48-hour cancellation policy will be made within 10 days after TEC Law’s receipt of your cancellation notice.
c. Cancellation as a Result of Death or Disability. If by reason of death or disability you are unable to receive Matchmaking Services for which you contracted, you or your estate may elect to be relieved of the obligation to make payments for services other than those received before death or the onset of disability, except as provided in subsection (iii). It will be the responsibility of you or your estate to reasonably promptly notify TEC Law of the cancellation.
i. If you have prepaid any amount for the Referral Service, so much of the amount prepaid that is allocable to services that you have not received will be promptly refunded to you or your representative.
ii. "Disability" means a condition which precludes you from physically using the Referral Service during the term of disability and the condition is verified in writing by a physician designated and remunerated by you. Written verification from the physician must be presented to TEC Law.
iii. If the physician determines that the duration of the disability will be less than six (6) months, TEC Law may extend the term of the Referral Services contract for a period of six (6) months at no additional charge to you in lieu of cancellation.
13. Billing.
a. Billing Cycle. When you register and purchase your TEC Law membership, your first subscription cycle will be billed immediately. Your subscription will automatically renew each month (or each year for annual members) and you will be billed on the same date each month (or year). TEC Law reserves the right to change the timing of its billing and to make adjustments to the amounts charged, as appropriate. In the event your paying membership began on a day not contained in a given month, you agree to allow TEC Law to charge you on a day in the applicable month or such other day as deemed appropriate. For illustration purposes only, if you started your TEC Law membership or became a paying member on January 31st, your next payment date is likely to be February 28th, and you would be charged on that date.
b. Price Changes. TEC Law reserves the right to adjust membership pricing at any time. Unless TEC Law expressly communicates otherwise, any price changes to your membership will take effect on your next billing cycle upon notice communicated through a newsletter, email, on TEC Law’s website or such other means as deemed appropriate from time to time.
c. Inability to Bill Your Account. If TEC Law cannot bill your account, TEC Law reserves the right to terminate your access to the Site or Services, or any portion thereof.
d. Gifts and Promotions. From time to time TEC Law may make available itself or through third parties gift cards for a TEC Law membership. The purchase and redemption of gift cards may be subject to additional terms. From time to time, other types of promotions, including through the use of promotional codes, may be available, including those provided as part of a third-party promotion. Promotions and promotional codes may be redeemed as described in the specifics of the promotion. Unless otherwise expressly communicated to you in connection with your redemption, gift cards, promotions and promotional codes are only available to new customers that have never had a TEC Law membership before, are not transferable, can only be used once, cannot be redeemed for cash, may not be combined with other offers, and are void where prohibited. To be eligible for promotions, your subscription may not be on “hold”. If you received a promotional code through an offer by a third party, additional conditions may apply.
14. Renewals.
In order to provide continuous service, TEC Law automatically renews all paid subscriptions for the Services on the date such subscriptions expire. We always communicate renewal periods to you in the subscription plan page, before you finalize the purchase of your subscription, upon confirmation of purchase, or in the body of any special promotions sent to our users. By entering into this Agreement, you acknowledge that your account will be subject to the above-described automatic renewals. In all cases, if you do not wish your account to renew automatically, please follow the directions set out under 12(a) "Cancellation-At Any Time With No Refund".
15. Arbitration
a. Arbitration of Disputes. You and TEC Law agree that any and all disputes arising out of or related to the Site, the Services, this Agreement and/or any policies or practices of TEC Law (a “Dispute”), will be subject to FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION as set forth in this section, and may only be resolved through an individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), to the maximum extent permitted by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). YOU AND TEC LAW AGREE THAT WE ARE EACH GIVING UP OUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT in connection with a Dispute (subject to the exceptions listed in subsection 15b), and that our rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR OR ARBITRATION PANEL, NOT A JUDGE OR JURY. Notwithstanding the above, TEC Law is always interested in attempting to resolve any disputes by amicable and informal means, and we encourage you to contact us before resorting to arbitration. If you have an issue, question or concern about the Site or Services and are contemplating arbitration, please direct your inquiries to us at talib@teclawfirmcom.
b. Exceptions to Arbitration. The only exceptions to this agreement to arbitrate Disputes are: (i) in the event that TEC Law brings legal and/or equitable claims (including but not limited to claims for injunctive relief) in accordance with Section 2.j of this Agreement regarding, referring or relating to your use of the Site and Services, in which case TEC Law may elect to have such claims heard in any court of competent jurisdiction; (ii) in the event that TEC Law brings legal and/or equitable claims regarding, referring or relating to the misuse, misinformation, or unauthorized activity.