Human Law

Contractual Framework

Terms of Business

These Terms of Business set out the basis upon which Human Law provides unbundled strategic and legal diagnostic services. By instructing us following a Phase 01 review and activating a Phase 02 formal file opening, you agree to be legally bound by these terms.

1. Status and Regulation

Human Law is the trading name of Justin Patten, an independent sole practitioner solicitor authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number: 657838). These terms apply to all unbundled strategic advice, risk modeling, and conflict diagnostics performed by Human Law.

2. The Unbundled Service Architecture

Human Law operates strictly as an unbundled legal consultancy. This means we are retained for finite, fixed-fee diagnostic modules and strategic analysis only. The absolute boundaries of our services include the following strict rules:

  • No Conduct of Litigation: We do not act as your solicitor on record in court proceedings. We do not draft active litigation pleadings, issue applications, or manage court timetables.
  • No Service of Documents: We do not accept formal service of court notices, processing papers, or legal actions on your behalf. All documents must continue to be served directly on you or your designated contentious law firm.
  • No General Estate Administration: We do not process routine non-contested probate registry filings, calculate estate ledgers, or perform asset distributions and property conveyancing.

Our role is to analyze conflict parameters and deliver structured blueprints so that acting fiduciaries, lay executors, and their transactional teams can resolve standstills outside of court channels.

3. Fixed-Fee Modular Charging Structure

We do not use hourly billing or open-ended retainers. Every phase of our system is strictly bound to fixed financial parameters:

  • Phase 01 — SVS Triage Scan: Provided at no cost. This is a preliminary online screening and does not constitute a formal solicitor-client relationship.
  • Phase 02 — Formal File Opening (£950 + VAT): This fee covers identity validation, AML screening, actor conflict checks, and the initial structural consultation. No case files, letters, or evidentiary records are ingested or reviewed during this phase. This fee represents the formal assumption of regulated professional risk and initializes the file framework.
  • Phase 03 — Structural Clarity Report (£1,500–£2,000 + VAT): Triggered only after Phase 02 compliance clearance. Covers the forensic review of up to 30 pages of whitelisted primary dispute evidence to map Ghost Facts and isolate the Narrow Point.
  • Phase 04 — Structured Exit Blueprint (£3,500–£7,500 + VAT): Covers the engineering of step-by-step out-of-court execution scripts, tactical communication protocols, and custom forms.

All modular fees must be settled in full prior to the initialization of the respective phase. VAT is calculated at the standard prevailing UK rate.

4. Document Ingestion Rules

To preserve the operational margin and objective clarity of our system, document ingestion is strictly limited to a maximum of 30 physical pages during Phase 03. We do not accept unorganized bulk data dumps. Clients are required to follow the upload parameters generated at the end of Phase 02 to isolate primary blocking evidence files.

5. Termination and Cut-off Boundaries

Because our work is modular, either party may terminate the engagement at the conclusion of any completed phase with immediate effect. Human Law reserves the right to decline progression to a subsequent phase if our diagnostics indicate that the file conflict has passed the ripeness threshold or requires adversarial court litigation representation.

6. Client Responsibilities

As an unbundled client, you retain full operational responsibility for your estate file. You must ensure all factual information provided to us via our intake grids is completely accurate. You are responsible for executing the steps outlined in our Phase 04 Blueprints or handing them to your routine transactional lawyers for asset wrap-up.

7. Complaints, Data Protection & Professional Indemnity Coverage

Human Law is committed to delivering exceptional professional standards. Our formal client complaints handling policy (including your statutory right to escalate matters to the Legal Ombudsman), our comprehensive data protection compliance protocols under UK GDPR, and our mandatory professional indemnity insurance (PII) coverage records are explicitly documented for your public review. Detailed disclosures for all three areas are hosted directly on our Regulatory Notice Page, which forms an integral part of our operational risk management framework.

8. Governing Law

These terms and all contractual relationships arising under the Human Law framework are governed exclusively by the laws of England and Wales, and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.