Legal
General conditions
Version: October 2026
Wals Corporate Law B.V.
Wals Corporate Law B.V. ("walslaw") is a private limited liability company (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid) incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands, with its corporate seat (statutaire zetel) in Amsterdam, registered with the Dutch Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce under number 95724508, with the purpose of conducting the practice of law as an attorney (advocaat).
Engagements
These general terms and conditions apply to all assignments to and/or services by or on behalf of walslaw and/or persons associated with it, including for the purposes of these general terms and conditions, its (indirect) directors and shareholders, its lawyers, employees and advisors and third parties engaged by it, as also to future assignments and/or services.
These general terms and conditions are intended for clients acting in the course of a business or profession. Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, walslaw does not accept assignments from clients acting as a consumer.
All assignments shall, with the exclusion of the applicability of Sections 7:404, 7:407 paragraph 2 and 7:409 of the Dutch Civil Code, solely be accepted and performed by walslaw. Persons associated with walslaw act exclusively for the account and risk of walslaw when rendering services. These general terms and conditions have also been stipulated for the benefit of the persons associated with walslaw. The applicability of other general terms and conditions is explicitly excluded. In so far as needed, this paragraph also qualifies as a third-party stipulation (derdenbeding) within the meaning of Section 6:253 of the Dutch Civil Code, which stipulation is hereby accepted by walslaw on behalf of the aforementioned persons.
The performance of any and all assignments by walslaw shall exclusively take place for the benefit of the client of walslaw. Without the prior written approval of walslaw, any advice rendered by walslaw shall not be shared with or reviewed by third parties. Third parties cannot derive any rights from services rendered by walslaw to its clients.
Where the client is a natural person not acting in the course of a profession or business, these general terms and conditions apply only to the extent permitted by mandatory law; instead of the statutory commercial interest, the statutory interest under Section 6:119 of the Dutch Civil Code is then payable.
Liability
If the performance of an assignment by walslaw gives rise to liability, this liability shall in all circumstances be limited to the amount paid out under its professional indemnity and corporate liability insurance (beroeps- en bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering) in that specific case, increased by the amount of the applicable policy deductible (eigen risico). If and to the extent that the liability is for whatever reason not covered by such insurance, this liability shall be limited to the amount of fees paid by the client to walslaw pursuant to the assignment concerned over the period of six (6) months immediately preceding the event on which the liability claim is based. Claims for damages will expire if proceedings are not commenced at the competent court within twelve (12) months of the discovery of the aforementioned event, save to the extent mandatory law provides otherwise.
The above-mentioned exclusions of liability shall also apply to claims in connection with the failure or improper functioning of the equipment, software (including AI-based systems or tools), data files, registers and/or other means, none excluded, used by walslaw and/or the persons associated with it, as well as to any liability arising from the interception of any audio and/or data transmissions from telephone, mobile devices or email. For its electronic communications, walslaw shall apply security measures that are reasonable in the circumstances. The client acknowledges, however, that electronic communication is not free from the risk of interception, loss, delay or corruption. At the request of either party, walslaw and the client may agree on the use of secured means of communication.
Neither walslaw nor persons associated with it are liable for any shortcomings and/or tortious acts of third parties who have been or are engaged by walslaw in connection with an assignment. It is possible that third parties who were or are engaged in connection with the performance of an assignment by walslaw wish to limit their liability. In that case, walslaw is entitled to accept such limitation of liability on behalf of the client as well. In case of shortcomings and/or tortious acts of these third parties, walslaw shall exercise reasonable efforts to claim from such third parties any damages resulting from such shortcomings and/or tortious acts, unless the client requests to have the claim(s) concerned assigned to it. The liability of walslaw and/or the persons associated with it for shortcomings of third parties shall not exceed the amount for which walslaw has recourse against the third party concerned.
The client indemnifies and holds walslaw and the persons associated with it harmless from and against any and all claims from third parties, including for reasonable costs of legal counsel, which are in any way connected with, or resulting from, the services performed for the client, save for wilful misconduct (opzet) or gross negligence (grove schuld) on the part of walslaw.
Invoices and disbursements
Unless agreed otherwise, walslaw charges for its work on the basis of the number of hours worked multiplied by the applicable hourly rate, without a surcharge for standard office costs. Disbursements, special expenses (such as travel costs) and costs of third parties shall be invoiced separately to the client.
All amounts to be invoiced shall be increased by the applicable turnover tax (VAT) in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, unless the client has demonstrably and timely established, to the satisfaction of walslaw, that a VAT exemption applies.
Unless agreed otherwise, invoices shall be sent on a monthly basis. Invoices shall be paid to walslaw within fourteen (14) days of the invoice date. Payment shall be made in accordance with the relevant invoice. The client waives any right to suspension or set-off. In case of failure to pay within the applicable payment term, the client shall be in default by operation of law and shall owe default interest equal to the statutory commercial interest rate (wettelijke handelsrente) pursuant to Section 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code. Any costs of recovery measures are for the account of the client.
At any time, walslaw is entitled to request from the client a (creditable) advance payment (voorschot) for the fees and potential expenses to be invoiced. In case of failure to pay such advance payment, walslaw is entitled, after prior notice, to suspend or cease its services to such client. The advance payment shall be credited against the final invoice, unless otherwise agreed. In addition, walslaw is entitled to credit the advance payment against invoices that have not been (fully) paid under the assignment concerned or under other assignments of the client.
File retention and data protection
After the expiry of a period of five (5) years after the closing of a matter or after notifying the client of the archiving of that matter, walslaw is entitled to remove and/or destroy files and all documents therein, including documents that are owned by the client and/or third parties, without any further announcement, save for any statutory, professional or agreed retention obligations. Before the expiry of that period, the client may request copies and its own original documents from the file.
The client warrants that any personal data provided to walslaw has been processed by or on behalf of the client in accordance with all relevant data protection legislation and that the disclosure thereof does not result in walslaw breaching the relevant data protection regulation.
Identification and statutory obligations
Statutory obligations, including those under the Dutch Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme), may require walslaw to identify and verify the client, its ultimate beneficial owners and the origin of the funds involved, and to obtain and retain supporting documentation. The client shall provide such information and documentation promptly upon request.
If the requested information or documentation is not provided, or if compliance with applicable laws and regulations so requires, walslaw is entitled to refuse, suspend or terminate its services. In performing its statutory obligations, walslaw is in certain cases not permitted to inform the client thereof, and it is not liable for any loss arising from the performance of these statutory obligations.
Use of technology and artificial intelligence
In the performance of its services, walslaw may make use of information technology tools, including software incorporating artificial intelligence or machine-learning functionalities, for purposes such as legal research, document drafting, document review, data analysis, translations and knowledge management.
Even when such tools are used, walslaw remains responsible at all times for the professional judgement applied in the performance of its services and for the final work product delivered to the client.
Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, walslaw shall not input client-confidential information into publicly accessible or non-secured artificial intelligence systems. Where third-party technology providers are used, walslaw shall take reasonable measures to ensure appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards are in place.
The client acknowledges that the use of such technology may enhance efficiency and quality, but agrees that no guarantees are given that automated processing will be free from errors.
Confidentiality and disclosures
Each of the parties to the engagement undertakes to the other party to keep confidential any confidential information as received from the other party in connection with the engagement, except if disclosure is required by applicable laws and regulations.
If the client has made a transaction public, walslaw is entitled to disclose its involvement in such transaction for the client and to use this for marketing purposes, including the use of the logo of the client.
Termination of the engagement
The client may terminate the engagement at any time, but only by giving prior written notice to its contact person at walslaw.
For its part, walslaw may terminate the engagement by giving the client fourteen (14) days' prior notice, or immediate notice if the client does not pay an invoice of walslaw within the agreed payment term, but always only by giving prior written notice to the client.
If the engagement is terminated, the client will owe the fees for the work carried out by walslaw until the end of the engagement and for any subsequent work that walslaw may need to perform in order to transfer the matter to the client or a third party.
Governing law, complaints and disputes
The legal relationship with walslaw and/or the persons associated with it and the services and/or work performed by or on behalf of them are governed exclusively by Dutch law. Any and all disputes pursuant to or in connection with an engagement shall, to the extent permitted by law, be exclusively resolved by the competent court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The complaints procedure of walslaw, which can be found on https://walslaw.nl, applies to any and all assignments to and/or services by walslaw and all persons associated with it.
These general terms and conditions are drawn up in Dutch and English. In case of conflict, the Dutch text shall prevail over the English text. These general terms and conditions may be amended by walslaw at any time. The current version of the general terms and conditions is available on the website of walslaw (https://walslaw.nl).
These general terms and conditions are available for download in Dutch and English.