Terms of becoming a Paladin

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In the interests of maximum transparency, we disclose the terms by which any person accepted to membership of The Paladins is bound to agree to.

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1. We ask all Paladins to uphold the values of the organisation.

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2. Appointment of and conveyance of mandates to individual Paladins will be communicated by email from thepaladins2021@gmail.com. This email has been set up to be particularly secure, and this is how Paladins should typically communicate with headquarters.

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3. Your participation in the work of the Paladins remains entirely voluntarily even if you are appointed as a Paladin. We do not name individual Paladins on the website or elsewhere without their consent and in exceptional circumstances only.

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4. If The Paladins organisation wishes to use you on any specific client instructions then we will contact you, explain the mandate, your putative role, and your fee structure. Work may be undertaken using a variety of billing models, including hourly rates or fixed fees.

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5. The general billing philosophy when the Paladins organisation offers mandates is that the Paladin will receive 50 per cent of the fee charged in respect of his or her work (not including VAT). Guideline hourly rates vary from GBP150 to GBP500 per hour, depending upon the complexity of the task and the skills and experience of the fee earner.

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6. Where you undertake work regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, you are bound by all the objectives, principles, rules and guidance of the Solicitors Regulation Authority handbook.

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7. A Paladin is not an authorised representative of the two corporate entities through which The Paladins organisation is run, save to the extent that the Managing Partner explicitly gives you that authority in writing.

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8. You are free to continue other professional activities. You are also free to call yourself a "paladin" (the Paladins organisation has no intellectual property rights in respect of the phrase) and do work individually for clients. However what you cannot do is to work for your own account and at the same time represent yourself as part of The Paladins organisation or either of its corporate entities (for example by referring to this website).

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9. If you source work being brought into The Paladins organisation, obtain written agreement of the Managing Partner of the commercial and other terms, including division of revenues. You are provided with guidance as to typical principles of fee splitting. The Managing Partner holds the final right of decision in the event of disputes between individual Paladins about fee-splitting.

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10. We operate a "first come, first served" policy. The only person with a right to bring a client into the Paladins organisation and thereby negotiate a superior fee-splitting arrangement is the individual Paladin with whom the new client has first contact. This is to prevent client arbitrage of our fees by playing different Paladins against one-another. The Managing Partner holds the right of final decision in contested cases.

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11. Membership of The Paladins organisation is considered a confidential undertaking. If an enquiry is made of The Paladins organisation as to whether somebody is or is not a Paladin, the answer we will give is "we neither confirm nor deny assertions or queries about our composition or membership."

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12. You are prohibited from disclosing the fact that any other person is or is not a Paladin, or any Paladin's contact details, without the consent of that other Paladin (if they are one) or with the consent of the Managing Partner. The Paladins organisation will not reveal the identity or contact details of any Paladin to a client or to anybody else, without that Paladin either consenting or pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction (or subject to the below).

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13. Subject to regulatory rules, the Managing Partner reserves the right to fire any client, or decline to act for a client, irrespective of the individual Paladin that sourced the client.

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14. Any work undertaken through The Paladins organisation must follow the contractual terms of engagement. Individual Paladins may be held liable in negligence lawsuits for malpractice, so all work must be undertaken with due care. The Paladins organisation will operate an umbrella insurance policy; but it may not match exactly the potential scope of legal liability for malpractice or negligence and the individual Paladin is responsible for checking these things himself or herself.

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15. Any attempts, during a client engagement run through The Paladins organisation, to pay money other than through company bank accounts, except where the Managing Partner has agreed in writing, will result in public disclosure and expulsion from the organisation; and where the actions in question may reveal criminality the matter will be reported to relevant Police authorities.

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16. The Paladins organisation enforces these principles inter alia through an honour system; a breach of the rules may result in public disclosure and/or public expulsion at the discretion of the Managing Partner.

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17. Breaches of these terms apart, although the Managing Partner reserves the right to expel a Paladin (privately) at any time, it is imagined that this will be extremely rare, save where the Paladin's name has become generally known and associated with an ignominy which the Managing Partner considers in his discretion to have the potential to cause reputational damage to The Paladins organisation. In any such case, where there is no other breach of these terms, every effort will be made to manage publicity and/or other consequences of the individual Paladin's exit with the utmost discretion.

 

18. An individual Paladin is entitled to resign at any time just by giving written notice that will be effective immediately save in circumstances in which doing so might result in jeopardy to a client mandate in respect of which the Paladin has agreed to take a part.

 

19. All Paladins must respect client confidentiality absolutely, irrespective of whether they are working on a specific mandate. Client confidentiality - including revelation even of the name of a client - may be breached only with the reasoned written permission of the Managing Partner.

 

20. It is a Paladin's duty to keep all files documents and electronic communications as safe as possible, and to take evasive confidentiality measures where third party intrusion is suspected. The Managing Partner can advise upon this if asked.

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21. Paladins are expected to obey the law in the execution of their mandates.

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These terms are not intended to grant third parties any contractual rights.