7. Engagement, Termination, Disengagement and Retention of Papers
7.1 We or You may terminate any Agreement, in writing, at any time without penalty on the provision of 30 days written notice to the other. This clause 7.1 may be varied by the specific terms of notice set out in Your Engagement Letter.
7.2 We reserve the right to immediately suspend any work for You or terminate the Agreement with immediate effect by giving written notice to You:
7.2.1 if We are obliged to do so under any applicable law and regulations, including legislation in relation to money laundering or proceeds of crime or directions or guidance issued by the Government (for example, but not limited to, sanctions directions);
7.2.2 if Our Fees are not paid on the due date for payment;
7.2.3 where We become aware of a conflict of interest that cannot be mitigated save for disengagement;
7.2.4 if the behaviour of You or Your staff is inappropriate to Our staff;
7.2.5 if You fail to cooperate with Us or We have reason to believe that You have provided Us (or HMRC) with misleading information;
7.2.6 in the event of Your insolvency, bankruptcy or other arrangement being reached with creditors;
7.2.7 if an independence issue or change in the law which means We can no longer act;
7.2.8 if You breach Your obligations to Us under this Agreement if not corrected within 30 days, or the notice period as set out in any service specific terms of business, of being asked to do so;
7.2.9 as set out in Your Engagement Letter.
7.3 Termination of this Agreement will be without prejudice to any rights that may have accrued to either You or Us prior to termination and You will still be liable to pay Our Fees (and any other charges or disbursements) that have been incurred up until the date of termination of the Agreement.
7.4 In the event of termination of the Agreement:
7.4.1 We will endeavour to agree with You the arrangements for the completion of work in progress at that time, unless We are required for legal or regulatory reasons to cease work immediately;
7.4.2 We shall not be required to carry out further work and shall not be responsible or liable for any consequences arising from termination.
7.4.3 clause 3.1 shall continue in force and survive termination of the Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, We reserve the right to retain Your confidential information after termination of this Agreement, subject to clause 3, as necessary for Our regulatory and document retention purposes.
7.5 As stated in clause 5.15 above You may at any time (after payment of all outstanding Fees, charges, expenses and disbursements) ask Us to return to You any of Your documents which You have not received during the course of Your matter (which will not include Our working papers). As stated in clause 5.15 above We may charge a fee for determining which documents You are entitled to, and for copying those documents for Our own records. We may retain a complete copy of any documents returned to You. You may not require Us to destroy any records that We hold, but We will hold them securely. You authorise Us to destroy Your files if You do not ask Us to return them to You within 7 years after Your matter is completed, or otherwise in accordance with Our document retention policy.
7.6 If We are providing trust services to You, where originals of any documents or other supporting evidence are retained by trustees or any records or other documentation used in the preparation of settlement accounts are returned to trustees, the safe-keeping of these records will remain their responsibility.
7.7 You may have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to Your financial affairs. If You require specific advice as to Your data retention obligations, please notify Us and We will be able to provide advice to meet Your specific requirements. We reserve the right to charge You for provision of this advice.