Website Terms & Conditions (Other)

Website Terms & Conditions are a legal notice that tells visitors, users, or customers using your website that they must agree to those terms to browse your site or use the products or services you offer.

They can help protect you from claims by customers, for example if they say they suffered loss from using your products or services, or got a virus from your website. They should cover the main ways people use your website, whether they are visiting, purchasing, or subscribing. They can also help protect your website content from being copied.

1. Limit liability: Website Terms & Conditions should help limit liability for claims made by users of your website, whether they are purchasing products or services, subscribing, or browsing.
2. New Zealand regulatory compliance: If you run an eCommerce website, you may need Website Terms & Conditions under consumer laws.
3. Information: They let you tell visitors and customers the terms on which you provide your service.
4. Complaints: Having clear written terms can help avoid misunderstandings and complaints.
5. Protection and risk minimisation: They can help protect you from certain claims and from others copying content on your website. They can also help show that you are a legitimate business.

It’s possible that nothing will go wrong if you do not have Website Terms & Conditions. However, they help reduce the risk of issues arising. If you run an eCommerce site, you will generally need them in any event. They can also help protect you against claims relating to things like online viruses, consequential loss and other matters covered by your notice.

Sprintlaw operates in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. In Australia, Sprintlaw is a regulated law firm and is an incorporated legal practice with number 32845, regulated by the Law Society of New South Wales. In New Zealand and the UK, Sprintlaw operates as a legal consultancy and is not a traditionally regulated law firm.

We chose to set up as a legal consultancy in New Zealand because it made our expansion into the New Zealand market faster and easier. It also means we have a lower compliance burden and can significantly reduce our overhead costs when performing legal work. We can then pass those cost savings on to our clients, allowing us to provide high quality legal services at a fraction of the cost of traditional firms.

So what’s the difference between Sprintlaw NZ’s consultancy model and a traditional NZ law firm? In many respects, we are similar. Like a law firm, we offer legal services to small business clients across most of their regular legal needs, including drafting and reviewing contracts and providing legal and regulatory advice. However, there are some important differences and limitations to be aware of, set out below. In our view, the benefits of engaging a legal consultancy outweigh these limitations, which is why we’ve chosen to operate this way in NZ. If you have any questions, our team would be happy to discuss them.

Our lawyers: The legal services we provide in New Zealand are not provided by New Zealand-qualified lawyers. Our lawyers are Australian-qualified or UK-qualified lawyers who are familiar with New Zealand’s laws and requirements, and are able to provide high quality legal services to New Zealand businesses. Given the strong similarities between Australian, English and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practise, being small business and startup law, we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to providing high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Reserved areas: We are not permitted to provide services in reserved areas of law under section 6 and section 35 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (see here). These include appearing in court or conducting litigation proceedings, managing conveyancing matters, or giving advice under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976. As such, Sprintlaw does not operate in these areas. We find these areas are rarely relevant to our small business clients seeking commercial legal advisory services.

Privilege: When working with traditional law firms, advice provided is considered “privileged”. This means that correspondence between a client and solicitor can, if made confidentially and for the purposes of legal advice, be withheld from a court or third party in connection with litigation proceedings. As Sprintlaw operates as a legal consultancy, certain advice we provide may not be “privileged” and may instead be treated in the same way as advice from your accountant or anyone else who is not a regulated adviser such as a solicitor or barrister. This does not affect our confidentiality obligations to you, and our engagement letter confirms that any advice or discussions we have will be kept confidential. Given that Sprintlaw does not operate in court-related or litigious matters, we find that privilege is rarely an issue relevant to our kind of legal work.

Insurance: Sprintlaw is not required to have professional indemnity insurance that meets the New Zealand Law Society’s minimum requirements. Regardless, Sprintlaw has chosen to maintain professional indemnity cover so our clients still benefit from insurance protection.

Submit an enquiry through this page or click the ‘get started’ button on our website. After you submit your enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to better understand what you’re looking for.

Your legal consultant will then send you an email with more information about the services you need, along with a fixed-fee quote setting out the costs, scope of work and timing. If you’re happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you’ve formally accepted, we’ll connect you with a specialist lawyer who will work with you to complete your project. They’ll contact you by email or phone if needed.

We support clients across New Zealand through our online-first model. Because we work remotely by phone, email and video call, you can use Sprintlaw from anywhere in New Zealand. Where relevant, we can also support businesses operating across Australia, the UK and other Sprintlaw markets.