Terms of Use & Disclaimer
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Focus Legal is not a firm of attorneys. Focus Legal is an industrial relations and human resources consultancy. It does not practise law, it is not a law firm, and it is not registered with the Legal Practice Council. No person at Focus Legal holds themselves out as an admitted attorney or advocate in the course of its consulting business.
It follows that legal professional (attorney–client) privilege does not attach to communications with Focus Legal. If your matter requires privileged advice, or requires appearance before a court, tell us and we will refer you to an attorney or work alongside an attorney instructed by you.
Contents
- Who operates this website
- Acceptance
- Nature of our services
- Nothing here is advice
- Representation and the limits of it
- No client relationship is created by this website
- Accuracy and changes
- Links to other websites
- Intellectual property
- Availability and security
- Limitation of liability
- Personal information
- Electronic communications and ECTA disclosures
- Governing law and jurisdiction
- Complaints and contact
1. Who operates this website
| Full legal name | Focus Legal (Pty) Ltd |
|---|---|
| Trading name | Focus Legal |
| Legal status | Private company (Pty) Ltd, registered in the Republic of South Africa |
| Registration number | 2017/350119/07 |
| VAT | Not registered for VAT. Turnover is below the compulsory registration threshold in section 23 of the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991, so no VAT is charged on any fee. |
| Director | Monique Coetzee |
| Physical and registered address | 90 Van Riebeeck Road, Kempton Park Ext 4, Kempton Park, 1619, Gauteng, South Africa |
| Postal address | As above. Notices may also be served by e-mail at legal@focuslegal.co.za. |
| Telephone | +27 69 119 6978 |
| legal@focuslegal.co.za | |
| Websites | https://www.focuslegal.co.za https://www.disciplinary.co.za (Disciplinary Guide) |
| Membership of a self-regulatory body | None. Focus Legal (Pty) Ltd does not belong or subscribe to any self-regulatory or accreditation body in respect of the services it renders. |
2. Acceptance
By accessing or using this website you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with them, do not use the website. These terms apply to the website only. Services are rendered on the terms of a separate written service level agreement or mandate concluded with the client.
3. Nature of our services
Focus Legal provides industrial relations and human resources consulting services to employers. These include drafting employment contracts, policies and disciplinary codes; conducting HR audits; investigating and chairing disciplinary enquiries; managing grievance, incapacity and performance processes; managing section 189 and 189A restructuring and retrenchment consultations; and representing employers at the CCMA and at bargaining councils.
We are consultants. We are not attorneys, advocates or a law firm, and we do not render legal services as contemplated in the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014.
4. Nothing here is advice
The content of this website is general information about our services. It is not legal advice, industrial relations advice, or advice of any other kind, and it is not a substitute for a proper consultation about your circumstances.
Labour law changes, and its application turns on facts. Do not act, or refrain from acting, on the strength of anything published here. If you have a live matter, speak to us or to an appropriately qualified adviser first.
5. Representation and the limits of it
Representation of a party by a person who is not a legal practitioner is permitted in some forums and not in others.
- At the CCMA and at bargaining councils, representation is governed by the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 and by the rules of the forum concerned. Focus Legal represents employer clients in those forums where the applicable rules permit it, and in the capacity permitted by those rules.
- In the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court, a party must be represented by a legal practitioner or by another person permitted by the rules of that court. Focus Legal does not appear in those courts. Where a matter is taken on review or referred to the Labour Court, we prepare the record and supporting material and work with attorneys and counsel instructed by the client. The attorney–client relationship in those proceedings is between the client and the attorney, not between the client and Focus Legal.
Whether a particular forum permits representation by Focus Legal in a particular matter is confirmed with the client before we act. If we cannot act, we say so.
6. No client relationship is created by this website
Sending us an enquiry through this website, by WhatsApp, by e-mail or by telephone does not create a consulting relationship and does not oblige us to act. A relationship arises only once we have accepted the engagement in writing and any conflict check and mandate has been concluded.
Until then, please do not send us confidential material, employee names, identity numbers, medical information or details of alleged misconduct.
7. Accuracy and changes
We take reasonable care to keep this website accurate and current, but we do not warrant that it is complete, accurate or up to date, and legislation, regulations and prescribed amounts referred to on it may since have changed. We may change, suspend or remove any part of this website, and may amend these terms, at any time and without notice. The version published here is the version that applies.
8. Links to other websites
This website links to third-party websites, including those of the CCMA, the Department of Employment and Labour, the Information Regulator, LinkedIn and Google Maps. Those links are provided for convenience. We do not control those websites, we do not endorse their content, and we are not responsible for their availability, their accuracy or how they handle your information.
9. Intellectual property
All content on this website — text, layout, graphics, the Focus Legal name, logo and get-up — is owned by or licensed to Focus Legal and is protected by South African and international intellectual property law. You may view, download and print pages for your own non-commercial reference. You may not reproduce, republish, adapt, distribute or commercially exploit any of it without our prior written permission.
Documents we prepare for a client — contracts, policies, manuals and precedents — are licensed to that client for use in its own business on the terms of the applicable mandate. They may not be resold, sublicensed or distributed to third parties.
10. Availability and security
We do not warrant that this website will be available without interruption or free of error, or that it or the server that makes it available are free of harmful components. You are responsible for the security of your own device and connection.
11. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, and subject to the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 where it applies, neither Focus Legal nor its directors, employees, contractors or agents will be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss or damage, loss of profit, loss of business, or any claim by a third party, arising out of or in connection with the use of, or the inability to use, this website or anything published on it — whether the claim is founded in contract, delict or otherwise.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for fraud, for wilful misconduct, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
Liability arising from the consulting services themselves is governed by the written service level agreement or mandate concluded with the client, and not by these website terms.
12. Personal information
How we handle personal information is set out in our Privacy Notice. How to request access to a record is set out in our PAIA Manual. Both form part of these terms.
Note in particular that the enquiry form on this website does not submit or store anything. It assembles a message in your browser and hands it to your own WhatsApp or e-mail program, which you then choose to send.
13. Electronic communications and ECTA disclosures
The information required by section 43(1) of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 is set out in section 1 of these terms.
Disciplinary Guide (disciplinary.co.za) is operated by the same company and sells document templates online. These terms apply to focuslegal.co.za only. Purchases made on Disciplinary Guide are governed by its own Terms of Sale, Use and Licence and Refund Policy, which contain the supplier disclosures required by section 43 of ECTA and the cooling-off position under sections 42 and 44 for a digital product that is downloaded immediately.
This website does not sell goods or services online and does not process payments. Accordingly the electronic transaction provisions of Chapter 7 of ECTA, including the section 44 cooling-off right, do not apply to it. Where we conclude an agreement with a client by e-mail, a data message is regarded as having been sent and received in accordance with sections 22 to 26 of ECTA.
We do not send unsolicited commercial communications. If you receive marketing from us that you did not ask for, e-mail legal@focuslegal.co.za and we will remove you.
14. Governing law and jurisdiction
These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa. You consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate's Court having jurisdiction over you in terms of section 45 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 32 of 1944, notwithstanding that the amount in dispute may exceed the jurisdiction of that court, without prejudice to our right to institute proceedings in any other court with jurisdiction.
15. Complaints and contact
Complaints about this website, about our services, or about how we have handled your information should be sent in writing to legal@focuslegal.co.za, marked for the attention of the Director. We will acknowledge in writing and respond substantively.
Complaints about the handling of personal information may also be made to the Information Regulator — contact details appear in our Privacy Notice.