Subscription Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service
This Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service govern the terms of your subscription and are incorporated into all services offered by The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson and into any service The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson provides. By using seanhobsonlaw.com, signing up for a subscription level, and engaging The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson, you agree, on your own behalf, and if applicable, on behalf of the entity you represent, to be bound by these and any other terms applicable to your subscription and optional flat fee services.
State Law
The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson is generally only permitted to assist in matters of California law. If you and/or your business are operating entirely outside of California, then you cannot engage The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson to provide legal services at this time.
Subscribing Entity
Generally, subscriptions are meant for use by one person, freelancer, or business. Document drafting, review, and/or negotiation must relate to the person, freelancer, or business for whom a subscription is purchased. Additional people or businesses must sign up for their own subscription.
Services
As part of a subscription, you can:
- Schedule calls or video meetings to speak with an attorney for legal advice;
- Submit questions through the client portal;
- Access the Knowledge Base;
- Access some or all of the flat fee services as stated on seanhobsonlaw.com and listed in the Knowledge Base; and
- Access bundled flat fee services, if any, as stated on seanhobsonlaw.com.
Scheduled Zoom Meetings or Calls
Zoom/calls may be scheduled using the Calendly link provided to each subscriber level once signed into the client portal. Available slots change based on other clients scheduling time and The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s general availability.
Whether a matter requires additional work outside the scope of a subscription is a decision solely at The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s discretion.
Document Drafting and Review Requests
Document drafting and/or review requests will be processed in the order they are received. Typical though not guaranteed time to draft and/or review the document is two business days per 10 pages of documents submitted, accounting for weekends and holidays. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson may decline to draft and/or review documents if you submit them in excess volume or if The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson believes you are submitting documents for review in a volume or manner that is not commercially reasonable. You may only request document drafts and/or submit documents for review that are for your own use.
Litigation & Practice Areas
The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson does not and will not represent you in litigation. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson does not file lawsuits or defend against lawsuits before a court or any other tribunal. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson only offers litigation consulting if you decide to represent yourself in court Pro Se. If you don’t decide to represent yourself Pro Se in litigation, then you will be referred to law firms and/or attorneys who can represent you in litigation. The Law Office of Sean
M. Hobson makes no representations or warranties regarding the quality of the work and fees of these referral law firms and attorneys.
Like most attorneys and law firms, The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson does not practice in every area of law, and services offered under a subscription are limited to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s practice areas. For instance, if a subscriber calls regarding a matter of family law or landlord tenant law, The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson will not be able to offer advice on that subject and may provide a referral to another attorney. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson makes no representations or warranties regarding the quality of the work and fees of these referral law firms and attorneys.
Conflicts of Interest
Rules of professional conduct for attorneys prevent representation in some cases where a conflict of interest exists. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson may decline your subscription service if it determines there is a conflict of interest. Though your fee, if already paid, is considered earned prior to the discovery of the conflict of interest (including as a fee for the administrative cost of performing the conflict check), if The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson discovers a conflict of interest that prevents your engagement with The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson, fees for monthly subscriptions shall be returned for the month in which the conflict was discovered.
Payment By Credit Card
If you are paying any amount to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson by credit card, debit card, or other electronic payment method, you authorize The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson to charge your payment method for the indicated amount. If any service is charged on a recurring or automatic basis, you agree to allow The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson to automatically charge your account on file.
Monthly Payment
You understand that subscription services are recurring and agree to allow The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson to charge your card at renewal. Cancellations will take effect in the next billing cycle.
Subscription Payments
You agree and understand that the monthly subscription fee paid for your subscription level is an earned fixed fee immediately giving you the value of the subscription benefits upon payment that meets the requirements of California law and California’s Rules of Professional Conduct as provided under The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service. You agree that this is a clear and unambiguous agreement for an earned fee. You understand that if you do not agree to these payment terms you should not sign up for a subscription.
Except as otherwise provided, fees paid to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson are considered earned upon receipt as a minimum amount required to provide your subscription and access to subscription benefits such as flat fee services only available to subscribers among other benefits as stated on seanhobsonlaw.com. You agree that this is a clear and unambiguous term regarding the status of payments made to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson. You also agree that the mere fact that The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson offers a refund does not change the earned upon receipt status of any amount paid to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson and that such amounts are refunds of earned fees and not a return of unearned fees. This includes amounts that are paid to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson as part of a fee payable to a third-party, and such fees shall be considered an expense suffered by The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson in providing the service.
Right to Disengage
The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson reserves the right to terminate our engagement if required by the rules of professional conduct, if you provide false information, or if The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson believes it cannot work with you for any reason. Refunds on services terminated by The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson are at The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s discretion. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson will notify you if there is a problem processing your automatic payment. Failure to update your payment method, if needed, may result in a cancellation of your subscription and disengagement.
You may terminate services at any time, but fees already earned will not be refunded. If you cancel your subscription on the date of payment after a payment was already processed, then you will have access to your subscription benefits until the next payment date upon which you will not be charged.
Subscription Fee Increases
The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson may increase its subscription fees or other flat fee services over time. You will be notified in advance before any fee increases take place. You will not need to take any action if you agree to the fee increase, which will take place automatically, and in that instance you agree to be responsible and charged for paying any increased fees. You can cancel your subscription prior to the date you are billed for the increased fee if you don’t agree with it.
Please note that card will be held on file for 1 year.
Amendment
The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson may amend these terms at any time with or without notice. By continuing to use subscription benefits, you agree to the terms as they may be updated. Changes to terms impacting existing subscriptions will be binding on those services upon the new terms’ effective date provided notice was given to the subscriber at least 30 days in advance of the changes’ effective date. If 30 days’ notice is not given, then the changes will become effective on the date of the subscriber’s next renewal.
Incorporation of Other Terms of Service and Conflicting Terms
Except as explicitly provided in writing, (1) all other terms of service included in this website or offered for other services provided by The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson incorporate this Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service, and (2) where there is a conflict between this Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service and any other terms of service or agreement entered into between you and The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson, this Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service shall control.
Notice
Notice to you is effective if sent through the client portal or by email to the email address used to login to The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson’s client portal. You are responsible for keeping your email of record up to date and for maintaining your portal login information.
Attorney-Client Relationship
No attorney-client relationship is formed through the use of this website unless this Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service is accepted, payment is made, and you pass a conflicts check. All communications exchanged and documents shared through the client portal are confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege. You have an obligation to ensure only you have access to the client portal using your login in order to preserve attorney-client privilege. Exclusive communications through the client portal are advisable to preserve attorney-client privilege, and you assume the risk of any communications not through the client portal, such as through email or text message, as potentially but not necessarily waiving attorney-client privilege as determined by a court of law and on a case-by-case basis.
Employee Legal Services Program
An employer who signs up its employees for an Employee Legal Services Program (“ELSP”) with The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson is not engaged with The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson for legal services. The employee whose employer signed up for an ELSP with The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson is engaged under this Engagement Agreement and Terms of Service only when that employee finishes making an account on the client portal and signs into the account at least one time. The Law Office of Sean M. Hobson reserves to right to terminate its engagement with any employee in an ELSP should the employer terminate the ELSP and for the reasons stated in the Right to Disengage Section.
Effective Date
Effective on 06/29/2024.