PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEBSITE. BY ENTERING, ACCESSING, BROWSING, LOGGING INTO, OR CONTINUING TO USE THIS WEBSITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS PROVIDED HEREIN, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY EXIT THIS WEBSITE AND CEASE ALL FURTHER USE.
1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1 This website is operated under the name and style of EMV LAW FIRM, an unregistered law firm, duly practising in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India and subject to the statutes, rules, regulations, professional standards, and requirements applicable in the State of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The aforesaid name and style shall not be construed as representing that the practice constitutes, or is registered as, a company, limited liability partnership, registered partnership firm, or other separate juristic entity.
1.2 The use of this website constitutes consent and agreement that this website's contents and usage shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, including, without limitation, the Advocates Act, 1961, the rules framed thereunder by the Bar Council of India, including the applicable standards of professional conduct and etiquette, the applicable rules and requirements of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, to the extent as applicable and in force from time to time, and all other applicable central, state and local laws, rules, regulations, notifications, circulars, judicial directions and professional requirements.
1.3 Access to the portal requires authenticated login credentials. Any unauthorised access, attempted unauthorised access, credential misuse, impersonation, circumvention of authentication or access-control mechanisms, interference with the security or integrity of the website or portal, or unauthorised use, copying, disclosure, extraction, alteration, transmission or dissemination of website or portal contents is expressly prohibited and may constitute a breach of these Terms and/or an offence or actionable wrong under applicable law, including, where the statutory ingredients are satisfied, the applicable provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
2. PROFESSIONAL STATUS, NON-ADVERTISING AND PURPOSE OF THE WEBSITE
2.1 The public-facing section of this website serves solely as a medium for general informational and legitimate professional purposes. This website is not intended to constitute solicitation, advertisement, canvassing, or inducement for legal services in contravention of the Advocates Act, 1961, the applicable rules of the Bar Council of India, including the applicable rules governing professional conduct and restrictions concerning advertising and solicitation, the applicable rules and requirements of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, or any other applicable law or professional requirement regulating the conduct of advocates.
2.2 The Firm expressly states that the website is not established or maintained for the purpose of soliciting, canvassing, procuring or inducing members of the public to engage the professional services of the Firm or any advocate associated therewith. No content contained herein shall be construed as a guarantee, assurance, comparative representation, solicitation or inducement for professional employment.
2.3 The website shall be maintained and operated with due regard to the professional obligations imposed upon advocates under the Advocates Act, 1961, the rules framed by the Bar Council of India pursuant to Section 49 thereof, applicable professional standards and etiquette, and the applicable requirements of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
2.4 Nothing contained on this website shall be construed as creating an advocate-client relationship merely by reason of access to, browsing of, communication through, or submission of information via the website. No professional engagement shall arise unless and until expressly accepted by the Firm or an advocate duly authorised to accept such engagement.
2.5 Upon authenticated login, the website operates as a restricted internal portal, access to which is limited to authorised Senior Lawyers, Junior Lawyers, Clients, and such other persons as may be expressly authorised by the Firm.
3. USER CATEGORIES AND ACCESS RESTRICTIONS
3.1 No User shall acquire any right of access beyond the permissions expressly granted to such User. Authentication into the portal shall not, of itself, constitute authorisation to access, inspect, copy, download, alter or disclose information falling outside the User's assigned permissions.
3.2 Disclosure, distribution, copying, extraction, transmission, publication, or sharing of confidential portal content outside the scope of expressly authorised access is strictly prohibited.
4. CONFIDENTIALITY, PRIVILEGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
4.1 All information, documents, annotations, records, communications, databases, and other materials contained within the restricted portal are confidential and/or proprietary to the Firm and/or the respective client or lawful rights-holder, as the case may be, and shall be treated accordingly.
4.2 Nothing contained in these Terms shall operate as a waiver, abandonment or diminution of any applicable legal professional privilege, confidentiality obligation, fiduciary obligation, contractual obligation or professional duty owed by an advocate to a client or to a court or tribunal.
4.3 Unauthorised reproduction, retransmission, dissemination, extraction, disclosure, modification, distribution, publication or use of any part of this website or portal contents is strictly prohibited.
4.4 No User shall infringe upon, misuse, appropriate, reproduce, or otherwise violate any intellectual-property, proprietary, confidentiality, privacy or other rights vested in or relating to this website, its systems, databases, documents or contents.
5. ELECTRONIC RECORDS, ELECTRONIC ACCEPTANCE AND EVIDENTIARY STATUS
5.1 The User acknowledges and agrees that acceptance of these Terms through an electronic mechanism, including but not limited to clicking "I Agree", "I Accept and Continue", or logging into an authenticated account following presentation of these Terms, may constitute an electronic record of the User's acceptance to the extent recognised under applicable law.
5.2 The Firm may maintain electronic records relating to acceptance, authentication, access, communications, submissions, uploads, modifications, transactions, security events and other activities undertaken through the website or portal.
5.3 Such electronic records may, subject to the requirements of applicable law, be retained and relied upon for administrative, security, compliance, audit, dispute-resolution and evidentiary purposes.
5.4 The provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, including Section 10A concerning validity of contracts formed through electronic means, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, insofar as applicable to electronic and digital records, shall apply to the extent provided by law.
5.5 Nothing herein shall constitute a representation that any electronic record is automatically admissible in every proceeding; admissibility, authenticity, proof and evidentiary weight shall remain subject to applicable law and the circumstances of the particular proceeding.
6. DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
6.1 The Firm expressly disclaims, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, any warranties or representations, whether express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, availability, reliability, security or timeliness of information presented on this website or portal.
6.2 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, under no circumstances shall EMV LAW FIRM be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising from or in connection with access to, inability to access, or use of this website or portal, except to the extent that such liability cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
6.3 Access and use of this website or portal is undertaken at the User's own risk and subject always to the limitations, exclusions and mandatory protections prescribed by applicable law.
6.4 Nothing contained in these Terms shall exclude or limit any liability, right, remedy or statutory protection which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law.
7. CYBER SECURITY AND UNAUTHORISED ACCESS
7.1 Any person accessing the website or portal shall do so only through the means and permissions expressly authorised by the Firm.
7.2 Without prejudice to any other remedy available under law, no person shall:
(a) obtain or attempt to obtain another User's credentials;
(b) use another person's password, authentication token or unique identification feature;
(c) circumvent or attempt to circumvent authentication or access controls;
(d) access or attempt to access records beyond the person's authorised permissions;
(e) alter, destroy, suppress or tamper with electronic records without authority;
(f) interfere with the operation, availability, integrity or security of the website or portal;
(g) introduce malicious code, malware or other harmful material;
(h) scrape, harvest, extract or systematically reproduce restricted information; or
(i) knowingly assist, facilitate, induce or procure another person to undertake any prohibited act.
8. DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY
8.1 Personal data and information collected, received, stored or otherwise processed through the website or portal shall be handled in accordance with applicable Indian data-protection and privacy law and the Firm's applicable Privacy Policy.
8.2 Where applicable and to the extent in force, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, together with rules, notifications and subordinate legislation made thereunder, shall govern the processing of digital personal data to the extent applicable to the relevant processing activity.
8.3 The Firm may maintain appropriate records concerning authentication, access, security, communications and system activity for legitimate purposes including security, administration, compliance, prevention of misuse, dispute resolution and protection of confidential information, subject to applicable law.
9. LEGAL COMPLIANCE AND GOVERNING LAW
9.1 This website and portal are intended to be operated in accordance with the applicable professional and ethical requirements governing advocates, including the Advocates Act, 1961, the rules framed by the Bar Council of India, applicable standards of professional conduct and etiquette, the applicable rules and requirements of the Bar Council of Madras, and other applicable Indian laws and regulations.
9.2 These Terms and Conditions and any dispute, claim, controversy or proceeding arising out of or in connection with this website, portal or these Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India.
9.3 Subject to any mandatory jurisdiction conferred by applicable law, the courts of competent jurisdiction at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, shall have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms, the website or portal.
9.4 Nothing contained herein shall be construed as excluding or restricting any jurisdiction, statutory remedy, forum or right which cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.
10. MANDATORY ACCEPTANCE
10.1 No person shall access, use or proceed beyond the applicable access interface of this website or portal without first expressly acknowledging and agreeing to these Terms and Conditions and Disclaimer wherever such acceptance is required by the Firm as a condition of access. Publicly accessible portions of the website may remain available subject to the terms, notices and disclaimers displayed thereon.
10.2 By clicking "I Agree", "I Accept and Continue", logging into the portal, or otherwise affirmatively proceeding where an electronic acceptance mechanism is provided, the User acknowledges that the User has read, understood, accepted and agreed to be legally bound by this document to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
10.3 The Firm may record the User's acceptance, including the applicable version of these Terms and the date and time of acceptance, subject to applicable law and the Firm's Privacy Policy.
11. AMENDMENTS
11.1 The Firm reserves the right to modify, amend, supplement or update these Terms and Conditions from time to time.
11.2 Where legally permissible, continued use of the website or portal following publication or notification of any amendment shall constitute acceptance of such modifications.
11.3 Where the Firm considers renewed express acceptance necessary or appropriate, continued access may be made conditional upon the User's affirmative acceptance of the revised Terms.
12. SEVERABILITY
12.1 If any provision of these Terms is determined by a court or competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, such provision shall, to the extent legally permissible, be severed or modified to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
13. NO WAIVER
13.1 No failure, delay or omission by the Firm in exercising any right, power or remedy under these Terms shall constitute a waiver thereof.
13.2 Any waiver shall be effective only if expressly made by the Firm and shall not constitute a continuing waiver unless expressly stated.
14. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
14.1 All rights, remedies, claims, privileges and causes of action available to the Firm under applicable law are expressly reserved.
14.2 Nothing contained herein shall be construed as a relinquishment, waiver or abandonment of any such right or remedy except to the extent expressly and lawfully stated.
15. FINAL DISCLAIMER
The contents of this website are provided for general informational and legitimate professional purposes and shall not, unless expressly stated otherwise by an authorised advocate, constitute legal advice, a legal opinion, a guarantee of legal outcome, or an assurance concerning the result of any litigation, proceeding, transaction, application, appeal, petition, negotiation or other legal matter.
ACCESS TO THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT, BY ITSELF, CREATE AN ADVOCATE–CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.
Any professional engagement shall arise only upon express acceptance by the Firm or an authorised advocate and shall remain subject to applicable professional obligations, engagement terms and law.
THIS DOCUMENT IS DRAFTED WITH THE INTENT TO SECURE THE LEGAL AND OPERATIONAL INTEGRITY OF EMV LAW FIRM'S WEB PRESENCE AND INTERNAL PORTAL, WHILE MAINTAINING DUE REGARD TO THE ADVOCATES ACT, 1961, THE RULES AND STANDARDS OF THE BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA, THE APPLICABLE REQUIREMENTS OF THE BAR COUNCIL OF TAMIL NADU AND PUDUCHERRY, THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000, THE BHARATIYA SAKSHYA ADHINIYAM, 2023, APPLICABLE DATA-PROTECTION LAW, AND OTHER APPLICABLE LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS AND JUDICIAL DIRECTIONS IN FORCE FROM TIME TO TIME.
ALL RIGHTS NOT EXPRESSLY GRANTED ARE RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED ACCESS, USE, COPYING, EXTRACTION, DISCLOSURE, ALTERATION OR INTERFERENCE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
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