02 Your named attorney
We’ll give you access and contact details for your attorney.
The key benefit to your plan is that you get access to a named practising attorney.
When you joined, you either selected a named practising attorney or we allocated you one based upon your location and their workload.
The Named practising attorney is like your lead attorney – they are there to handle your matters (or cases), enquiries and other issues. They also provide you with the 24 hour access emergency line.
When you joined we’ll have sent you an email with their details – and you can always find it in your account section of the membership portal at any time.
Save the emergency details to your phone in case you ever need it.
The Practising Attorney represents you in all matters – they’ll likely be the person going to court if you ever need to go to court.
However, Practising Attorney’s:
- Can be very busy,
- Are busy in court on other matters
- Aren’t always the specialists you need.
So, in some circumstances when you contact your attorney your query might be dealt with by either other members of their practice (e.g. their fellow practising attorneys or paralegals).
When you need a specialist – e.g. in a Labour dispute – your practising attorney can engage other Defend^ practising attorney’s to help them, or engage our wider network.
In all cases – your practising attorney retains responsibility for managing your matter.
Who do I contact for queries?
You must already be a member to use our service. Once you have your practising attorney’s details you can contact them using them.
Or better still – use our digital services.
What if I am unhappy?
We’re exceptionally proud of our practising attorneys – however if you are unhappy with the service that you have received, please contact us using the account portal.
Claims & Matters Fine Print
If I subscribe and use the service, am I entitled to 100% of any payout to me by a party? (e.g. damages, compensation, settlement)
Wherever possible – we seek legal fee recovery (‘costs’) from the other parties involved as part of the damage/compensation.
In circumstances If you were awarded Damages or Compensation we would recover the total cost of the claim from any settlement/compensation you receive.
This is because the membership price would not pay for the services we provide. We provide our members with access to legal services with a low rate including in circumstances where there is no ability to recover fees (e.g. defending you at a magistrates court).
To maintain the low membership price we do have to recover our fees from any awarded Compensation, Damage or Settlement payout to you where we can’t recover the fees from the other party.
We openly and transparently share those bills that we pay in any claim.
Does my policy include payout of any fines or bail?
No. We do not pay fines, or bail money, at any point as part of any matter.
Isn’t legal aid sufficient?
That’s a decision for you to make. We’re thrilled that Legal Aid is a thing , but it is means tested and constrained to a high degree.
We can’t represent you under legal aid or seek any money from Legal Aid for our services. If you wish to seek Legal Aid for a case – please contact the relevant Legal Aid authority BEFORE making a claim.
I have an existing matter in progress with another attorney – will that be covered?
It depends – please contact us to discuss. We don’t cover matters that are already in progress with an existing attorney as the matter would no longer be handled by your existing Attorney. If you wish to transfer the matter to us that would depend on when it started, what the matter was, what steps have been taken and what restrictions you have under your policy.
Are there restrictions on what and when I can claim for?
Yes; please see the policy details. If you have already taken out a policy – please contact your practising attorney.
You only have access to the service if you have paid in advance and there are some limits – such as needing to be a member for a number of months before you can make some claims.
If I make a claim; does Defend^ pay me? Or give me cash?
No; We do not pay you any cash and our entitlements are not convertible to cash. There are no circumstances where we will pay you.
If you use the service and that service requires you make a claim, then any entitlement is paid to your practising attorney once we are in receipt of their bill.
If you are awarded some damages, a settlement, or any other legal fee, they are paid to your practising attorney’s account, who subtracts any relevant fees we instruct them to, then pays you.
Billing Fine Print
Can I upgrade my membership later?
Mostly, yes; but if you have an existing claim in progress, we reserve the right to deny the request.
What happens if I later decide to cancel?
If you cancel your subscription at any point then your benefits will immediately cease, this will include any support for any matter that you (or your dependents) have under way. All access to a Practising Attorney will be removed instantly.
If you later choose to rejoin your restrictions will restart, whilst your benefit entitlement will continue from the previous membership (e.g. if you claimed R10,000 previously, we’ll reduce the available entitlement by R10,000.
What happens if I miss a payment?
Please contact us through the membership site if you feel that you will miss a payment, we may be able to defer payment without impacting your membership benefits – or be able to pause your membership. If you miss one payment we will suspend your services. If you miss two, we will consider the policy cancelled. We will try more than once to collect your payment.
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Can Defend cancel my agreement?
In the very unlikely event we chose to do that, yes, we can cancel your agreement and subscription at our discretion. We would provide you with cause for doing so (e.g. breaking of our terms and conditions, or failure to pay for your subscription).
