Legal
Terms of use
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These terms govern use of this website and the Shtim client portal. By using either, you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the site.
1. Who we are
This website is operated by World of Torah, Inc. d/b/a Shtim (“Shtim”). Shtim provides nonlegal bookkeeping and reconciliation services for attorney trust, escrow, and IOLA accounts.
2. Not legal advice; no attorney–client relationship
Nothing on this website or in the Shtim service is legal advice or legal representation. Shtim does not provide legal advice, legal representation, audit, assurance, or professional-responsibility advice. No attorney–client relationship is created between Shtim, its owners or personnel, and you, your firm, or any of your firm’s clients by using this site, submitting a form, or receiving the services.
Nothing here represents or warrants that use of the services will cause a firm to be compliant with any particular legal, ethical, regulatory, or court-rule requirement. Determining and satisfying those obligations remains the firm’s responsibility.
3. No engagement until agreed
Submitting a form, exchanging emails, or using this website does not create an engagement or obligate Shtim to provide services. Services are provided only under an executed engagement agreement.
4. The engagement agreement controls
For enrolled firms, the Shtim Trust Account Reconciliation Services Agreement governs the services, including scope, fees, responsibilities, confidentiality, third-party services, limitation of liability, and termination. Where these terms and that agreement differ regarding the services, the engagement agreement controls.
5. Information on this site
Descriptions of the service, pricing, and calculators on this site are provided for general information. The pricing estimator produces an illustrative figure from the values you enter; it is not a quote, an invoice, or a commitment, and it does not reflect custom pricing, setup fees, or the actual finalized transaction count for any period. Sample reconciliation data shown on this site is illustrative and does not represent any real firm, account, matter, or transaction.
We may change the site, the service, or pricing at any time. Pricing for enrolled firms changes only as provided in the engagement agreement.
6. Portal access and acceptable use
Portal access is issued to enrolled firms. If you have access, you agree to keep credentials confidential, to use multi-factor authentication where offered, not to share accounts between people, and to promptly report suspected unauthorized access. Firms are responsible for maintaining the security of their portal users and for promptly disabling access for anyone who should no longer have it. Shtim may rely on submissions made through an authenticated firm account as authorized firm submissions unless it has actual notice to the contrary.
You agree not to: access data belonging to another firm; probe, scan, or test the security of the site or portal, or attempt to defeat access controls; interfere with or overload the services; use automated means to scrape or harvest content or data; reverse engineer the services except where that restriction is unenforceable by law; upload malicious code; misrepresent your identity or authority; or use the services for any unlawful purpose.
7. What you submit
You are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and lawfulness of information you submit, and for having the authority to submit it. Do not submit confidential client information, account numbers, or credentials through public forms on this website. Shtim is entitled to rely on information supplied by a firm.
8. Electronic records and signatures
You agree that onboarding information, matter assignments, classifications, service selections, approvals, notices, invoices, signatures, and other records may be created, submitted, maintained, and accepted electronically. Electronic acceptance of the engagement agreement through Shtim’s onboarding workflow constitutes a signature and agreement to its terms.
9. Intellectual property
The site and portal, including their text, design, interface, and software, and the Shtim name and logo, are owned by Shtim or its licensors and are protected by intellectual-property laws. You may view and print pages for your firm’s internal use. You may not otherwise copy, distribute, modify, or create derivative works without written permission. An enrolled firm’s own records remain the firm’s.
10. Third-party links and services
The site may link to or rely on third-party services. Shtim does not control and is not responsible for third-party content, availability, security, or privacy practices.
11. Disclaimers
The website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Shtim disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and does not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.
Shtim is not providing audit, assurance, fraud-detection, legal, cybersecurity, or professional-responsibility services and does not guarantee detection of any error, unauthorized transaction, fraudulent activity, misappropriation, discrepancy, data incident, or other irregularity.
12. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Shtim and its owners, employees, agents, and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages, lost profits, loss of data, loss of business, or loss of goodwill arising out of or relating to use of this website.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Shtim’s aggregate liability arising out of or relating to use of this website will not exceed $100. For enrolled firms, liability relating to the services is governed by the limitation of liability in the engagement agreement.
These limitations apply only to the fullest extent permitted by law. Nothing excludes or limits liability to the extent such exclusion or limitation is prohibited or unenforceable under applicable law.
13. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Shtim and its owners, employees, agents, and contractors from claims, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site or portal, or information you submit that you were not authorized to submit.
14. Suspension
Shtim may suspend or terminate access to the site or portal at any time, including where Shtim reasonably determines that continued access presents a legal, ethical, security, or professional risk, or where fees remain unpaid, as provided in the engagement agreement.
15. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
16. Binding arbitration before a beit din
Read this section carefully. It affects how disputes are resolved and waives the right to a court trial and to a jury.
Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these terms, this website, the Shtim client portal, or the services — including questions of the formation, validity, breach, interpretation, or termination of any agreement between the parties — shall be submitted to and resolved exclusively by binding arbitration (din Torah) before a beit din (rabbinical court) designated by Shtim. If the beit din designated by Shtim declines to accept the matter or cannot serve, Shtim shall designate an alternate beit din, and if it does not do so within thirty days of written request, the arbitration shall be conducted before the Beth Din of America under its then-current rules and procedures.
The arbitration shall be seated in the State of New York and conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures of the beit din so designated. The parties agree that the arbitration shall be governed by Article 75 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules and, where applicable, the Federal Arbitration Act, that the beit din is empowered to issue a binding award, and that judgment upon the award may be entered and confirmed in any court of competent jurisdiction in the State of New York, to whose jurisdiction for that purpose the parties consent.
The parties waive any right to litigate such disputes in court, waive trial by jury, and waive any right to bring or participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. Claims may be brought only in an individual capacity.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for temporary or preliminary injunctive relief in aid of arbitration, and Shtim may bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to collect undisputed amounts due.
Each party shall bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees unless the beit din directs otherwise. This section survives termination.
17. Changes to these terms
Shtim may update these terms. The date at the top reflects the current version, and continued use of the site after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.
18. Miscellaneous
If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. Shtim’s failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these terms without Shtim’s written consent. These terms, together with the Privacy Policy and, for enrolled firms, the engagement agreement, are the entire agreement concerning use of this website.