What is Legal Opinion?
Legal opinion is a tool that allows parties to obtain a qualified third-party opinion on the subject, object and other issues related to the conclusion of a transaction. It is a document drawn up by a competent lawyer on any specific question or problem.
Before entering into any commercial transaction, the parties to such a transaction must carefully consider the nature and volume of the transaction, as well as legal issues related to it.
Why do payment systems need a legal opinion?
Legal opinions payment systems also known as payment service provider (PSP), are asked to make sure that the activities carried out by the company and client (or potential client) are legal and not contrary to the legislation of the payment system’s country or country of registration of the client company (depending on the request of the payment system). A legal opinion for a payment system (payment institution) is also necessary in order to reduce the risks of a potential check by a correspondent bank or a regulator.
A positive legal opinion for the payment system will confirm that the client of the payment system carries out its activities without violating the laws of a particular country and thus, the payment system is entitled to make money transfers to or from the customer’s accounts of the legal opinion.
What should be considered when drawing up a Legal Opinion for a payment service provider?
The legal opinion must necessarily be prepared by a specialist with experience in the field of banking law and should not be provided by the law of such a foreign state with which the lawyer is not familiar.
Qualitative legal opinion for the payment system is distinguished by strict language, clarity of the circumstances provided, validity in accordance with current legislation, as well as the presence of transparent and understandable conclusions.
It is important to know that if the customer's activity investigated is considered illegal, then the conclusion cannot be positive. It should be noted that no self-respecting law firm will risk its name and give an opinion on the legality of the activity, if the activity being investigated is illegal.
It is important to remember that in drawing up a legal opinion on absolutely any issues, lawyers are responsible for their opinions, as they conduct legal and factual research, analysis and verification.
It is for this reason that providing a legal opinion can be a rather expensive process.
Legal Opinion Compilation Form
The law does not establish any specific form that a lawyer must adhere to when drawing up a legal opinion, including for a legal opinion on the possibility of challenging the registration of a TM. Legal opinion, however, has a certain form developed over the centuries, that is the practice of drawing up legal opinions by lawyers from many countries of the globe.