What is Legal Opinion?

Legal opinion is a tool that allows parties to obtain a qualified third-party opinion on subject, object and other issues related to the conclusion of the transaction. This is a document drawn up by a competent lawyer on any specific question or problem.

Before entering into any commercial transaction, the parties should carefully consider the nature and volume of the transaction, as well as legal issues related to it.

Why do Visa and Mastercard need Legal Opinion?

In the fall of 2018, Visa and Mastercard notified their processing agents and merchant agents (mainly banks or payment systems) that they should receive from their clients who deal with cryptocurrency, online games, investments, including binary options and CFDs (CFD, Contract for Future Difference), legal opinion in the country where the payers are located, answering the questions:

  1. Is the client's business a processing agent or merchant agent?
  2. If such activity is legal, then does it need any licensing?

Accordingly, in this case, the legal opinion for Visa or Mastercard should answer the above questions. A processing or merchant agent can continue to work with a client, if the first question is answered positively and the second question is a negative one (or the company must provide the necessary license).

If a legal opinion does not satisfy the requirements of a processing agent, merchant agent, Visa or Mastercard, then the account will be closed. For processing agents, merchant agents, Visa or Mastercard can stop working with them and, thus, the above entities will lose the opportunity to provide services of issuing plastic cards to their customers.

A positive legal opinion for a mastercard or visa will confirm that the client of the processing or merchant agent operates without violating the laws of a particular country and thus, the processing or merchant agent has the right to make money transfers to or from the customer’s legal opinion accounts .

What should be considered when drawing up a opinion letter for Visa and MasterCard?

Legal opinion should be prepared by a specialist, who has experience in the field of banking law and not by the law of a foreign state, with which the lawyer is not familiar.

Qualitative legal opinion in accordance with the requirements of Visa or Mastercard is distinguished by rigorous wording, 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 illegal, the conclusion cannot be positive. It should be noted that no self-respecting law firm will “trade in a signature” and give a legal opinion on the legality of the activity, if the activity investigated is illegal.

It is also important to bear in mind, 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 an expensive process.

Conclusion Form for Visa and Mastercard

The law does not establish any specific form a lawyer must adhere to when drawing up a legal opinion. Legal opinion, however, has a certain form developed over centuries, that involves the practice of drawing up legal opinions by lawyers from many countries around the globe.

Usually, the structure of the legal opinion is the following:

1. Information about the customer, information about the person to whom the conclusion is addressed, information about the compiler, information about the task that is delivered to the compiler. In some cases, it is also assumed that the legal opinion will be used by persons other than those specified. As an example, a legal opinion addressed to the underwriter regarding the legality of the proposed issue of shares or bonds, upon which the issuer's transfer agent (transfer agent) or the issuer’s bank or payment system must also rely.

2. General presentation of the documents under study or other factual or legal issues that were considered by the compiler in the presentation of legal opinion, as well as information on the various admitted reservations. Such reservations may vary depending on the nature of the request. For example, there is an opportunity to make a statement about the advisability of using a foreign law, in the event that the obligation must be fulfilled outside the country. This is especially true in cases where issues of more than one country are being raised, which requires the involvement of relevant lawyers, attorneys or foreign partners.

3. The legal opinion of a lawyer, including the study of facts, interpretation of facts on the subject of their legality or potential risks. The compiler of legal opinion should clearly and in details examine a sufficient number of facts confirming each of the conclusions set forth in the legal opinion.

4. Conclusion of the compiler based on the study. In most cases, the findings of legal opinion can be backed up by copies of the documents examined, with which the legal compiler issued an opinion.

5. The date and signature of the author, who issued the legal opinion. Usually, legal opinion is signed on behalf of the company with the specification of the persons who made the report. It should be noted that even such a seemingly insignificant moment as the date of approval of the legal opinion is extremely important, since the legal opinion must show the status of legal norms and the practice of their application at the time of preparing the opinion. Legislation, including corporate, banking and tax is subject to change and with this, the conclusion set forth in legal opinion may change.

It is necessary to take into account that a legal opinion should not be considered as a substitute for legal support, and the client should understand that having received a legal opinion, it does not mean a “guide to action” or a deal on its own.

Lawyers of Law and Trust provide services for the development of a legal position on issues raised by you and further development of legal opinion.

Key benefits of legal services offered by Law and Trust International

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Experience and qualifications. The experience of the L&T International team is more than 15 years. It gives the opportunity for working with cases in many business areas like finance, IT, agriculture, trade and foreign economic activity. Thanks to this experience, our specialists always offer the best selection of services.
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Comprehensive approach and individual solutions. Law and Trust International always provides a vast range of services for our clients, taking into account the individual characteristics of each particular case. Due to this symbiosis, our specialists always fulfil all the wishes of clients in full and taking into account the requests and preferences of customers.
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Monitoring and innovation.Our team keeps tracking the newest and most advanced working methods, as well as the latest legislative, financial and economic information events around the world. It allows lawyers of Law and Trust International to quickly and creatively resolve virtually any issues in the field of legal consulting.
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Privacy and responsibility. The security of our customers' data and respond to them are particularly important in the work of Law and Trust International. For all the time of work, we have not had a single leak of commercial, personal or legal information. It allows us to develop, grow and achieve new opportunities.
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Reputation and result. A team of lawyers of Law and Trust International always welcomes the success of our clients. Reaching new results, we develop new skills that we successfully use in our work. Thanks to successful cases, our clients and our team, we are creating qualitatively new opportunities to achieve the desired result now.

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