Lawyers - Legal Exchange

STANDARD  COSTS AGREEMENTS - DISCLOSURES - incorporated by reference into quotation estimates/emails and faxes /letters provided with each Matter as applicable in each jurisdiction (Place/location)

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NSW  AND SYDNEY Standard Costs Disclosure

NSW  - COSTS AGREEMENT AND DISCLOSURE

From: ALEX TEES (Solicitor) Firm :

This document and the Form attached disclose information about the costs of my/our legal services, and your rights, as required by the Legal Profession Act 2004 NSW (the Act).

1. GST

All rates, charges, expenses etc in this document are GST exclusive unless otherwise stated. Where the service provided is subject to GST, GST of 10% will be added and charged to you.

2. Costs-how calculated

2.1 Professional Fees

I/We will charge you professional fees for the work I/we do either:

……………………………………………………………………….

Otherwise any additional work subject to your confirmation:

2.1.2 (a) an hourly rate of : $350-00 (plus 10% GST) for a Solicitor partner.

(b) travelling time at the rate of : $100-00 ph (plus 10% GST).

These rates will be proportionately charged for work involving shorter periods less than an hour. My/our charges are structured in 6 minutes units. For example, the time charged for an attendance of up to 6 minutes will be 1 unit and the time charged for an attendance between 6 and 12 minutes will be 2 units.

2.2 Charges

I/We will charge you for services we use or supply. Our rates are:

2.2.1 photocopying : $0-30 per page (plus 10% GST)

2.2.2 faxes/email : $0-50 per page (plus 10% GST)

2.2.3 Document lodgment and searches at Courts etc $ TBA
(plus 10% GST)

2.3 Expenses & Disbursements

I/We may incur expenses and disbursements (being money which I/we pay or are liable to pay) to others on your behalf. These may include:

Search fees; enquiry fees; court filing fees; process servers; clinical records from hospitals; medical reports; experts’ reports; witnesses expenses; travel expenses, transcripts; barrister’s fees and others.

I/We will inform you of these expenses and disbursements as well as any other payments required to be made, as soon as is reasonably practicable.

3. Estimate of Costs

The following estimate is based on the information available to me/us to date. It is an estimate, not a quotation and subject to change.

3.2 It is not possible at this time to provide an accurate estimate of the total costs. Instead a range of estimates of total costs (excluding GST) is provided for different stages. There may be a number of stages in your matter, which will vary according to its complexity, but may broadly be divided into:

Stage 2 : For Estate Planning MATTERS Lump sum Quote .

These estimates are made on the information available to me/us at this time. They may, and probably will, change when more information is available to me/us. The major factors which will affect the estimates are:IF NEGOTIATIONS EXTEND/DRAG ON OR COURT PROCEEDINGS EVENTUATE

4. Billing arrangements

I/We will send you a bill of costs containing information of my/our professional fees and charges, disbursements and expenses, including GST, either after completion of the work, ormonthly, or at other times as agreed with you, when the work is in progress.

5. Interest on unpaid costs

If my/our costs are not paid within 30 days of giving you my/our bill of costs, I/we may charge you interest on the unpaid amount at or under the maximum rate prescribed in Regulation 110A, of the Legal Profession Regulation 2005. The current rate is…….per annum,(or as prescribed by law) but may vary at the time the Bill of Costs is issued.

6. Dispute as to legal costs

In addition to the rights set out in the accompanying Form you also have the right

to have the costs mediated if the dispute is less than $10,000 (referral for mediation must be made before an application for assessment is accepted by the Manager, Costs Assessment).

7. Persons responsible for your matter and legal costs

Mr/TEES will be responsible for your matter under the supervision of Mr/Ms. You may contact
either one of them regarding your matter and your legal costs. Other persons may assist the above-named solicitors from time to time with the conduct of your matter. Please see our disclosed charge out rates. You may contact us regarding your matter and your legal costs.

8. Substantial changes to disclosure

You will be informed, as soon as is reasonably practicable, of any substantial changes to anything contained in this disclosure document.

9. Engagement of another law practice (e.g. Barrister/Counsel)

It may be necessary for me/us to engage, on your behalf, the services of another law practice to provide specialist advice or services, including advocacy services, or to act as my/our agent. I/We will consult you as to the terms of that law practice’s engagement, but you may be asked to enter into a costs agreement directly with that law practice. The law practice engaged by me/us will disclose costs in a similar manner and I/we will disclose those costs to you.These costs may be charged for as a Disbursement to you by us.

10. Costs in court proceedings

10.1 If court proceedings are taken on your behalf, the court may order the other party to pay your costs of the proceedings. This sum will not necessarily cover the whole of your legal costs due to me/us. It is possible that the court may make an order that you pay the other party’s costs (if, for instance, you lose the case). These costs are payable by you to the other party in addition to the costs payable to me/us.

10.2 If you are successful in the litigation the following is the range of costs that may be recovered from the other party. The sums given below are merely estimates.

10.2.1 prior to hearing : $TBA

10.2.2 up to and including a single day’s hearing : $

10.2.3 up to and including three days’ hearing : $

10.2.4 …………………………………………… $

10.3 If you are unsuccessful in the litigation you may be ordered to pay the other party’s costs. The sums given below are merely estimates, and based on my/our estimate of what the other party’s law practice may charge.

10.3.1 prior to hearing: $

10.3.2 up to and including a single day’s hearing: $

10.3.3 up to and including three days’ hearing: $

10.3.4 …………………………………………… $approx $30,000-00

10.4 If settlement of your claim is being negotiated, I/we will provide you before settlement with:

10.4.1 a reasonable estimate of my/our costs payable by you on settlement;

AND

10.4.2 a reasonable estimate of the costs you would obtain from the other party on settlement if the settlement is favourable to you;

OR

10.4.3 a reasonable estimate of the costs you may have to pay the other party (eg. Your case is weak, etc).

11. Applicable law

The law of NSW applies to legal costs regarding this matter. However, see your rights in the accompanying Form.

Form of disclosure of costs to clients

(Clause 109A Legal Profession Regulation 2005- Form 2)

Legal costs – your right to know

You have the right to:

• Negotiate a costs agreement with us
• Receive a bill of costs from us
• Request an itemized bill of costs after you receive a lump sum bill from us
• Request written reports about the progress of your matter and the costs incurred in your matter
• Apply for costs to be assessed within 12 months if you are unhappy with our costs
• Apply for the costs agreement to be set aside
• Accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter
• Notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter.

For more information about your rights, please read the facts sheet titled Legal Costs – your right to know. You can ask us for a copy, or obtain it from your local law society or law institute (or download it from their website).

From :AUTHORITY AND INSTRUCTION[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

RE:

1. Hereby authorize ALEX TEES & Solicitor(s) to *act for me both generally, specifically and to receive all documents and information in relation to myself, all my commercial and legal matters.*Subject to the Solicitor’s Standard Costs Agreement and Disclosure.
2. (Applicable/Not Applicable)Terminate all instructions to ………………………………(Previous Lawyers/Legal Practitioners).
3. Hereby authorise the Solicitor(s) to receive all monies/disbursements/settlement monies and judgments etc on my/or behalf and to pay such disbursements.
4. (Applicable/Not Applicable)Hereby authorise the Solicitors to make all necessary complaints or representations to relevant authorities/parties including H.R.E.O.C. and the Anti Discrimination Board as applicable.

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

Liability is limited by a Scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation.

Standard Costs Agreement

Solicitor ALEX TEES. Firm

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

A. This document is an offer to enter into a costs agreement with you.

B. The work I/we have been instructed to do is:

AS PER PREVIOUS EMAILS & DISCUSSIONS & COPIES PROVIDED. For Estate Planning MATTERS Lump sum Quote .

C. The disclosure requirements which I am/we are required to provide you under the Legal Profession Act 2004 are contained in annexure A (the Standard Costs Disclosure) which forms part of this document.

D. Acceptance of Offer-

If you accept this offer you will be regarded as having entered into a costs agreement. This means you will be bound by the terms and conditions set out in this document, including being billed in accordance with it. Acceptance may be by any one of the following ways:

· signing and returning a copy of this document;

· giving us instructions after receiving this document;

· oral acceptance.

Failure to accept my/our offer within 7 days of dispatch of this document can result in the immediate withdrawal of my/our offer to act on your behalf.

E. Termination of Agreement

E1. I/We will not continue to do the Work: if you fail to pay my/our bills; if you fail to provide me/us with adequate instructions within a reasonable time; if you give instructions that are deliberately false or intentionally misleading; if you fail to accept an offer of settlement which I/we think is reasonable; if you fail to accept advice I/we (or counsel) give you; if you engage another law practice to advice you on this matter without our consent; if I/we, on reasonable grounds, believe that I/we may have a conflict of interest, or if you indicate to me/us that we have lost your confidence; or for other just cause.

I/We will give you at least fourteen (14) days’ notice of my/our intention to terminate our agreement, and of the grounds on which the notice is based.

E2. You may terminate this agreement at any time.

E3 If the agreement is terminated either by you or me/us, you will be required to pay my/our professional fees and charges for work done, and for expenses and disbursements incurred, up to the date of termination. For lump sum fee matters, you must pay the part of my/our lump sum fee that I/we reasonably estimate has been incurred in respect of the legal services provided to you up to the date of termination, plus charges, expenses and disbursements, subject to your right to a costs assessment. You will be liable to pay my/our costs whether or not the other party to any court proceedings has to pay your costs of the proceedings.

On termination, I am/we are entitled to retain possession of your papers and documents while there is money owing to me/us for my/our charges and expenses, unless and until security is provided for my/our costs.

F. Retention of your documents

I/We will, on completion of the Work, retain any papers to which you are entitled, but leave in my/our possession (except documents deposited in safe custody) for no more than seven (7) years. and on the undertaking that I/we have your authority to destroy the file seven years after the date of the final bill rendered by me/us in this matter.

G. Privacy Protection

Personal information about you, provided by you and other sources, is protected under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. Disclosure of such information may be compelled by law (eg. under the Social Security Act). You also authorise me/us to disclose such information where necessary to others in furtherance of your claim/matter (eg. within the law practice, to the Court, the other party or parties to litigation, to valuers, experts, barristers etc).

H. Payment / Money on Account

Either:

I/We may ask you to pay me/us, in advance, some money on account of payments which will be made to others and our costs.

OR

I/We will ask you to repay the money paid on your behalf in clause 2[3] of the costs disclosure document as and when I/we send you bills for these payments.

I. Authorisation to Transfer Money from Trust Account

You authorise me/us to receive directly into my/our trust account any judgment or settlement money, or money received from any source in furtherance of your work, and to pay myself/ourselves my/our costs, disbursements and expenses in accordance with the provisions of clause 88(3)(a)(i)of the Legal Profession Regulation 2005.

J. Instructions to Act, Receipt of Information , Confidentiality, and Solicitor Client Privilege.

You, the Client acknowledge and understand that you have instructed us to act generally on your behalf as your Solicitors and that we may make such submission(s)/communication(s) or representations on your behalf as we think fit in order to undertake the proper carriage of this matter. You acknowledge that we have authority to make decisions on your behalf which are necessary for the efficient conduct of the matter and in urgent situations without reference to you. The client also acknowledges that full authority is hereby given to the Solicitor to obtain and receive all information and documents etc in whatever form from whatever source in relation to this/these matters. All information received is understood to be confidential between the Solicitor and the client in accordance with normal professional requirements and Solicitor Client Privilege.You acknowledge that this agreement may be amended/changed at any time so as to secure compliance with applicable laws and regulations and you acknowledge that this agreement may be enforced in any jurisdiction/place throughout the world although NSW law shall apply.

J.1 A monthly/Fortnightly Bill or account for professional fees and costs and disbursements may be sent to the client. Such account will be paid within 7 days of the date of issue. The Solicitor reserves the right to request payment for professional services in advance and the client authorizes such payments to be paid into the office account of the Solicitor if any fees are paid in advance. Fees paid after performance of work are also authorized to be paid to the Solicitors office account. Interest will be charged on overdue accounts at 10 Percent per Annum.(unless otherwise prescribed by Regulation) Except for disbursements, professional fees are not charged for in advance in Workers Compensation or Third Party motor Accident personal injury matters.If costs/fees are not paid the Solicitor will no longer act for you. If you transfer the matter to another Legal Practitioner the file will not be released until all fees/costs/disbursements are paid.

J.2 It is the policy of this firm that deposit $600.00 or less shall not be refunded if the retainer is terminated.

J.3 The client authorises approves the following Indicative memoranda of costs as and when applicable and if applicable.

Notes for completing the Standard Costs Agreement

(Legal Profession Act 2004 as amended by the Legal Profession Amendment Act 2006, the Legal Profession Further Amendment Act 2006; and the Legal Profession Regulation 2005 as amended by the Legal Profession Amendment Regulation 2007)

This is a standard costs agreement. It may not cover the circumstances of every law practice/client relationship. This agreement satisfies the requirements of the Legal Profession Act 2004; however, it may not satisfy the individual requirements of your legal practice and you may include additional clauses to suit your retainer.

Please note that a costs agreement is also required to be entered into with an associated third party payer – section 322(1)(d)

Disclosure is not required for a “sophisticated client”. Please see the definition in section 302 and section 312.

Disclosure under Sections 309 and 311 must be made in writing before, or as soon as practicable after, the law practice is retained in the matter. There is, however, no provision for acceptance of the disclosure under Section 309. It is merely a notification to the client. The offer to enter into a costs agreement is contained in this document and it also contains additional clauses for your protection. The disclosure document (together with Form 2) should form part of this document as set out in clause C, even if it was given separately to a prospective client earlier.

A. Clause A complies with the provisions of Section 322 (2) and (3).

B. Clause B. The Work to be done for the client, based on proper instructions, must be clearly set out. Doing so will prevent any disputes arising subsequently.

C. Clause C. The disclosure requirements are in conformity with Section 309 and other relevant sections of the Act. Annexure “A” refers to the Standard Costs Disclosure document.

D. Clause D complies with Section 322 (4). If you wish to include any other additional methods of acceptance you should include them here.

E. Clause 5. Although there is no provision for termination of a costs agreement in the Act, a termination clause similar to that in the old costs agreement is included. Without a termination clause a client may be able to insist on the solicitor completing the work.

F&G. Clauses F & G are necessary provisions, although not provided by the Legal Profession Act 2004.

H. This clause is self-explanatory.

I. This clause complies with the provisions of clause 88(3) & (4) of the Legal Profession Regulation 2005.

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QUEENSLAND  - COSTS AGREEMENT & DISCLOSURE - " CLIENT SERVICE AGREEMENT - "CSE"

LEGAL EXCHANGE - GB Legal ,   Alexander Tees    www.gblegalservices.com

Costs Disclosure Notice

Section 308 Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld)

RE:……………………..  ; & otherwise previous emails/Facsimile

File no: 
To: ………………….. & clients as designated in attached email/facsimile

1. Legal fees – your rights

(a) You have the right to:

(i) Negotiate the enclosed client services agreement (CSA) with us;

(ii) Receive an account from us;

(iii) Request an itemised account after you receive a lump sum account from us;

(iv) Request written reports about the progress of your matter and the costs incurred in your matter;

(v) Apply for costs to be assessed within 12 months if you are unhappy with our costs;

(vi) Apply for the CSA to be set aside;

(vii) Accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter;

(viii) Notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter; and

(ix) Be notified of any substantial change in the matters disclosed in this Notice.

(b) This disclosure notice provides you with information about our legal services, the cost of those services and your rights. For more information about your rights, please read the enclosed facts sheet titled ‘legal costs – your right to know’ published by the Qld Law Society.

(c) The law of Queensland will apply to the CSA. You have the right to enter into a CSA with us on the basis that a corresponding law of another state or territory is applicable if our services will be provided completely or primarily in that state or territory, or where the matter has a substantial connection with that other state or territory. You also have the right in certain circumstances to notify us in writing in accordance with the time limits of the corresponding law that you require the law of another jurisdiction to apply.

(d) If you dispute your legal costs, you have the right under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) to:

(i) Apply for a costs assessment within 12 months of delivery of an account or request for payment or such extended time as may be permitted by the court or costs assessor after considering the reason for the delay (except sophisticated clients as defined in the LPAQ); or

(ii) Apply to set aside the CSA within 6 years or other times as the law permits.

2. How this firm charges

(a) There are several bases by which legal practices charges for professional services rendered including itemised scale fees, statutory scales, task based fees, fixed fees and conditional fee arrangements which may include an uplift fee. These different methods of charging may result in different fees payable.

(b) Our firm’s professional fees charged will be as

Option 1

(i) A lump sum of $...........(n/a) inclusive of GST. (or as otherwise Communicated to you in our accompanying Email/Facsimile/Letter)

(ii) If the agreement is terminated either by you or on a permitted ground by this firm, you will be required to pay the professional fees charges and disbursements and outlays up to the date of termination.

(iii) You will be liable to pay this firm whether or not the other party to any court proceedings has to pay your costs of the proceedings. They will be charged as follows:

Option 2

(iv) An amount calculated by reference to the amount of time spent attending to your matter. Our  normal hourly charge rates (including GST) are $300.00. per hour or part thereof (where no other estimate ,lump sum or Fee range is provided)

(v) Time will be charged in 6 minute intervals – with 6 minutes being the minimum interval recorded for professional services. For example, the time charged for an attendance of up to 6 minutes will be 1 unit and the time charged for an attendance between 7 and 12 minutes will be two units.

- Or as per accompanying Email,Facsimile or Letter/Communication – Lump Sum/Range of fee quotes

(c) Fees for other items (including GST) are:

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

Disbursements : You may also become liable to pay disbursements such as Court Filing/hearing/Court  fees, Commercial Agents Service/delivery Fees,Search Fees or Fees for Barristers/Counsel or other Inter State or International Lawyer/Agents

We will inform you of these expenses and disbursements as well as any other payments required to be made, as soon as is reasonably practicable and in most cases in advance.

(d) All rates, charges, expenses, etc in this document include GST at the rate of 10% unless otherwise specified.

3. Estimate of your costs

The following estimate is based on the information available to this firm to date. It is an estimate, not a quotation and subject to change.

Option 1

Professional fees                       $ Approx $750-00 initial and as per previous Communications

Expenses and disbursements $nil

Total (GST inclusive):                $as calculated per applicable laws

These estimates are made on the information available at this time and the estimates may change when more information is available to us. The major factors which will affect the estimates are:

(a) Changes to your instructions over the course of your matter;

(b) Changes in the scope and complexity of work necessary to carry out those instructions;

(c) The willingness of other parties to come to terms and the actions they take;

(d) Whether we must undertake legal research on your behalf;

(e) The time it takes to complete your matter;

(f) Other unforeseen circumstances.

4. Accounts, interest charges and contact person

(a) Accounts will be sent to you containing information of professional fees, other charges, disbursements and expenses and GST at monthly intervals, or less frequently by prior arrangement only.

(b) If you fail to pay our accounts, the CSA entitles us to exercise a ‘solicitor’s lien’. The lien allows us to retain all your documents and funds in trust until the account is paid.  We may also charge interest at a benchmark rate being the rate prescribed by regulations under the Legal Profession Act 2007 which is, the rate that is equal to the cash rate target, as defined by the regulations to the Act, plus two percentage points as at the date of the bill, (compounding monthly) on any amount that remains unpaid for 7 days after becoming due for payment.

(c) You may contact Alex Tees of GB Legal with any concerns regarding your legal costs.

5. Substantial changes to disclosure

You will be informed, as soon as is reasonably practicable, of any substantial changes to anything contained in this disclosure notice.

6. Engagement of another law practice (e.g. barrister)

You will be informed if we engage another law practice (including a barrister) to provide specialist advice or services on your behalf.

7. Ending arrangements

(a) You may end our engagement by written notice to us at any time however you remain liable for the legal costs up until that time.

(b) We may end our engagement by written notice to you if you:

(i) Do not provide us with adequate instructions

(ii) Refuse to act in accordance with our advice

(iii) Breach the CSA

(iv) Instruct us to act unlawfully or unethically

(v) Fail to co-operate fully in the conduct of your matter

(vi) Indicate that you have lost confidence in us

(vii) Fail to pay any accounts or to provide money to be paid into trust as required under this agreement

(viii) Lose legal capacity to instruct us

(ix) Do not accept any increase in fees advised to you, or

(x) Are informed by us that we have a conflict of interest and can no longer act on your behalf.

(c) If you do not pay monies in accordance with the CSA, this firm may suspend work and may cease acting for you.

8. Costs in court proceedings

(a) If court proceedings are taken on your behalf:

(i) The court may order that you pay another party’s costs (for example, if you lose the case)

(ii) The court may order the other party to pay your costs of the proceedings and, as a general rule, this will not be the whole of the legal costs you are liable to pay us,

(iii) If the court orders you to pay costs, the court ordered costs are payable by you to the other party in addition to the costs liable to be paid pursuant to the proposed CSA

(b) If you are successful in the litigation you might recover some of your fees and costs from the unsuccessful party being an amount between approximately 60% and 70% of the fees and expenses that you pay us.

(c) If you are unsuccessful in the litigation you may be required to pay the successful party’s fees.  These may be as much as or more than the fees you paid us, depending upon the successful party’s solicitors charge out rates and, in addition, the outlays they incurred (e.g with respect to experts reports).

(d) If settlement of your claim is being resolved by alternate dispute resolution, prior to any agreement resolving the matter this firm will provide you with a reasonable estimate of its costs payable by you on settlement, a reasonable estimate of the costs you would obtain from the other party on settlement if the settlement is favourable to you or a reasonable estimate of the costs you may have to pay the other party.

9. Acknowledgement

Clients................................................................................................................................................................... acknowledge that we have read and understood the contents of this disclosure notice.

_________________________                                                                            

Date:_____________________

CLIENT SERVICES AGREEMENT (CSA)

Between:      GB  LEGAL - Grubers Beckett Law Group (“us”, “we”, “our”)   - Alex Tees

                        www.gblegalservices.com

And:             Messrs ……………………………………….. identified in

                     the Emails to you & your Accountant. (as applicable)

1. Disclosure prior to entry into CSA

(a) Before providing legal services to you and before you enter into this Agreement, we are required to disclose certain information under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld).

(b) A disclosure notice was provided to you with this CSA and by signing this CSA you acknowledge receipt of the disclosure notice and confirm you have read and understood the information contained in it and agree that its terms form part of this agreement.

2. Offer and acceptance of CSA

(a) This document is an offer to enter into an agreement with you regarding the legal services to be provided to you. If you accept this offer you will be regarded as having entered into a costs agreement with us. This means you will be bound by the terms and conditions set out in this CSA, including being billed in accordance with it.

(b) Acceptance may be by:

(i) Signing and returning a copy of this document; or

(ii) Giving us instructions after receiving this document; or

(iii) contacting us and advising of your acceptance, AND

(iv) Paying to us the up-front amount requested in the letter of engagement towards anticipated costs and outlays.

(c) Failing to accept this offer within 30 days of the date of the disclosure notice accompanying this CSA may result in the withdrawal of our offer to act on your behalf.

(d) The laws of Queensland will apply to this CSA.

3. Your instructions

(a) Our letter of engagement sets out our instructions as we understand them. You must contact us immediately if we have misunderstood your instructions.

(b) It is also important that you provide us with full and accurate instructions including all necessary documents and information that we request from you.

(c) Where necessary, we will from time to time recommend that you seek the advice of other professionals in fields outside our expertise for example, accountants, surveyors, town planners, financial advisors, insurance brokers, etc.

4. Professional fees

(a) Unless our letter of engagement stipulates a fixed fee for the work we will undertake, our professional fees will be calculated based on the time spent by our professional staff according to their hourly rates. Our current rates are set out in the letter of engagement.

(b) Time charging may result in a higher or lower account than charging on the basis provided for in the relevant court scale (which is enclosed for your information). For some matters such as employment and workplace matters no relevant scale exists as costs are not recoverable from either party in that jurisdiction.

(c) Time spent is recorded in 6-minute units (with time rounded up to the nearest unit of 6 minutes). Time spent can include internal conferences discussing your matter, drafting documents, reviewing documents, attending settlements, meetings and telephone attendances with you and with other parties, travelling and research time.

(d) We may review our hourly rates from time to time and increase them depending on market conditions and other factors. We will provide you with reasonable notice of any fee increase and will not increase our rates more than once in any 12-month period.

(e) All matters are also subject to an additional premium of between 10-30% of the value of the time recorded to your matter, described as “care and consideration” which represents additional time spent researching, preparing and generally attending to your instructions which has not been specifically charged on a time-recorded basis. “Care and consideration” may also reflect the complexity, novelty, or urgency of a particular matter.

(f) If, within 14 days of receiving notice from us that our hourly rates are increasing, you do not notify us that the increases are unacceptable to you, you agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the increased rate and that rate will then apply from the date advised in our letter to you.

(g) If you notify us that the fee increases are unacceptable, you or we may terminate this CSA (see clause 9).

5. Other expenses

(a) In addition to our professional fees, you agree to pay all other expenses properly incurred by us.

(b) These expenses will include costs we incur on your behalf or supply to you including photocopying, receiving facsimiles, sending facsimiles, travel expenses, file opening, and archive retrieval fees.

(c) Other costs incurred on your behalf may include barrister’s fees, courier fees, cost assessor’s fees, consultant’s fees, medical reports, stamp duty, postage, process servers and investigator’s, agents fees including other lawyers, parking and accommodation, witness fees and transfer fees.

(d) Unless otherwise stated, our estimated fees and expenses include GST, to the extent that it is applicable.

6. Accounts

(a) Accounts will be issued monthly unless you and we agree otherwise.

(b) Our accounts will show you the details of the work undertaken, the total cost to you and disbursements.

(c) Our accounts are payable within 7 days of receipt, and, thereafter, we may charge you interest on the outstanding balance at a benchmark rate being the rate prescribed by regulations under the Legal Profession Act 2007 which is, the rate that is equal to the cash rate target, as defined by the regulations to the act, plus two percentage points as at the date of the bill (compounding monthly) until payment is received in full.

(d) Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for our fees and expenses, we do not have any recourse against third parties for that payment. Therefore, you must pay us as set out in this agreement even if payment to you by a third party is delayed or not received.

(e) For litigation matters, if you are successful in your litigation, you might recover some of your fees and costs from the unsuccessful party. It is estimated that the amount recoverable would be between 60% and 75% of the fees and costs that you pay us.

(f) If you are not successful in your litigation, you may be required to pay the successful parties fees and costs. These may be as much as or more than the fees you paid us, depending upon the successful party’s solicitors charge out rates and the outlays they incurred (e.g. with respect to experts reports).

(g) We may ask you for an advance payment on account of future fees and outlays to be incurred in the matter. We may decide not to commence or to continue work until the payment is received. If the amount requested is not paid by the required date, we may terminate this agreement under clause 9.

(h) Where we hold monies in our trust account on your behalf, you authorise us to withdraw and apply those monies to pay our costs and expenses stated in an invoice and any accrued interest. In respect of this matter of any other matter where we act for you and costs and expenses are so owing.

(i) We can retain your money, property and documents until all money due to us has been paid (including after this agreement terminates) to the extent permitted by law. This right is called a “solicitor’s lien” and survives any bankruptcy or liquidation.

7. Conflicts of interest

(a) Upon opening each new file, we undertake internal searches to determine whether we may have a conflict of interest, that is, to determine whether we have acted or are currently acting for the other party to your matter.

(b) If we discover a conflict, we may need to terminate this agreement under clause 9.

(c) You agree that we need not disclose to you any information that we acquire in the course of acting for our other clients (including information contained in conflict searches conducted on behalf of those clients).

8. Engagement of another law practice (e.g. a barrister)

(a) We will inform you and, where practical, take into account your wishes if we engage another law practice to provide specialist advice (e.g. a barrister), expert witness, or other agent to provide services on your behalf. You must pay upon demand all agents, experts or other third party fees that are billed to us. If the advocate, expert, or agent provides us with fee disclosures or the basis of fee calculation, we will pass this information on to you. If we become liable to pay interest on any third party’s fees as a consequence of delay on your part, we will pass that charge on to you.

(b) As a matter of public policy, the law provides immunity from suit in relation to advocacy. Nothing in this agreement affects an advocate’s immunity from suit in relation to any advocacy conducted on your behalf.

9. Termination of this agreement

(a) You may terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason by giving us written notice.

(b) We may terminate this agreement by giving you written notice for just cause or if you:

(i) Do not provide us with adequate instructions

(ii) Refuse to act in accordance with our advice

(iii) Breach this agreement

(iv) Instruct us to act unlawfully or unethically

(v) Fail to co-operate fully in the conduct of your matter

(vi) Indicate that you have lost confidence in us

(vii) Fail to pay any accounts or to provide money to be paid into trust as required under this Agreement in relation to this matter or any other matters we are conducting on your behalf

(viii) Lose legal capacity to instruct us

(ix) Do not accept any increase in fees advised to you

(x) Are informed by us that we have a conflict of interest and can no longer act on your behalf.

(c) We will give you written notice of our intention to terminate this Agreement.

(d) Upon termination of this CSA for any reason we are entitled to payment of all outstanding fees and costs up to the termination and any interest accrued and to a solicitor’s lien (described above) on all documents and trust money will there is money owing to us after the CSA is terminated.

10. Retention of your documents

(a) We will, on completion of your matter, retain any papers to which you are entitled, but choose to leave in our possession (except documents deposited in safe custody) for no more than 7 years and on the basis that we have your authority to destroy the file 7 years after the date of our final account is rendered to you in the relevant matter.

11. Privacy and direct marketing

(a) Personal information about you is protected under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. Disclosure of such information may be compelled by law (e.g. under the Social Security Act). You authorise us to collect information about you and to disclose that information to others if necessary in furtherance of your matter (e.g. within the law practice, to the court, the other party to any litigation, to barristers etc).

(b) You consent to our use of your contact details to maintain a professional relationship with you and to provide legal updates and other information that we think may be of interest to you by telephone, facsimile, email, or direct mail. You may ask us not to send direct marketing materials by contacting us on 07 4031 7411 or by email at alex.tees@grubersbeckett.com.au

12. Complaints

(a) Please raise any concern or problem with the lawyer handling your matter. If your concern is not resolved at that level, you should immediately direct the complaint to the senior partner.

(b) If we are unable to resolve your complaint, you may obtain the assistance of the Queensland Law Society on telephone (07) 3842 5888.

13. Trust account authority

(a) In accordance with the requirements of section 249(1)(b) of the Legal Profession Act 2007, you authorise G B Legal Lawyers/GB Lawyer Services to transfer from our trust account to our general account or to any other trust account (held on your behalf), any monies relating to professional fees, statutory charges, and other outlays incurred on your behalf in relation to the file the subject of this CSA, or any other matter where we act on your behalf.

14. Acknowledgement & agreement

acknowledge that have read and understood the contents of this CSA and agree to its terms.

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

From :

AUTHORITY AND INSTRUCTION

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

RE:

1. Hereby authorize ALEX TEES & GB Legal,Solicitor(s) to *act for me both generally, specifically and to receive all documents and information in relation to myself, all my commercial and legal matters.*Subject to the Solicitor’s Standard Costs/Client Service Agreement and Disclosure.Lawyer/Client privelege applies and full Confidentiality will be maintained.
2. (Applicable/Not Applicable)Terminate all instructions to ………………………………(Previous Lawyers/Legal Practitioners).
3. Hereby authorise the Solicitor(s) to receive all monies/disbursements/settlement monies and judgments etc on my/or behalf and to pay such disbursements.
4. (Applicable/Not Applicable)Hereby authorise the Solicitors to make all necessary complaints or representations to relevant authorities/parties including H.R.E.O.C. and the Anti Discrimination Board as applicable.

[[PASTING TABLES IS NOT SUPPORTED]]

Liability is limited by a Scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation.

Liability is limited by a Scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation.