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ABERNETHY BROATCH LAW
TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
The purpose of these terms of engagement is to set out our professional relationship with you in accepting and actioning your instructions. Unless we agree different terms in writing, these terms apply whenever you instruct us to act for you.
What is our role in acting for you?
We will, with due care and skill, provide you with the legal services that you request or that we agree on, unless a conflict of interest or other factors prevent us from doing so. If this is the case, we will contact you immediately.
How do we charge?
We charge for our services according to criteria * which have been approved by the New Zealand Law Society which includes such things as the skill, specialised knowledge and responsibility required, urgency of the matter, value or amount of the property involved, complexity and time involved.
* These factors are based on the New Zealand Law Society’s Conduct and Client Care Rules 2008 for Barristers and Solicitors.
Other charges
Our charges include disbursements incurred on your behalf and include registration and filing costs, court charges, photocopying, printing, facsimiles, tolls, deliveries, etc. We may charge you an estimate of some disbursements, such as photocopying, printing, facsimile and phone charges.
Disbursements also include payments made on your behalf such as fees of agents, experts and other professionals, and are charged at the amount charged to us. Where you have instructed us to instruct outside counsel then you will, on demand, pay to us the fees billed to us by that outside counsel.
You will also be charged GST at the current rate as required by law.
Security
We may ask you to prepay amounts to us, or to provide security for our fees and expenses. You authorise us:
to debit against amounts prepaid by you; and to deduct from any funds held on your behalf in our trust account any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.
Estimates of fees
If you would like us to give you an estimate of what we expect the fees will be for your matter, we will do so if possible. This will be a guide only and is not a fixed quote. We will also, at your request, tell you the amount of fees incurred to date, or we can let you know when fees reach a certain level.
How do we bill you?
Generally property or transactional matters will be billed at the time of settlement or on completion of the matter. For other matters, we will give you regular bills of cost (usually monthly) unless otherwise agreed. Payment is due on receipt or as otherwise arranged with us. If you do not make payment within 7 days we reserve the right to charge you interest on any unpaid amount at the ASB Bank Business Lending Base Rate. If we are holding money for you we may deduct the account from that money and provide you with a full statement.
If your account remains unpaid and there is no satisfactory explanation for non payment, we:
may start proceedings to recover the amount owed, plus interest and any collection costs incurred; and/or may do no further work for you, and will not release your papers and files until all accounts are paid.
Even if you expect another party to reimburse you for our fees and/or charges, we have no recourse to any person other than you, and so look to you for payment, even if reimbursement is delayed or you fail to get reimbursed.
Please contact us immediately if you have any concerns about our account. If you wish, you may have an independent review of your account. The District Law Society (of which the partner responsible for your file is a member) is responsible for carrying this out, and can give you more information on this process.
Do we require payment in advance?
We may ask you for a payment in advance for out-of-pocket expenses payable to third parties on your behalf and/or as security for professional fees.
This money will be held in our trust account on your behalf and will be used to pay:
We will provide you with a statement showing you how this money has been spent.
Retention of files and documents
You authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for this matter (other than any documents that we hold in safe custody for you) 7 seven years after our engagement ends, or earlier if we have converted those files and documents to an electronic format.
How does our engagement end?
You may end our engagement by giving us written notice at any time. You must pay our fees for work done and for other charges incurred up to the time of termination.
We may end our engagement, at any time including if our fees and charges are not paid when due.
If we become unable to act for you, all outstanding fees and other charges (up to the time of termination) will be billed to you. When you pay your account you have a right to uplift your file. Until your account is paid, we have a right to keep any of your property in our possession (this is called a solicitor’s lien).
Acceptance of Terms of Engagement
By instructing us to provide you with legal services, you are deemed to have accepted these terms of engagement.
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