1 Services
1.1 The services we are to provide for you are outlined in our engagement letter.
2 Financial
2.1 Fees:
a The fees we will charge or the manner in which they will be arrived at, are set out in our
engagement letter.
b If the engagement letter specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed scope of our services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an hourly rate basis.
We will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if it becomes necessary for us to
provide services outside the agreed scope and, if requested, give you an estimate of the
likely amount of the further costs.
c Where our fees are calculated on an hourly basis, the hourly rates are set out in our
engagement letter. The differences in those rates reflect the experience and
specialisation of our professional staff. Time spent is recorded in 15 minute units, with
time rounded up to the next unit of 15 minutes.
2.2 Disbursements and expenses: in providing services we may incur disbursements or
have to make payments to third parties on your behalf. These will be included in our
invoice to you when the expense is incurred. We may require an advance payment
for the disbursements or expenses which we will be incurring on your behalf.
2.3 GST (if any): Is payable by you on our fees and charges.
2.4 Invoices: We will send interim invoices to you, usually monthly and on completion of
the matter, or termination of our engagement. We may also send you an invoice when
we incur a significant expense.
2.5 Payment: Invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice, unless
alternative arrangements have been made with us. We may require interest to be
paid on any amount which is more than 7 days overdue. Interest will be calculated at
the rate of our firm's main trading bank’s 90-day bank bill buy rate as at the close of
business on the date payment became due.
2.6 Security: We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us, or to provide security for our
fees and expenses. You authorise us:
a to debit against amounts pre-paid by you; and
b to deduct from any funds held on your behalf in the trust account any fees, expenses or
disbursements for which we have provided an invoice
2.7 Third Parties: Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for our fees and
expenses, and although our invoices may at your request or with your approval be directed to
a third party, nevertheless you remain responsible for payment to us if the third party fails to
pay us.
3 Confidentiality
3.1 We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire during
the course of acting for you. We will not disclose any of this information to any other person
except:
a to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or
b to the extent required by law or by the Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for
Lawyers.
3.2 Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available
only to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you.
3.3 We will of course, not disclose to you confidential information which we have in
relation to any other client.
4 Termination
4.1 You may terminate our retainer at any time.
4.2 We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Law Society's Rules
of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers
4.3 If our retainer is terminated you must pay us all fees due up to the date of termination and all
expenses incurred up to that date.
5 Retention of files and documents
5.1 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 years after our
engagement ends, or earlier if we have converted those files and documents to an electronic
format.
6 Conflicts of Interest
6.1 We have procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest. If a conflict of
interest arises we will advise you of this and follow the requirements and procedures set out in
the Law Society's Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
7 Duty of Care
7.1 Our duty of care is to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may rely on
our advice, we must expressly agree to this.
8 Fees and disbursements in advance:
8.1 Before commencing work on your behalf, I may require the payment of a retainer. That retainer
will be deposited in an escrow trust account and used on account of fees and disbursements.
Any unused portion of the retainer will be returned to you upon completion or termination of
my services. Non- payment of any retainer requested will result in my ceasing work. Further
retainers may be necessary as the matter progresses and the earlier retainer has been used.
8.11 The retainer requested may not necessarily reflect the anticipated full cost of services
rendered to you and it should not be treated as an estimate. Once the retainer has been
exhausted, a further retainer will be sought from you.
9 Trust Account
9.1 We do not maintain a trust account and use the services of an escrow trust account for all
funds which are received from clients (except monies received for payment of our invoices). If
it is required to hold significant funds on your behalf , normally those funds would be lodged
in interest bearing deposit with a bank. In that case, you may be charged a
administration fee.
10.1 These Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or
not we send you another copy of them.
10.2 We are entitled to change these Terms from time to time, in which case we will send you
amended Terms.
10.3 Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts have
nonexclusive jurisdiction.
