Standard terms of engagement

Services

The services the Firm is to provide for you are outlined in the engagement letter.

Telephone or email requests or receipt of documents from you or from another party on your behalf are sufficient authority to instruct the Firm to act on your behalf, unless otherwise specified.

Once the Firm has received and accepted your instructions to act either directly or indirectly it is entitled to charge you for the services rendered.

Financial

Fees

The fees the Firm will charge or the manner in which they will be arrived at, are set out in the engagement letter.

If the engagement letter specifies a fixed fee, the Firm will charge this for the agreed scope of our services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an hourly rate basis. The Firm 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.

Where fees are calculated on an hourly basis, the hourly rates are set out in the engagement letter. The differences in those rates reflect the experience and specialisation of the Firm’s professional staff. Time spent is recorded in 6 minute units, with time rounded up to the next unit of 6 minutes.

Disbursements and expenses

In providing services to you, the Firm may incur disbursements or have to make payments to third parties on your behalf. These will be itemised in your invoice when the expense is incurred. The Firm may require advance payment for the disbursements or expenses which will be incurred on your behalf; or, for you to make payment to third parties directly.

GST (if any)

Is payable by you on our fees and charges.

Invoices

The Firm will send interim invoices to you, usually monthly and on completion of the matter, or termination of our engagement. The Firm may also send you an invoice when a significant expense is incurred.

Payment

Invoices are payable within 7 days of the date of the invoice, unless alternative arrangements have been made.

Interest

The Firm may require interest to be paid on any amount which is more than 7 days overdue. The Firm reserves the right to charge interest at 2% per month on overdue accounts. We also reserve the right to stop work on any files where you (or any of your associated entities) has overdue accounts.

Third parties

Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for the Firm’s fees and expenses, and although invoices may, at your request; or, with your approval, be directed to a third party, nevertheless, you remain responsible for payment to the Firm if the third party fails to pay.

Confidentiality

The Firm will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that it acquires during the course of acting for you. The Firm will not disclose any of this information to any other person except:

1. To the extent necessary or desirable to enable the Firm to carry out your instructions; or
2. To the extent required by law or by the Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available only to those within the Firm who are providing legal services for you.

The Firm will of course, not disclose to you confidential information which it has in relation to any other client.

Termination

You may terminate the Firm’s retainer at any time.

The Firm may terminate its retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Law Society's Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers, including conflicts of interest.

If the Firm’s retainer is terminated you must pay all fees due up to the date of termination and all expenses incurred up to that date.

Lien

Where work has been done by the Firm but the Firm has not been paid by you, then the Firm has the right to retain the original documents and the correspondence on your files until such time as all outstanding fees, disbursements and other expenses have been paid. This is known as a lien. This will be particularly important where you decide for whatever reason to instruct another law firm. You must pay all outstanding fees, disbursements and other expenses before the Firm will release your files to your new solicitors. Alternatively that other law firm may be obliged to give an undertaking to the Firm to pay all outstanding fees and disbursements before your file is released.

Retention of files and documents

You authorise the Firm (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for this matter (other than any documents held in safe custody for you) 7 years after our engagement ends, or earlier if those files and documents have been converted to an electronic format.

The Firm cannot guarantee the security of any electronic communication, and therefore takes no responsibility for any loss that may arise.

Conflicts of interest

The Firm has procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest. If a conflict of interest arises the Firm 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.

Duty of care

The Firm will undertake our services with reasonable care and skill, but if you fail to disclose relevant or important information the Firm cannot be responsible for the consequences.

The Firm’s duty of care is to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may rely on the Firm’s advice, the Firm must expressly agree to this.

Trust account

The Firm does not maintain a trust account, and is therefore unable to receive or hold any money on your behalf.

General

These Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not you are sent another copy of them.

The Firm is entitled to change these Terms from time to time, in which case you will be sent amended Terms.

The Firm’s relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction.