STANDARD TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

At SB Law we strive to provide professional and timely legal advice. Your satisfaction is important to us and we are committed to providing a service that will be of practical benefit to our clients.

Your obligations to us include:

• Giving clear instructions whilst also being open to our opinion.
• Discussing any time constraints at the outset.
• Asking if you are uncertain about anything.
• Providing additional information or documentation promptly.
• Paying your account by the due date.

Whilst we endeavour to provide the best possible legal assistance, we can never guarantee the successful outcome of any legal proceedings. Should you have a concern about the standard of our work you should initially approach one of the firm’s partners to resolve the matter. If you have no satisfaction regarding your concern you have the right to make a formal complaint utilising the NZ Law Society’s Lawyers Complaints Service. Further detail is attached in the document headed “Information for Clients”.

TIMEFRAME

Our ability to estimate the timeframe for completion of the work depends on many matters which are sometimes beyond our control, such as the speed of other lawyers’ replies, court dates, etc. If you have any enquiries about the length of time the matter is taking, please feel free to contact us.

FEES

We endeavour to calculate our fees (and any disbursements) to give a fair and reasonable return for the services we render. In determining the fees, we have regard to matters such as:

• The skill, specialist knowledge and level of responsibility required.
• The amount of time expended.
• The complexity of the matter.
• The number and nature of any documents that are required to be prepared or perused.
• The level of urgency and the circumstances in which the work is undertaken.
• The reasonable costs of running a legal practice (our overheads).

Unless we agree to a fixed fee, work for the agreed scope of our services will be charged out on an hourly basis @ $215 per hour (exclusive of GST) which is calculated in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the NZ Law Society. Time spent is recorded in 6 minute units, with time rounded up to the next unit of six minutes.

Work which falls outside what we initially agreed to undertake will be charged out on an hourly basis and we will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if we have to work outside the scope of what was initially agreed and if you so request we can give you an estimate of the likely cost of such additional work. In addition to our hourly rate, you may incur specific disbursements such as: photocopying, telephone calls, court filing fees and postage or courier charges. Please note when some costs are due you must provide us with sufficient funds to meet items such as court application fees or other payments to third parties. Unless agreed otherwise we will not accept any responsibility to pay any such disbursements and we cannot accept the responsibility for the consequent delay of you not making such payments.

LEGAL AID

If you qualify, we will assist you in a legal aid application and if successful your account will be paid by the Legal Services Agency but you will likely be required to pay back this grant. Should you fail to comply with any of the conditions set by the Agency for the grant of legal aid you will be liable to us for the payment of our fee plus GST. Please be aware that If you qualify for legal aid your lawyer will receive a rate that is significantly less than our rate; whilst we will give you the same quality of advice you must be aware that not all matters are covered by legal aid and you can assist by keeping all contact with your lawyer confined to the legal matter at hand. Unfortunately, if you need additional personal counselling and support legal aid will not fund it from your lawyer (if you are engaged in a family dispute the Family Court can assist).

ESTIMATES ARE NOT QUOTES

We will discuss the costs of undertaking work on your behalf. However, any estimate of costs and expenses does not amount to a precise quotation and our costs and expenses may significantly exceed the initial estimate. We also keep our clients up to date on the amount of their fees by discussing progress of your case with you and issuing interim accounts.

ACCOUNT DEPOSIT

Before proceeding with any work on your account we require a deposit of $300. Should you find it difficult to come up with this fee we can arrange for an automatic deduction from your nominated bank account at the rate of $50 per week.

ACCOUNTS

We will normally render an interim account and thereafter a monthly invoice. Payment of fees is then expected within 14 days of the rendering of our invoice, unless an alternative arrangement is entered into but we may render an additional invoice when we incur a significant expense. By prior agreement, fees may be deducted at the completion of the transaction or the payment of fees can be arranged over time. Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be added to all accounts invoiced and is payable by you. We have a visa facility and we are able to arrange payment via telephone or internet banking.

Where you have an outstanding account our fees will be deducted from any money held on your behalf or received as settlement funds on your behalf. If you want us to immediately release funds and pay them into your bank account we require a bank encoded deposit slip (usually found at the back of your cheque book), please be aware you will incur an administration fee of $25 for such a service.

A failure to keep your account up to date will result in action being taken to recover the amount outstanding. We reserve the right to charge interest on unpaid accounts not paid within 21 days of the invoice being rendered. Interest on any unpaid account will be charged at a rate of 15% pa. If an account becomes overdue we reserve the right to involve a third party credit collection agency and/or the District Court. You will be responsible for any costs over and above the account itself incurred by us in collection of the overdue account.

SECURITY

We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us or to provide security for our fees and expenses. By signing these terms of engagement you authorise us:

• to debit against amounts pre-paid 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.

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 you remain responsible for payment to us if the third party fails to pay us (including any costs associated with recovering such from the third party).

CONFIDENTIALITY

We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire during the course of acting for you and as far as practicable we will keep such information private only to those within our firm who are providing legal services to you. We will also not disclose confidential information to you which we have in relation to any other client. Without your permission we will not disclose your confidential information except:

• to the extent it is necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or

• to the extent required by law or by the Law Society’s Rules of Client Care for Lawyers.

TERMINATION

You may terminate our retainer at any time or we may stop working for you and all your fees and expenses become due up to such termination date in any of the circumstances set out in the Law Society’s rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers which include but are not limited to, if:

• We have a conflict of interest with another client.

• You fail to give us adequate instructions.

• You do not pay our costs and expenses promptly.

• You consistently fail to follow our legal advice.

RETENTION OF FILES/DOCUMENTS

Please note, in some circumstances if you decide to change your source of legal advice, we have the right to retain your file if your account is unpaid and you authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents (other than those we expressly 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.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

In accord with the Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers we have established procedures to identify and respond to conflicts of interest.

DUTY OF CARE

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.

TRUST ACCOUNT

We maintain a trust account for all funds we receive from clients (except monies received for payment of our invoices). If we are holding significant funds on your behalf we will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit with a bank.

GENERAL

These terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not we send you another copy of them. We are entitled to change these terms from time to time, in which case we will send you amended terms. Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and the New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

Thank you for your instructions. If you have any further queries please contact us. Please return this agreement and keep a copy.

NOTE: By signing below or being in receipt of these terms without indicating any concerns within 14 days of receipt, you are indicating that you have read, understood and accept the terms set out above.

I acknowledge and agree to the above terms of engagement.





______________________ _________________ _____________
Name Signature Date


Helpful Tips


There are many ways you can obtain a more cost effective service from your lawyer. Here are 7 things you can do:

1. Give clear instructions of what your needs are and what you hope to achieve – discuss any possible compromise solutions and any fears you have.

2. Provide as much relevant information as possible for an appointment. If you can possibly by email or letter provide a brief summary of the background to your case with relevant dates before you meet your lawyer.

3. Quickly deal with any tasks your lawyer may give you to reduce delay.

4. Question your lawyer if you are not sure – if you are silent the lawyer will assume you understand everything.

5. If you change your mind on instructions communicate this promptly preferably in writing.

6. Keep your contact details up to date and advise of your preferred method of communication.

7. Good communication is vital – if you have a problem let your lawyer know. Do not be afraid to ring, email or write to check on progress of your case but respect the fact that your lawyer may be very busy and have other matters to deal with.

8. If you want any settlement funds paid swiftly provide us with an encoded bank deposit slip.