Terms & Conditions

Our Legal Services Costs and Other Disclosures and Terms and Conditions of Sale (“these Terms”)

These Terms disclose information about the costs of our legal services, and your rights and obligations, as required by the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) ("the Act").

 

To accept the terms and conditions of these Terms including the Privacy policy, click the "I ACCEPT" button at the end of these Terms.

 

If you do not accept the terms and conditions of these Terms including the Privacy Policy, click the
"I DECLINE" button. Your order will then not proceed.

 

Acknowledgement and Acceptance of These Terms

If you accept these terms you acknowledge and agree that:

(a)     the terms constitute a costs agreement that you have entered with our firm

(b)     you have had sufficient chance to read and understand these terms and conditions;

(c)     you understand these terms and conditions and consent to them, the costs (fees) set out in them and
          the proposed course of action for us to provide the product and otherwise deal with your matter;

(d)     you are bound by them as they apply at the time;

(e)     you have been given the choice of accepting or rejecting them;

(f)      you have full power to agree to the terms and retain our firm; and

(g)     you will be personally liable to us as a result of any instructions given or any order
          placed for a product.

 

 

We agree:

(a)     to provide a product on condition that you accept these terms and conditions and pay our fees
          in the way required; and

 

(b)     that these Terms apply on and from the day you order a product and ends in accordance with the
          terms and conditions as outlined in these Terms.

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.

 

How Costs are calculated

Professional Fees

For your information our hourly rates are:

 

(a) Peter Townsend	$590.00 (plus 10% GST)
(b) Michael Hallinan	$550.00 (plus 10% GST)
(c) Laurence Hibbert	$500.00 (plus 10% GST)
(d) Elizabeth Wang	$300.00 (plus 10% GST)
(e) Nashita Chowdhury	$250.00 (plus 10% GST)
(f) Paralegals	$150.00 (plus 10% GST)

 

Travel time is charged at 50% of the above hourly rate plus 10% GST.

 

These rates will be proportionately charged for work involving shorter periods less than an hour. 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.

 

Charges

We will charge you as follows for reasonable expenses we incur.  We will seek your approval for any single expense over $100.

 

(a)     Printing & photocopying - each time we photocopy or print a document:

          (i)   less than 20 pages:   $  6.00 (plus 10% GST)

          (ii)  20 pages or more:     $12.00 (plus 10% GST)

 

(b)     Facsimile:    no charge

 

(c)     Searches, Filing in Courts and Government Offices, courier charges, other expenses:  the cost to us

 

(d)     File storage:

          We must archive your file for a minimum of seven (7) years once it is finished.  File storage and
          destruction costs depend on the size of the file.

 

          (i)     Small files:  no charge
                   We will scan the file and destroy the hardcopy document.

 

          (ii)    Medium files ( less than one box):  $70 (plus 10% GST)

 

          (iii)   Large files (minimum one box):  $200 (plus 10% GST) per box

 

          If you require the file or a copy of the file after it has been sent to our off-site storage facility, a charge
          not exceeding $150 per box will apply for the retrieval and re‑archiving of the box in which the file has
          been stored. To collect the file you will have to attend our office and provide photo identification for
          security and privacy purposes.

 

Expenses & Disbursements

We may incur expenses and disbursements (being money which we pay or are liable to pay) to others on your behalf.  These may include: search fees, enquiry fees, court filing fees, process servers fees, experts reports, witnesses expenses, travel expenses, transcripts, barristers fees, stamp duty and other such like expenses (this list is not meant to be exhaustive).

 

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.

 

We may determine from time to time which of the following payment terms apply to the supply of products by us to you or at your direction:

 

• credit card or debit card payment immediately prior to supply;
• EFT to our bank account immediately prior to supply;
• cash or cheque prior to supply; or
• payment within 30 days of issue of tax invoice.

 

When you purchase a product, you agree to comply with the payment terms as determined and advised by us. You agree that each payment you make for the purchase of a product is non-refundable and non-exchangeable except at our absolute discretion in exceptional circumstances.  Any request for a refund must be made to us in writing setting out any information or materials we ask for that we believe are relevant to our decision. If we do not receive payment of the Fees, we may assume that you do not wish to purchase a product document and we are under no obligation whatsoever to provide a product document. Despite anything else in these Terms, we reserve the right to amend the fees charges and expenses published in our price list from time to time, without prior notice.

 

Estimates of Costs

For instructions we receive where we indicate prior to receipt of those instructions that our fee is a fixed fee, we will charge the fixed fee as set out in any material issued by us for the specific role described in that material.  If you vary your instructions we are entitled to vary the fee we will charge. For instructions we receive where we have not indicated a fixed fee we will provide an estimate for your consideration before commencing work or, if time does not permit, then as quickly as possible after we commence work.

 

Estimates provided by us are not quotations and are subject to change. We will contact you if the estimate varies and will provide the reasons and give you an opportunity to amend your instructions.

 

Where it is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the total costs we may instead provide a range of estimates of total costs (excluding GST) for different stages. There may be a number of stages in your matter, which will vary according to its complexity.

 

Estimates are made on the information available to us at the time. They may, and probably will, change when more information is available to us. The major factors which will affect the estimates include unforseen additional negotiations with third parties or their solicitors, preparation of documents not included in the work specified above or additional work required because your instructions may not have been sufficient.

 

 

Billing Arrangements

For fixed fee work payment of the quoted fixed fee is due prior to release of documents or provision of our services.  A tax invoice will be provided with the documents. For all other matters we will send you a Tax Invoice (bill of costs) containing information of our professional fees and charges, disbursements and expenses, including GST, either after completion of the work, or monthly, or at other times as agreed with you, when the work is in progress.

 

You can ask for an itemised bill or a progress report on fees at any time. Your bill may be signed using the electronic signature of our Principal. If our client is a company each member of the board is personally liable for the payment of our tax invoices. You have the right to receive a bill from us and to request an itemised account if any bill we send you is not itemised or only partly so. You have the right to seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority in any dispute about legal costs.

Interest on unpaid costs
If our costs are not paid within 30 days of giving you our Tax Invoice, we may charge you interest on the unpaid amount at or under the maximum rate prescribed in the Legal Profession Uniform Law Regulations (NSW). 

 

Dispute as to legal costs

In addition to the rights set out in the “Form of disclosure of costs to clients”, 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).

 

Persons responsible for your matter and legal costs

Ultimate responsibility for your file rests with the firm’s Principal, Peter Townsend.  You may contact him regarding your matter and your legal costs.  Other persons may assist him from time to time with the conduct of your matter. Please see our disclosed charge out rates.

 

 

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 itemised 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