Services

The services which we are to provide for you are outlined in our Engagement Letter.

Fees

Our fees are calculated in accordance with:

• The guidelines laid down by the New Zealand Law Society.
• Our hourly rates (which may be varied at our discretion).
• The nature of the work e.g. the time we spend on the matter, its complexity, degree of urgency, the level of skill, knowledge and responsibility involved, the result achieved.

Estimates are given as a guide only and not as a fixed quotation. Often it is not possible to give more than an estimate of the final costs because of the number of variable factors and outside agencies involved.

Please note any estimate of our fee is given as Goods and Services Tax (GST) Exclusive.

If you decide not to proceed with the matter to completion, work done and payments made on your behalf are still payable by you.

A retainer may be required. You will be advised of this in our Letter of Engagement. The retainer will be deposited in the Practice Trust Account. No Court documents will be filed, nor Court appearances made, until we have received a retainer.

You authorise Avison Reid Logan Lawyers to make reasonable and confidential credit enquiries from an appropriate information provider.

Disbursements and Expenses

This includes charges for general office expenses and fees charged by other third parties (for example Local Authorities, the Courts). Disbursements are GST Inclusive where applicable.

Payment of Accounts

We will send interim invoices, usually monthly, for matters of an ongoing nature.

On completion of your matter or termination of our engagement, a letter and an invoice will be sent to you.

Our invoices are payable within 14 days of receipt.

Payment may be made by cash, cheque, Visa / Mastercard or EFT-POS. Sometimes we may be required to incur additional time or expense following the completion or termination of the matter. We will charge for this in the normal way.

The legal costs of property transactions are due on or before settlement of the transaction.

You authorise Avison Reid Lawyers to deduct legal costs and disbursements from funds held on your behalf in the Trust Account.

If you have difficulty meeting these terms please contact us immediately to discuss your circumstances.

If an account is not paid we reserve the right to:

a) charge interest at the rate of 15% per annum,

b) refer the account to a Collection Agency and all costs incurred in the collection of the debt will be added to your outstanding account.

Should your outstanding account be referred to a Collection Agency, please be aware that, in signing this document, you consent to the disclosure of your personal information to that Collection Agency. This disclosure is limited to Full Name, Date of Birth, Residential Address, Place of Work and any other means to contact you that we have on file.

Confidentiality

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 to the extent necessary to enable us to carry out your instructions and/or to the extent required by law or by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, including the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

Termination

You may terminate your retainer at any time.  We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.  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.  When you pay your account, you have the right to uplift your file.  Until your account is paid, we have the right to keep any property in our possession (including your file).  This is called a solicitor’s lien.

Retention of files and documents

We will retain all files and documents for this matter (in either physical or electronic form) for seven (7) years after our engagement ends.  We will hold any documents in safe custody for you until you or your authorized representative require them.

Conflicts of Interest

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 Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

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 which we receive from clients (except monies received for payments 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.  In that case we will charge an administration fee of 6.6% of the interest derived.

Legal Aid

Should an Application for Legal Aid be unsuccessful, or you do not comply with any conditions on your grant of Legal Aid, you will be bound by the above payment terms and you will be charged for all work done, and payments made, on your behalf.

General

These terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not we send you another copy of them.

Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction

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