While each client will have individual requests and needs for the legal work they instruct us to undertake, we do have standard terms of engagement that apply to all our clients. These Terms of Engagement can be viewed below.
The New Zealand Law Society requires all legal practitioners to make their clients aware of the information that has been provided in our Terms of Engagement.
In terms of the specific cost estimates for the work we will undertake for you, these will be included in a letter that we will attach with the standard Terms of Engagement, and we request that when instructing us, you return that letter to us, signed and dated.
General Terms and Conditions of Engagement – Prudentia Law
The following sets out the General Terms and Conditions which will apply to these instructions any additional instructions you may give us:
1. INSTRUCTIONS: We will only act on your instructions. By instructing us you accept liability to pay our account for our professional services that we may render in respect of such instructions.
If you instruct us on behalf of another individual you are liable to pay our account unless other arrangements have been agreed in writing. If you are instructing us as a director or officer of a company, then you are personally liable for our account in the event of the company failing to pay.
2. HOW WE CHARGE: Unless otherwise agreed our fee is based on our hourly rates which may be adjusted by factors including urgency and difficulty in accordance with New Zealand Law Society costing criteria.
3. ESTIMATE OF COSTS: Where possible we will provide an estimate of legal costs, as above. Please note that this is not a quote and may be subject to changes if the scope of the work you request changes over the period of engagement.
4. THERE ARE THREE PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR WORK UNDERTAKEN:
1. Fees in advance/Retainer
2. Payment by deduction from settlement or on issue of invoice
3. Visa/Mastercard
If a retainer is requested we require the amount to either be direct credited to our trust account (12-3069-0308736-02) or completion of a VISA/Mastercard form for the amount of the retainer (available on request).
If you will be paying your fee by deduction from settlement proceeds we require sufficient funds to be available on day of settlement to enable this to happen. Any additional amount required in excess of the settlement funds received will be detailed in a statement that will be provided to you prior to settlement date.
If you are paying at the completion of the work and on receipt of our invoice, our account is payable upon issue and you irrevocably authorise us to pay our account by deduction from any money that we may be holding on your behalf. If our account is not paid by deduction you will pay our account no later than seven (7) days following its date of issue.
If we instruct a barrister or other professional to act on your behalf you also agree to pay the fees of the Barrister or the other professional, as applicable.
If you do not pay within seven (7) days we may:-
(a) Charge you interest at 12% per annum calculated on a daily basis on the outstanding balance of the debt from the day our account was first due, until payment in full is made; and/or
(b) Charge you the cost of recovery or attempted recovery of any outstanding debt owed to us, including our time incurred in re-issuing bills or sending statements of account; and/or
(c) Stop doing further legal work for you.
5. OUR RESPONSIBILITY: We will keep you informed of the work we are carrying out for you and will carry that work out to a proper and professional standard. We also confirm that we hold professional indemnity insurance that meets or exceeds the minimum standards specified by the Law Society. We will provide you with particulars of the minimum standards upon request. If at any time you do not feel we are providing appropriate service to you please contact the solicitor acting for you immediately. If you do however have a complaint that cannot be resolved by talking to that solicitor, please review the complaint process information at the NZ Law Society’s website: www.lawsociety.org.nz
The Law Society client care and service information is set out below.
Whatever legal services your lawyer is providing, he or she must:
• Act competently, in a timely way, and in accordance with instructions received and arrangements made.
• Protect and promote your interests and act for you free from compromising influences or loyalties.
• Discuss with you your objectives and how they should best be achieved.
• Provide you with information about the work to be done, who will do it and the way the services will be provided.
• Charge you a fee that is fair and reasonable and let you know how and when you will be billed.
• Give you clear information and advice.
• Protect your privacy and ensure appropriate confidentiality.
• Treat you fairly, respectfully and without discrimination.
• Keep you informed about the work being done and advise you when it is completed.
• Let you know how to make a complaint and deal with any complaint promptly and fairly.
The obligations lawyers owe to clients are described in the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers. Those obligations are subject to other overriding duties, including duties to the courts and to the justice system.
The Law Society maintains the Lawyers' Fidelity Fund for the purpose of providing clients of lawyers with protection against pecuniary loss arising from theft by lawyers. The maximum amount payable by the Fidelity Fund by way of compensation to an individual claimant is limited to $100,000. Except in certain circumstances specified in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, the Fidelity Fund does not cover a client for any loss relating to money that a lawyer is instructed to invest on behalf of the client.
If you have any questions, please visit www.lawsociety.org.nz or call 0800 261 801.
6. INFORMATION WE NEED TO KNOW: You agree to provide us, and authorise us to collect from third parties, any information that we may reasonably require to carry out your instructions and to meet our statutory obligations. You are responsible for the accuracy of any information provided to us by you and have the right to access and correct your personal information.
Your failure to supply information may affect our ability to carry out your instructions.
7. 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:
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.
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.
We will of course, not disclose to you confidential information which we have in relation to any other client.
8. RETENTION OF FILES AND DOCUMENTS: 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.
9. 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 Law Society's Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
10. 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.
11. TRUST ACCOUNT: We maintain a trust account for all funds which 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. In that case we will charge an administration fee on a % basis of the interest derived.
12. CLIENT IDENTIFICATION: If you are a new client to Prudentia Law we require two forms of client identification. One of this must be a current photographic identification such as a Passport or Driver’s Licence. These forms of identification must be returned to us with these signed Terms of Engagement and Terms & Conditions of Retainer.
13. DURATION OF THESE TERMS: These Terms and Conditions apply to any work that you request us to complete but may be amended by us from time to time, with such amendments agreed to in writing.
14. ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS: You agree to accept the above Terms and Conditions by instructing us to act for you after having received notice of this document.
