These Terms of Engagement apply in respect of all work carried out by Crowley Waugh, Barristers & Solicitors (“us” and “we”) for you, except to the extent that we otherwise agree with you in writing.
If you continue to instruct us after receipt of these Terms of Engagement you are acknowledging your acceptance of these terms.
1. Fees
1.1 We will charge a fee which is fair and reasonable for the services provided having regard to your interest and our interests. In determining the fee, the following will, when applicable, be taken into account:
The time spent (we will provide you with the hourly rates of our qualified employees, on request)
The skill, specialised knowledge and responsibility required to perform the services properly.
The importance of the matter to you, the result achieved and value of the transaction.
The urgency and circumstances in which the matter is undertaken, and any time limitations imposed, including those imposed by you.
The degree and risk assumed by us in undertaking the services including the amount or value of the property involved.
The complexity of the matter and the difficulty or novelty of the questions involved.
The experience, reputation and ability of the members of our firm working on your matter.
The possibility that the acceptance of the particular instructions will preclude employment of us by other clients.
Whether the fee is fixed or conditional.
Any quote or estimate of fees given by us
Any fee agreement entered into between you and us.
The reasonable costs of running our firm.
The fee customarily charged in the market and locality for work similar to yours.
1.2 Unless otherwise stated all fees are plus GST.
1.3 We will provide for you an estimate upon request. If that estimate is likely to be exceeded, we shall let you know.
1.4 There are other methods of charging, which suit certain types of work, and we shall discuss those with you where they are appropriate.
1.5 Where it is applicable, you may wish to apply for legal aid. In the event that legal aid is not granted, you will be liable for our account charged in accordance with clause 1.1
2. Funds Held on Your Behalf
Should we hold any funds on your behalf, those funds will not be placed on interest earning deposit if in our view it is uneconomic to do so.
We determine if it is uneconomic to do so, if the gross interest expected to be earned, while the funds are on deposit, will be less than $100.
We will not be able to place any funds on interest bearing deposit throughout trust account (except in the case of estates, charitable trusts or escrow purposes without you first completing a Foreign Tax Resident Form as a requirement under the automatic exchange of information/common reporting standards (AEOI\CRS) regime. If you wish funds to be placed on interest bearing deposit, please advise us and we will supply you with the appropriate forms to comply with that regime.
When we hold funds on deposit on your behalf, we will be required to pass on that information to the Inland Revenue Department or our Bank under the AEOI\CRS regime.
If you have any questions about this matter in particular, please contact the writer responsible for your file.
3. Personal Guarantees
3.1 If you are instructing the firm in your capacity as a Director or Shareholder of a Company, or as a Settlor or Trustee of a Trust or Executor or Administrator of a Trust, then you remain, at all times, personally liable (along with the Company, Trust or Estate) to pay the firms fees and disbursements.
4. Expenses
4.1 We will charge for expenses in addition to our fee.
4.2 Expenses may include both disbursements, office expenses. Disbursements are funds that are paid out on your behalf to a third party. Office Expenses are charges made by the firm. Disbursements can be characterised as follows – search fees, registration, fees, valuation fees, Court filing fees etc. Office Expenses can include Anti-Money Laundering administration fee, Office expenses may include a reasonable mark-up and/or staff processing margin. We may require funds from you in advance to pay the expenses we will incur on your behalf.
4.3 Expenses are to be paid by you immediately upon request, but substantial expenses are to be paid in advance. The money for expenses paid in advance will be held in your name in our trust account until we pay the expenses incurred. If the total expenses incurred are less than that the balance will be recorded as a credit in our final account to you.
5. Payment of accounts
5.1 Our fees and expenses are to be paid on or before the 20th of the month following our account being sent, except on conveyancing matters when fees are payable on or prior to settlement.
5.2 Our fees and expenses will be payable by you regardless of the outcome of the matter on which we have been instructed.
5.3 Our final account will be sent to you shortly after we have completed your matter.
5.4 We do issue interim accounts where that is appropriate.
5.5 Our accounts may be deducted from funds held in our trust account on your behalf.
5.6 We may ask you to pay costs in advance, but in those instances your payment will be held in our trust account and only paid to us by deduction when an account has been forwarded to you.
5.7 Interest will accrue on unpaid accounts at the rate of 1.5% per month from due date until payment. Other action to recover unpaid accounts may also be taken and the cost we incur for such recovery shall be payable by you.
6. Files and documents
6.1 When your instructions have been completed, we shall keep your file for a period of 7 years from completion and then destroy it. You are welcome to uplift your file should you wish to do so.
7. Limitation of liability and responsibility
7.1 When conveying property, we do not give advice in relation to the quality of the investment, tax obligations/liabilities, suitability of agreement for your purposes and non-disclosure of relevant information.
7.2 We strongly recommend that you seek accounting and taxation advice from other professionals.
7.3 We may correspond with you and others by electronic communication (generally email), unless you instruct us not to do so. As you are aware, electronic communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure. We check all e-mails with anti-virus software. We operate a firewall and automatic spam filter which may block a small number of genuine e-mails so that they do not reach the intended recipient in our company. We shall not be liable for any loss, costs or damage you may incur directly or indirectly as a consequence of us communicating by electronic means.
7.4 We shall not be liable for any loss arising from non-receipt by any party of any communication including electronic communications.
7.5 Work for which we undertake for you is solely for your use and is not to be relied upon by any other party.
8. Lawyers Fidelity Fund
8.1 The Law Society maintains the Lawyers Fidelity Fund
for the purposes 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.
8.2 Except in certain circumstances specified in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, the Fidelity Funds does not cover a client for any loss relating to money that a lawyer is instructed to invest on behalf of the client.
8.3 This is only a short summary of the major provisions in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 relating to the Fidelity Fund. If you would like further information, please ask us.
9. Professional Indemnity Insurance
9.1 We hold current Professional Indemnity Insurance that meets the minimum standards specified by the New Zealand Law Society.
10. Right to terminate your retainer
10.1 You are entitled to terminate your instructions to us upon giving us reasonable notice. Our fees for services reasonably and properly provided to you prior to the termination of retainer shall be paid by you prior to uplifting your records and we may retain copies of your documents and records.
10.2 We may terminate the retainer if there is good cause, such as you not providing us with instructions in a sufficiently timely way or in your inability or failure to pay our fee on an agreed basis, or, except in litigation matters, your adopting against our advice, a course of action which we believe is highly imprudent.
10.3 If we terminate the retainer, we will give you reasonable notice so that you can arrange alternative representation and we shall give you reasonable assistance to find another lawyer.
11. Suspension of service
11.1 We reserve the right to stop work on your retainer if interim accounts are not paid on time or a request for information or action remains unsatisfied.
12. Conflicts
12.1 Conflicts may arise after we taken instructions from you, and we reserve the right to require either or both clients to be separately and independently advised.
13. Privacy
13.1 We will treat all information we hold about you as private and confidential and will not disclose any information we hold on your behalf or about you unless we are required to do so by law or where it is necessary to do so to provide our services to you or when requested by you or with your consent.
14. If you have a complaint
14.1 We will provide you with a competent, timely service following your instructions, but if you have any complaint at all about our service, please raise it with the lawyer responsible for your matter, or if you prefer, the principal of the firm, Jamie Waugh.
14.2 If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you have the right to take the matter up with the New Zealand Law Society, which runs a complaints service. The contact details of the New Zealand Law Society are located on www.lawsociety.org.nz or call 0800 261 801.
15. AML Requirements
15.1 From 1 July 2018 lawyers are required to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Act 2000.
15.2 The Anti-Money Laundering Act requires all clients to provide photo identification and verification of address in the first instance however you may be requested to provide additional documentation in support of work to be undertaken by our firm.
15.3 To ensure our compliance and yours, we may be required to provide information about you, persons acting on your behalf or other relevant persons to Government agencies. There may be circumstances where we are not able to tell you or such persons if we do provide information.
15.4 Please ensure that you and/or any of the persons described previously are aware of and consent to this. It is important to ensure that all information provided to us is accurate. If the information sought is not provided or considered by us to be potentially inaccurate, misleading, or in contravention of any law, we may terminate or refuse to enter into an engagement.
16. General
16.1 These Terms of Engagement apply to any current engagement and also apply to any future engagement (subject to clause 13.2), whether or not we send you another copy of them
16.2 We are entitled to change these Terms of Engagement from time to time. The amended terms will apply from the date you receive them.
16.3 Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law.
CLIENT CARE AND SERVICE INFORMATION
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 objective 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 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.
If you have any questions, please visit www.lawsociety.org.nz or call 0800 261 801
Please contact Crowley Waugh Barristers & Solicitors
on 06 345 3844 or by email at reception@crowleywaugh.co.nz
