Client Services Agreement

BETWEEN

RHC Solicitors

(identified herein as us, we, our)

AND

[Name of Person/Entity who is, or is deemed or otherwise found to be, a client and has agreed to/signed our Access and Engagement Agreement - see clause 7(b)(i)]

(identified herein as you, your)

1. Disclosure prior to entry into Client Services Agreement (CSA)

(a) Before providing legal services to you and before you enter into this agreement, we are required to disclose certain information under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld).

(b) A disclosure notice was provided to you with this CSA and by signing this CSA you acknowledge receipt of the disclosure notice and confirm you have read and understood the information contained in it and agree that its terms form part of this agreement.

2. Offer and acceptance of CSA

(a) This document is an offer to enter into an agreement with you regarding the legal services to be provided to you. If you accept this offer you will be regarded as having entered into a costs agreement with us. This means you will be bound by the terms and conditions set out in this CSA, including being billed in accordance with it.

(b) Acceptance may be by:

Signing and returning a copy of this document; or
Giving us instructions after receiving this document; or
Contacting us and advising of your acceptance; and
Paying to us the up-front amount requested in the letter of engagement towards anticipated costs and outlays.

(c) Failing to accept this offer within 30 days of the date of the disclosure notice accompanying this CSA may result in the withdrawal of our offer to act on your behalf.

(d) The laws of Queensland will apply to this CSA.

3. Your instructions

(a) Our letter of engagement sets out our instructions as we understand them. You must contact us immediately if we have misunderstood your instructions.

(b) It is also important that you provide us with full and accurate instructions including all necessary documents and information that we request from you.

(c) Where necessary, we will from time to time recommend that you seek the advice of other professionals in fields outside our expertise, e.g. accountants, surveyors, town planners, financial advisors, insurance brokers.

4. Professional fees

(a) Unless our letter of engagement or our disclosure notice to you stipulates a fixed fee for the work we will undertake, our professional fees will be calculated based on the time spent by our professional staff according to their hourly rates. Our current rates are set out in the letter of engagement or a disclosure notice (where required).

(b) Time charging may result in a higher or lower account than charging on the basis provided for in the relevant court scale, which is enclosed for your information. For some matters such as employment and workplace matters, no relevant scale exists as costs are not recoverable from either party in that jurisdiction.

(c) Time spent is recorded in 6-minute units, with time rounded up to the nearest unit of 6 minutes. For example, time spent on a phone call for less than 6 minutes will be charged for 6 minutes whereas time on a phone call exceeding 6 minutes will be charged for 12 minutes. Time spent can include internal conferences discussing your matter, drafting documents, reviewing documents, attending settlements, meetings and telephone attendances with you and with other parties, travelling and research time.

(d) We may review our hourly rates from time to time and increase them depending on market conditions and other factors. We will provide you with reasonable notice of any fee increase and will not increase our rates more than once in any 12-month period.

(e) All matters are also subject to an additional premium of between 10% and 30% of the value of the time recorded to your matter, described as ‘care and consideration’ which represents additional time spent researching, preparing and generally attending to your instructions which has not been specifically charged on a time-recorded basis. ‘Care and consideration’ may also reflect the complexity, novelty or urgency of a particular matter.

(f) If, within 14 days of receiving notice from us that our hourly rates are increasing, you do not notify us that the increases are unacceptable to you, you agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the increased rate and that rate will then apply from the date advised in our letter to you.

(g) If we have not given you a disclosure notice, it is because our total legal costs, excluding disbursements, have not, or are likely to not, exceed the amount of $1,500.00 (excluding GST). For such purpose, we estimate that in the absence of a disclosure notice, our professional fees may be up to and including $1,500.00 (excluding GST and disbursements). Where a disclosure notice has been provided, our professional fees will be in accordance with that document.

(h) If you notify us that the fee increases are unacceptable, you or we may terminate this CSA; see clause 9.

5. Other expenses

(a) In addition to our professional fees, you agree to pay all other expenses properly incurred by us.

(b) These expenses will include costs we incur on your behalf: photocopying, receiving and sending facsimiles, travel expenses, file opening and archive retrieval fees.

(d) Other costs incurred on your behalf may consist of fees charged by barristers, couriers, cost assessors, consultants, witnesses, process servers, investigators and agents including other lawyers. Medical reports, stamp duty, postage, parking, accommodation and transfer fees may also be payable.

(e) If applicable, you hereby acknowledge and agree:

(i) to our professional charge of $66.00 per person for safe keeping and/or storage of your original documents if located on site (at our physical office at 3/54 Bryants Road, Shailer Park in the State of Queensland) or $110.00 per person off site (at any other location other than our office);

(ii) to our professional charge of $33.00 per person for collection / retrieval of your original documents and/or file if located on site (at our physical office at 3/54 Bryants Road, Shailer Park in the State of Queensland) or $88.00 off site (at any other location other than our office) together with any applicable outlays, including but not limited to postage costs.

(f) Unless otherwise stated, our estimated fees and expenses include GST, to the extent that it is applicable.

6. Accounts

(a) Each month, or on the completion of specific tasks, we will render accounts and ask that you authorise us to transfer funds from our trust account to pay them in full. If there are insufficient funds we will ask you to pay the balance and we may also ask you pay additional sums on account of further costs and disbursements.

(b) Our accounts will include a brief narration of work undertaken on your behalf. Should you require a detailed explanation of our account you should contact us further.

(c) Alternately, payment of our accounts or of funds into our trust account may be made using any of the payment options accepted by us either directly or pursuant to the terms of any separate agreement you have entered into with a third party provider such as RapidPay, which may include:

Credit card by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, UnionPay and JCB
BPAY;
Electronic funds transfer (EFT);
Instalment plans by direct debit;
Pay by the month;

subject to your compliance with the terms of any such separate agreement.

(d) Our accounts are payable within 7 days of receipt, and thereafter we may charge you interest on the outstanding balance at a benchmark rate being the rate prescribed under section 59(3) of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 as at the date of the bill, compounding monthly, until payment is received in full.

(e) Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for our fees and expenses, we do not have any recourse against third parties for that payment. Therefore, you must pay us as set out in this agreement even if payment to you by a third party is delayed or not received.

(f) For litigation matters, if you are successful in your litigation, you might recover some of your fees and costs from the unsuccessful party. It is estimated that the amount recoverable would be between 60% and 75% of the fees and costs that you pay us.

(g) If you are not successful in your litigation, you may be required to pay the successful party’s fees and costs. These may be as much as or more than the fees you paid us, depending upon the successful party’s solicitors charge out rates and the outlays they incurred, e.g. with respect to expert reports.

(h) We may ask you for an advance payment on account of future fees and outlays to be incurred in the matter. We may decide not to commence or to continue work until the payment is received. If the amount requested is not paid by the required date, we may terminate this agreement under clause 9.

(i) Where we hold money in our trust account on your behalf, you authorise us to withdraw and apply that money to pay our costs and expenses stated in an invoice and any accrued interest, in respect of this matter or any other matter where we act for you and costs and expenses are so owing.

(j) We can retain your money, property and documents until all money due to us has been paid, including after this agreement terminates, to the extent permitted by law. This right is called a ‘solicitor’s lien’ and survives any bankruptcy or liquidation.

(k) If these payment arrangements do not work for you then please discuss an alternative with us.

7. Conflicts of interest

(a) Upon opening each new file, we undertake internal searches to determine whether we may have a conflict of interest, that is, to determine whether we have acted or are currently acting for the other party to your matter.

(b) If we discover a conflict, we may need to terminate this agreement under clause 9.

(c) You agree that we need not disclose to you any information that we acquire in the course of acting for our other clients, including information contained in conflict searches conducted on behalf of those clients.

8. Engagement of another law practice

(a) We will inform you and, where practical, take into account your wishes if we engage another law practice to provide specialist advice, e.g. a barrister, expert witness, or other agent to provide services on your behalf. You must pay upon demand all agents, experts or other third party fees that are billed to us. If the advocate, expert, or agent provides us with fee disclosures or the basis of fee calculation, we will pass this information on to you. If we become liable to pay interest on any third party’s fees as a consequence of delay on your part, we will pass that charge on to you.

(b) As a matter of public policy, the law provides immunity from suit in relation to advocacy. Nothing in this agreement affects an advocate’s immunity from suit in relation to any advocacy conducted on your behalf.

9. Termination of this agreement

(a) You may terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason by giving us written notice.(

(b) We may terminate this agreement by giving you written notice for just cause or if you:

Do not provide us with adequate instructions; or
Refuse to act in accordance with our advice; or
Breach this agreement; or
Instruct us to act unlawfully or unethically; or
Fail to co-operate fully in the conduct of your matter; or
Indicate that you have lost confidence in us; or
Fail to pay any accounts or to provide money to be paid into trust as required under this agreement in relation to this matter or any other matters we are conducting on your behalf; or
Lose legal capacity to instruct us; or
Do not accept any increase in fees advised to you; or
Are informed by us that we have a conflict of interest and can no longer act on your behalf.

(d) Upon termination of this CSA for any reason we are entitled to payment of all outstanding fees and costs up to the termination and any interest accrued and to a solicitor’s lien, described above, on all documents and trust money where there is money owing to us after the CSA is terminated.

10. Your documents

(a) Not all documents on our file will belong to you, including file notes, working papers, accounts or internal emails, which will belong to us.

(b) On completion of your work, or following termination of our services by either party, we will retain your documents for 7 years. Your agreement to these terms constitutes your authority for us to destroy the file after those 7 years. The authority does not relate to any documents which are deposited in safe custody which will, subject to agreement, be retained on your behalf indefinitely.

(d) Your agreement to these terms constitutes your authority for us to charge you for providing documents upon your request. You will also be liable for the cost of storing and retrieving documents in storage.

(e) Where permitted by law, we may elect to hold some or all of your documents solely in electronic form. Where your documents are held by us in electronic form, only electronic copies of them will be provided to you. Those copies will be provided in a reasonable electronic format, usually the same format in which we hold them.

(f) No software or equipment will be provided to you to enable you to view or access your electronic documents and may be provided to you solely in a ‘read only’ format, unless it was part of our engagement that they be provided in a form which permits editing or modification by you. While we take reasonable measures against malware, viruses or other harmful code, to the extent the law permits, no warranty is given that the electronic documents will be free from these.

(g) You agree that we may also retain copies of your documents, for our own regulatory, insurance and other reasonable internal purposes.

11. Privacy and direct marketing

(a) Personal information about you is protected under the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. Disclosure of such information may be compelled by law, e.g. under the Social Security Act. You authorise us to collect information about you and to disclose that information to others if necessary in furtherance of your matter, e.g. within the law practice, to the court, to the other party to any litigation, to barristers.

(b) You consent to our use of your contact details to maintain a professional relationship with you and to provide legal updates and other information that we think may be of interest to you by telephone, facsimile, email or direct mail. You may ask us not to send direct marketing materials by contacting us.

12. Complaints

(a) Please raise any concern or problem with the lawyer handling your matter. If your concern is not resolved at that level, you should immediately direct the complaint to the senior partner.

(b) If we are unable to resolve your complaint, you may obtain the assistance of the Queensland Law Society on telephone (07) 3842 5888.

13. Email Consent

You hereby consent to us forwarding to you notices, invoices/itemised bills or accounts and other important information or copies of documents by email transmission, which will be deemed to have been received by you at the time of us transmitting the communication by such means.

14. Undertakings and/or Promises

No person at this practice, other than Scott Green, is authorised to give you an undertaking or make a promise of any sort to you.

15. Permission to Communicate with Third Parties

You hereby grant us permission to contact, by any means whatsoever, your former Australian Legal Practitioner (including your solicitor and/or barrister) that has been involved with your matter, the subject of which you have engaged us to assist with. You also grant us permission to conduct a credit search and obtain a credit report on you in our absolute discretion.

16. Other Rights and Cost Assessments

The following avenues are available to you if you are not happy with any of our bills:

requesting an itemised bill
discussing your concerns with us
having our costs assessed
applying to set aside our costs agreement

There may also be other avenues available to you. For more information about your rights, please read the fact sheet titled Your right to challenge legal costs available by clicking here: https://www.lsc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/589303/legal-costs-your-right-to-know-April-2019.pdf

17. Trust account authority

In accordance with the requirements of section 249(1)(b) of the Legal Profession Act 2007 and/or any other applicable law, you hereby authorise us to transfer and/or draw on monies from our trust account, held on your behalf, any money relating to professional fees, statutory charges or taxes, and other outlays or third party expenses incurred on your behalf. For such purpose, this authority extends to each and every matter you have with us and any transfer or payment may be to our general account, another trust account or any other account of our choosing.