General scope and quality of our work
At all times we will act to the best of our ability on your behalf, within the scope of your instructions and in accordance with the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers which govern the practice of law. All advice we give to you will be based on our best professional judgment and legal knowledge but should not be taken as a guarantee of any particular outcome, as, among other things, we will be relying on the completeness of your instructions, the accuracy of the information provided to us and the actions taken by any other parties involved.
How you can help us
We will always do our best to be available and responsive to you, and to provide services which are technically accurate, innovative, timely and based on sound common sense. You can help us do this by:
- Giving us clear instructions, if possible in writing.
- Telling us if you have any important time limits.
- Making sure we have understood each other and asking us if you are not sure about anything.
- Dealing with any important questions promptly.
- Keeping in regular touch with us – please ask us for a progress report if you are concerned about anything, or do not hear from us when you expect.
- Telling us if you have changed your address or contact numbers.
Personnel
Usually one Partner, Associate or Solicitor will have overall responsibility for the work on each file. We will advise you who that person is. From time to time other members of our professional staff may also be involved if their particular skills are required, or if it is more cost effective to have others attend to particular aspects of the work.
Our fees
Our fees are calculated taking into account a number of factors including the time and labour expended (we will provide you with our staff members' hourly rates on request), the complexity, urgency, importance, skill, specialised knowledge, responsibility and risk involved, the results achieved and our staff members' experience, reputation and ability.
Cost estimates
We are happy to give you an estimate of the costs you are likely to incur for any work we do for you. Because we cannot predict exactly what will be involved, any estimate we give of our fee will normally be a range between a minimum and a maximum figure. We reserve the right to update our estimate if unforeseen events occur and, as the matter progresses, if more accurate estimates are possible. Any cost estimate will normally be for our fee plus the expenses and disbursements we incur on your behalf, and will exclude GST.
Fixed quotes
For some well-defined services we may be able to give you a fixed quote. This will normally be expressed as a fixed fee plus expenses, disbursements and GST. When we give a fixed quote we will always record it in a letter which will set out the fee, state clearly that it is a fixed quote, describe the services included within the fixed quote and set out any conditions.
Expenses and disbursements
Expenses and disbursements may include a file establishment charge and items like Court filing fees and other Government charges, agency costs, tolls, faxes, couriers, photocopying and incidental expenses. Some disbursements may include a reasonable mark-up. We may sometimes need the necessary funds from you in advance to pay the disbursements we incur on your behalf. This money will be held in your name in our trust account until we pay the disbursements incurred. If the total disbursements incurred are less than that, the balance will be recorded as a credit on our final invoice to you.
Timing of our invoices
It is our practice to interim bill on a regular basis, monthly, two monthly, or three monthly, depending on the nature and amount of work being done, to ensure that you are able to monitor closely our costs and disbursements. We will always send a final invoice following completion of the work and a trust account statement if we have handled funds on your behalf. An invoice may include an amount to cover future disbursements we anticipate incurring on your behalf. Each invoice will include a summary of the work we have completed for you. If you need further details for your records please just ask. Each invoice we send is separate from any other. Second and subsequent invoices relating to the same ongoing work will not normally include any amount remaining unpaid from any earlier invoice. We may sometimes require payment from you before commencing or continuing work.
Payment of our invoices
Unless we have made a different arrangement with you, payment in full of any invoice is due by the 20th of the month following the date of the invoice. You can pay any invoice by cash, cheque (payable to "Anderson Lloyd Trust Account"), VISA or bank transfer. If you, as our client, comprise more than one person (e.g. business partners or a married couple) each of you is separately responsible for paying all amounts owing to us. When we are holding money on your behalf in our trust account, we may draw on that money for our fees and disbursements when invoiced. You authorise us to deduct our fees and disbursements from any judgment, settlement or other money received by us on your behalf. Although you may expect a third party to pay our invoices, or you may request us to direct our invoices to a third party, you remain responsible for the timely payment of our invoices.
Delay or difficulty in paying our invoices
If you anticipate having difficulty paying an invoice on time, please immediately contact either the Partner, Associate or Solicitor who sent you the invoice or our credit controller. We may make an arrangement with you for payment by instalments. We reserve the right to charge interest on any invoice remaining unpaid after the due date unless prior arrangements have been made. Interest is calculated at The National Bank of New Zealand's base rate for lending plus 4% per annum as at the date of the invoice. We would also normally stop doing any further work until the invoice is paid, after giving reasonable notice to you and reasonable assistance to find another lawyer, and we have the right to retain possession of your file and any documents belonging to you until we are paid.
Legal aid
You may be eligible for legal aid. We reserve the right to decide whether or not to act for you on any legally aided matter. Please advise us if you are considering applying for legal aid. We will then advise you whether we would be prepared to work on that matter on a legally aided basis.
Credit enquiries
By engaging us, you authorise us to carry out reasonable credit enquiries and you authorise anyone we contact to provide to us any information about you that we reasonably request as part of our credit enquiries. You also authorise us to provide information about you to credit agencies in connection with any amount owed to us which is overdue for payment.
Verifying your identity
Please do not be offended if we ask you to show us documents verifying your identity. We are legally required by the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 to take a copy of documents verifying the identity of every new client.
Money handling procedures
All money you pay to us for any purpose should, wherever possible, be paid by cheque made out to "Anderson Lloyd Trust Account" and crossed "not transferable" or "account payee only". By prior arrangement with us, such payments may also be made by any usual form of bank transfer directly into "Anderson Lloyd Trust Account" at The National Bank of New Zealand, Dunedin branch, account number 060901- 0015250-02 or in cash. Any investment property (such as security certificates) to be delivered to us for you should be hand-delivered, posted by registered mail or couriered to the Partner responsible for your legal affairs. All investment money we receive will be held in a trust account in your name. Any investment property we receive will be stored in a secure place until disbursed in accordance with your instructions or these terms of engagement.
Financial assurance scheme
The receipt, holding and disbursement of investment money on our clients' behalf is subject to inspection pursuant to regulations made under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006.
Interest on money we hold in trust for you
Whenever it is reasonable and practicable to do so, we will lodge any funds held in our trust account on your behalf in a bank deposit account bearing interest at a rate specially negotiated for our clients. Withholding tax will be deducted and paid to the Inland Revenue Department on the interest you earn. If we have your IRD number, you can elect to have withholding tax deducted at your applicable rate. Please advise us if this changes. As required by the IRD if we do not have your IRD number, it will be deducted at the default rate (which may be higher than your actual rate). We will charge an administration fee on funds invested in a bank deposit account bearing interest.
Professional indemnity insurance
We hold professional indemnity insurance that exceeds the minimum standards specified by the New Zealand Law Society.
Lawyers' fidelity fund
The New Zealand 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. 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.
Conflicts of interest
Sometimes a conflict of interest may arise. 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.
Information about you
As part of our continuing effort to improve the services we offer, we collect and store certain client information. This helps make sure we send letters and invoices to you at the right address. It also helps us to send you information about services we offer, send you information on legal topics likely to be of interest or importance to you and let you know about events we are sponsoring. Most importantly, it helps alert us to any potential conflict of interest we might have in acting both for you and for any of our other clients. We may collect the information either from you or from other people as a result of providing our services. You have the right at any time to have access to any information we hold about you and to ask for any incorrect information to be corrected. We assure you that all information about you that we collect and store always remains confidential and will, except to the extent required by law or permitted by the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers, be used only for the purposes outlined in these terms of engagement or in carrying out your instructions to us.
Storing records of legal work and trust account transactions
You agree that we may convert your file into an electronic format. We will store your file for at least seven years after the date of our final invoice. After that, we may destroy your file (we may destroy a paper file earlier if we have converted it into an electronic format). This does not include any documents we agree to hold for you in safe custody. Records of all investment money and investment property will be kept in accordance with the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Trust Account) Regulations 2008 and the Privacy Act 1993. Records of your transactions through our trust account are stored in computerised form. You may have access to all records relating solely to your investment money and investment property without charge during normal business hours. Any investment money or investment property we receive on your behalf cannot be used for the benefit of anyone other than you unless you owe us money in which case we may deduct the amount due from investment money we hold for you.
Questions and complaints
We maintain a procedure for handling any complaints by clients, designed to ensure that complaints are dealt with promptly and fairly. If you have a question about any invoice we send you or if you are unhappy with any other aspect of our work please tell us about it straight away. You can contact our Chief Executive, who may be contacted by letter, by phone or by email at ceo@andersonlloyd.co.nz. Our Chief Executive will investigate whatever it is you are unhappy about and contact you to discuss it. This will be at no extra cost to you. Misunderstandings can arise; generally, these can be resolved with little inconvenience or formality. And of course we need to know when we do not get things quite right so that we can get them right the next time. The New Zealand Law Society operates the Lawyers Complaints Service and you are able to make a complaint to that service. To do so, phone 0800 261 801 and you will be connected to the nearest Complaints Service Office, which can provide information and advice about making a complaint.
Client Care and Service Information
Below is copy of the Client Care and Service Information set out in the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers:
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 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.
General
We may change these terms of engagement from time to time, in which case we will send you amended terms.
Our obligations under these terms of engagement and our duties of care are owed to you and not to any other person.
As always, we greatly value your custom. If you have any questions about these terms of engagement, please ask. We will do our best to help.
