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OUR
TERMS & CONDITIONS
SCHEDULE OF INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE LEGAL PRACTICE ACT 1996
A.
PROFESSIONAL FEES & CLIENT DISBURSEMENTS
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Our charges for
professional services are calculated in accordance with the
relevant scale of charges as fixed by government regulation
or an hourly rate as advised to you. We will confirm any special
costs arrangements for your matter at the time we are instructed
to act.
There may be a need to pay third parties on your behalf in the course
of the matter. We will generally request funds from you as required
to cover or reimburse these disbursements.
Accounts will be provided at appropriate intervals and/or upon completion
of your matter.
Our terms require payment of all accounts, including interim accounts,
within 14 days from the date the account is rendered. If you are unable
to satisfy these terms we ask that you discuss you situation with our
Credit Controller before work commences on your file. The Legal Practice
Act 1996 entitles us to charge interest on all overdue accounts at
rates prescribed by the Penalty Interest Rates Act 1983. If accounts
are not paid within these terms we reserve the right to cease acting
on your behalf.
If we are holding money in trust on your behalf, we may apply this
money in payment of any outstanding professional costs and disbursements
owed by you to this firm subject always to us providing you with relevant
account information.
You have the right to negotiate an alternative agreement for the payment
of legal costs.
If an account is not in itemised form you have the right to request
an itemised account within 30 days after you receive the account.
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The Goods and
Service Tax ("GST") applies to our supply of legal services
to you and to any disbursements incurred on your behalf. The
amount of that GST shall be payable by you. Our estimates of
legal costs and disbursements do not include GST. Our accounts
are in the form of "tax invoices" so that those clients who
are eligible to claim input credits in relation to their
legal fees can claim those input credits on their tax returns.
B.
ESTIMATE OF COSTS
We will provide you with a written estimate of costs at the commencement
of your matter or as soon as practicable after that.
C.
PERSONNEL
We will inform you of the name of the team member/s managing your matter
at the time of commencement. Any enquiries should be directed to them.
If you are dissatisfied with any matter, we invite you to discuss your
concerns with them and then if necessary, with any principal of the firm.
D.
PROGRESS OF MATTER
You have the right to written reports at reasonable intervals. We shall
always endeavour to keep you fully informed by way of correspondence and/or
telephone or personal consultations. We will give you an estimate of when
your matter is likely to be completed at the commencement of the matter
and, as circumstances change, throughout the course of the matter.
E.
DOCUMENT & FILE POLICY
Security documents will be held in our safe custody register (free of charge)
unless you have asked that they be forwarded to you. Other file papers
will be archived for seven years and, in the absence of any instructions
to the contrary, will then be confidentially destroyed.
F.
DISPUTE
If there is any dispute or complaint in relation to our costs or legal
services, you are entitled to raise your concerns with the Professional
Standards section of Victorian lawyers RPA Ltd (the organisation which
regulates this firm) at 470 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Time limits may apply.
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