Disclosure Statement & Costs Agreement

PURSUANT TO DIVISION 3 & 4 OF PART 4.3 OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM LAW (VICTORIA)

Between

MY LEGAL PATH PTY LTD

Level 1 , Office 103, 393 Spencer Street, West Melbourne VIC 3003

and

Client
 

In this document a reference to “you” means the client and a reference to "us" or "we" means the legal practice.

This document is an offer to enter into a Costs Agreement under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Victoria) ("Uniform Law"). Should this offer be accepted, it will result in a contract for the provision of legal services. This offer will remain open for acceptance for 14 days from the date you have view from the link. If you accept this offer, it means you will be bound by the terms herein, including our general business terms.

 

If you wish not to accept the offer, please email us within 3 days that you are NOT taking any legal service from us then we shall not proceed however our firm can bill up to 750 A$ including GST for the initial consultation and reviewing of your documents. 

If we don’t receive any communication from you then after 14 days this cost statement and cost agreement would bind the contract.

You have instructed us to     

PART A – DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Under Division 3 of Part 4.3 of the Uniform Law, we must disclose to you the following information relating to legal costs. This Disclosure Statement and the Costs Agreement (Part B) are to be read together and form the Agreement in this matter.

The Basis on Which Our Charges Will Be Calculated – Section 174(1)(a) Uniform Law

Fees

We will charge you professional fees for the work we do on a fixed fee basis in the amount as per quote/invoice

OR We will charge you professional fees for the work we do based on hourly rates. The hourly rates charged by our professional staff are set out below:

You will be proportionately charged for work involving shorter periods less than an hour. Our charges are structured in 6 minute units. For example, the time charged for an attendance of up to 6 minutes will be 1 unit and the time charged for an attendance between 6 and 12 minutes will be 2 units.

Disbursements

We may incur disbursements (being money which we pay or are liable to pay to others on your behalf). Disbursements may include search fees, court filing fees, process server fees, expert fees, witness expenses, travel expenses, transcript expenses and barrister's fees.

Where you instruct us to brief a barrister or other expert and they provide a disclosure and costs agreement we will provide this to you.

You will be responsible for internal administrative expenses which we incur in carrying out your instructions. These include photocopying which is charged per page.

GST

Where applicable, GST is payable on our professional fees and disbursements and will be clearly shown on our tax invoices. By accepting these terms you agree to pay us an amount equivalent to the GST imposed on these charges.

Estimated total fees, as per the quote sent to you to your inbox by an email  

Your Rights – Section 174(2) Uniform Law You have the right to:

• Negotiate a Costs Agreement with us.
• Negotiate the billing method with us (e.g., hourly rates, fixed fee). Receive a bill of costs from us.
• Request an itemised bill of costs within 30 days after receiving a bill that is not itemised or is only partially itemised.
• Be notified of any significant change to the basis on which legal costs will be calculated or any significant change to the estimate of total legal costs.
• Seek independent legal advice before entering into this Agreement.
• Seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority (Victorian Legal Services Commissioner) in the event of a dispute about legal costs.

Costs payable and recoverable on Litigation Outcome

Even if you are successful in proceedings and have a costs order in your favour it is unlikely that you will recover all of the costs you must pay us from another party.  If you do have a costs order in your favour, it may still be necessary to seek to enforce such costs order e.g. through the assessment system.  This can be time consuming and costly.  The possible costs associated with such potential enforcement proceedings are not dealt with in this document, but will be advised to you should the relevant circumstances arise. It is also possible that you cannot recover the costs from the other party (for example if the party goes into liquidation or becomes bankrupt); nonetheless you will still have to pay us.

If you lose the litigation, then you will likely have to pay the costs of the other party - either an amount you can both agree on or if no agreement can be reached then an amount of costs assessed by a costs assessor as payable. However, the Court always has a discretion in relation to costs orders.

Billing Arrangements

We are entitled to bill you on an interim basis. All tax invoices are due and payable seven days from the date of the tax invoice.

Interest Charges -  Section 195(1) Uniform Law

Interest at the maximum rate, being the Cash Rate Target set by the Reserve Bank of Australia plus 2%, will be charged on any amounts unpaid after the expiry of 30 days after a tax invoice is given to you.

Your Rights - – Section 190(1) Uniform Law  It is your right to:

• seek independent legal advice before agreeing to this costs agreement;
• negotiate a costs agreement with us;
• negotiate the billing method with us;
• receive a bill of costs from us;
• request an itemised bill of costs within seven days after receiving a lump sum bill from us;
• to be notified of any significant change to the basis on which legal costs will be calculated or any significant change to the estimate of total legal costs.

Authorisation to Transfer Money from Trust Account

We may ask you to pay money into our trust account from time to time to cover reasonably anticipated expenses, including counsel fees, and anticipated fees. These moneys are retained in our trust account and will be applied to our invoices (including GST) when they fall due for payment, or will be used in payment of particular expenses of this firm which are incurred on your behalf.

Your Documents may be destroyed after seven years from the date of our final bill unless you write to us requesting retention for a longer period (which may incur storage fees). At the end of the matter, and provided our invoices are paid in full, we will release your file and documents as you direct.

Engagement of Another Lawyer or Law Practice (e.g., Barrister) – Section 175 Uniform Law In providing legal services for you, it may be necessary to engage another law practice (including Barristers) to provide specialist advice or services. We will consult you about the terms of these engagements before incurring the expense. We will provide you with a statement setting out the rates and estimated costs of any other law practice we propose to engage as soon as they provide this information to us.

Jurisdiction The Uniform Law as applied in Victoria is applicable to legal costs in this matter.

PART B – COSTS AGREEMENT

Division 4 of Part 4.3 of the Uniform Law allows a law practice and you (the client) to agree on how the law practice's charges are to be calculated and paid. This is called a "Costs Agreement" and it may be enforced in the same way as any other contract.

This document is an offer to enter into a Costs Agreement in accordance with the information contained in the Disclosure Statement (Part A) given to you. If you accept these terms, the Disclosure Statement (Part A) and this Costs Agreement (Part B) will make up the complete Agreement between us for this matter.

1. The Basis on Which Our Charges Will Be Calculated Our charges will be calculated in accordance with the method (e.g., hourly rates, fixed fee) detailed in Part A, Section 1 of the Disclosure Statement.

2. Payment of Our Charges and Disbursements Interim bills/tax invoices will be given to you as your case progresses, and a final bill/tax invoice will be given to you at the conclusion of the matter. Our accounts are due and payable within 7 days of the date of the bill/tax invoice.

Interest may be charged on unpaid accounts as detailed in Part A, Section 8. We may exercise a solicitor's lien as detailed in Part A, Section 6.

You must pay disbursements incurred by us on your behalf as detailed in Part A, Section 2, either on demand, from money held in trust, or at the conclusion of this matter as billed.

3. Bills We may give bills to you in any way specified in Rule 73 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015. For the purposes of Rule 73, you consent to receiving bills: by email to the address specified by you: [Client Email Address]

4. Your Obligations We require you to, and you agree to:

• Provide full, honest, and timely instructions relevant to your matter and notify us of any material change in your circumstances that might impact your matter while we continue to act for you.
• Co-operate fully with us and do all that we reasonably request of you in a timely manner. Accept and follow our reasonable legal advice.
• Provide funds in advance into our trust account in accordance with this Agreement or as reasonably requested from time to time.
• Pay our bills/tax invoices in accordance with this Agreement.
• If you fail to comply with any of these conditions, we have the option to terminate this Agreement by advising you of termination in writing.

5. Termination of this Agreement

(a) Termination by Us: We may cease to act for you or refuse to perform further work, including if: 

Any of our tax invoices remain unpaid beyond the due date.

• You do not provide timely and adequate instructions or respond to reasonable requests. You fail to provide funds in advance into our trust account when reasonably required.
• You indicate to us, or we form the view based on reasonable grounds, that you have lost confidence in us.
• A conflict of interest arises that makes it impossible for us to continue acting. You breach your obligations under this Agreement. We will give you reasonable written notice of termination of our services.

(b) Termination by You: You may terminate our services by written notice at any time.

(c) Consequences of Termination: If we cease to act for you, or you terminate our engagement:

• We will take reasonable steps to remove our name from the Court record in any Court proceedings.
• You will receive a final account which will include all outstanding legal costs and disbursements incurred up to the date of termination.
• You must pay our legal costs and disbursements up until the date we cease to act.
• We may retain your file and keep your documents until all outstanding costs are paid (solicitor's lien), subject to any statutory requirements. No uplift fee will be applied if termination occurs before the matter's completion.

6. Applicable Law The Uniform Law as applied in Victoria is applicable to legal costs in this matter.

 Victoria.

PART C – ACCEPTANCE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Upon acceptance you agree to pay for our services on these terms.

If you don’t accept this Disclosure Statement and Costs Agreement, Please reply to [e-mail] that you don’t want to proceed within 3 days of this email sent to you and If we don’t receive any email from you then after 3 days these cost would apply and you can continue to instruct us.

Have read and understood the Disclosure Statement (Part A) pursuant to Division 3 of Part 4.3 of the Uniform Law.

Have read, understood, and approved this Costs Agreement (Parts A & B). Understand your right to seek independent legal advice before accepting this Agreement.

By continuing to provide us with instructions in this matter after 3 days from the Offer Date of this Agreement, you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of this Disclosure Statement and Costs Agreement.