LETTER OF ENGAGEMENT
Thank you for approaching Clive Gardner Law Office.
Enclosed are materials which set out:
- Information which lawyers are required by the New Zealand Law Society to provide; and
- Standard terms of engagement.
Services Provided
The following is a summary of the legal services we provide:
Buying and Selling Property including sections, houses, apartments, orchards, farms and businesses
Mortgages
Trusts
Wills and Estates
Leases of Commercial and Industrial Buildings
Business Acquisitions
Subdivisions and Easements
Clive Gardner Law Office does not offer financial advice under pursuance of the Financial Advisers Act 2008.
Fees
We will provide a fee for the legal work you require. This fee will not be exceeded unless additional work is required. We will try to keep costs down by delegating some aspects of your work to appropriate staff at a lower charge out rate, unless you particularly request only one person attend to all matters.
Responsibility for Services
The names and status of the people in our firm who will have the general carriage of or overall responsibility for the services we provide are:
Clive Gardner Lawyer
Colleen Trower Senior Registered Legal Executive
Cathy Booth Registered Legal Executive
Jill Bailey Registered Legal Executive
Limitations on our Obligations or Liability
Clive Gardner Law Office does not accept instructions for:
Family Law
Court Proceedings including criminal and traffic proceedings
Employment Law
However we can recommend experienced lawyers to do such work.
If these terms are not acceptable or the services outlined do not meet your requirements, please contact us immediately. If we do not hear from you to the contrary we will presume you have accepted these terms.
We at Clive Gardner Law Office look forward to working with you.
INFORMATION FOR CLIENTS
Set out below is the information required by the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers of the New Zealand Law Society (“Law Society”).
1. Fees:
The basis on which fees are charged is set out in our letter of engagement. When payment of fees is required is set out in our Standard Terms of Engagement.
Clive Gardner Law Office may deduct from any funds held on your behalf in its trust account any fees, expenses or disbursements for which an invoice has been provided.
2. Professional Indemnity Insurance:
Clive Gardner Law Office holds professional indemnity insurance that exceeds the minimum standards specified by the Law Society. Particulars of the minimum standards will be provided on request.
3. Lawyers Fidelity Fund:
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 $100,000.00. Except in certain circumstances specified in the Lawyers & 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.
4. Complaints:
Clive Gardner Law Office maintains a procedure for handling any complaints by clients, designed to ensure that a complaint is dealt with promptly and fairly.
If you have a complaint about our services or charges, you may refer your complaint to the person in our firm who has overall responsibility for your work.
If you do not wish to refer your complaint to that person, or you are not satisfied with that person’s response to your complaint, you may refer your complaint to Clive Gardner.
He may be contacted as follows:
- By letter;
- By email at info@cglaw.co.nz
- By fax to 07 575 2221
- By telephoning him at 07 575 4045
The Law Society also maintains a complaints service and you are able to make a complaint to that service. To do so you should contact the Law Society as follows:
New Zealand Law Society
26 Waring Taylor Street
PO Box 5041 (DX SO20202)
Lambton Quay
Wellington 6145
Ph: (+64) (4) 472.7837
Fax: (+64) (4) 473.7909
General inquiries: inquiries@lawyers.org.nz
5. Persons Responsible for the Work:
The names and status of the person or persons who will have the general carriage of or overall responsibility for the services we provide you are set out in our letter of engagement.
6. Client Care and Service:
The Law Society client care and service information is set out below.
Whatever legal services your lawyer is providing, he 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 other overriding duties, including duties to the courts and to the justice system.
If you have any questions, please visit www.lawyers.org.nz.
7. Limitations on extent of our Obligations or Liability
Any limitations on the extent of our obligations to you or any limitation or exclusion of liability are set out in our letter of engagement.
TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
These Terms of Engagement (“Terms”) apply to all work carried out by Clive Gardner Law Office, except to the extent otherwise agreed in writing.
1. Services
1.1 The services which we provide are:
- Buying and Selling Property including sections, houses, apartments, orchards, farms and businesses
- Mortgages
- Trusts
- Wills and Estates
- Leases of Commercial and Industrial Buildings
- Business Acquisitions
- Subdivisions and Easements
Clive Gardner Law Office does not offer financial advice under pursuance of the Financial Advisers Act 2008.
2. Financial
2.1 Fees
(a) The fees which we charge shall be fair and reasonable for the service provided. We will provide an estimate of fees on request.
(b) If the engagement letter specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed scope of our services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged in addition to the fixed fee. Clive Gardner Law Office will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if it becomes necessary to provide services outside the agreed scope and if requested, give you an estimate of the likely amount of the further costs.
2.2 Disbursements
Clive Gardner Law Office charge a bureau fee of $60.00 plus GST for each file opened. This covers all tolls, mobile phone calls, photocopying, stamps, envelopes, form fees, faxes, emails, service and accounting charges.
In providing services disbursements may be incurred or payments made to third parties on your behalf. These will be included in our invoice when the disbursement is incurred. Clive Gardner Law Office may require an advance payment for disbursements incurred on your behalf.
2.3 GST (if any)
GST (if any) is payable on our fees and charges.
2.4 Invoices
Clive Gardner Law Office will send invoices, on completion of the matter, or termination of our engagement. We may also send you an invoice when we incur significant disbursements.
2.5 Payment
Usually property transactions are billed at the time of settlement or completion of the work. When a property is sold, or a mortgage advanced, fees and disbursements will be deducted from the sale proceeds or mortgage advance. Invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice, unless alternative arrangements have been made. Clive Gardner Law Office requires interest to be paid on any amount which is more than 7 days overdue. Interest will be calculated at the rate of 8% above Westpac Bank’s 90-day bank bill buy rate as at the close of business on the date payment became due. If an invoice remains unpaid for 60 days you agree to pay all collection costs incurred by Clive Gardner Law Office.
2.6 Security
Clive Gardner Law Office may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us, or to provide security for our fees and disbursements. You authorise Clive Gardner Law Office to:
(a) debit against amounts pre-paid by you; and
(b) deduct from any funds held on your behalf in our trust account
any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.
We acknowledge the growing trend of payment by electronic banking and on request you will supply an encoded Bank deposit slip or signed authority to enable accuracy of information for payment from Clive Gardner Law Office to you; and
The trust account of Clive Gardner Law Office is account number 030374 0149475-00 with Westpac Bank.
2.7 Third Parties
Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for our fees and disbursements, and although our invoices may at your request or with your approval be directed to a third party, nevertheless you remain responsible for payment if the third party fails to pay.
3. Confidentiality
3.1 Clive Gardner Law Office hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that is acquired during the course of acting for you. Clive Gardner Law Office will not disclose any of this information to any other person except:
(a) to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or
(b) to the extent required by law or by Chapter 8 of the New Zealand Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
3.2 Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available only to those within our firm who are providing legal services to you.
3.3 Clive Gardner Law Office will not disclose to you confidential information which Clive Gardner Law Office have in relation to any other client.
4. Termination
4.1 You may terminate our retainer at any time.
4.2 Clive Gardner Law Office may terminate its retainer in any of the circumstances set out in Chapter 4 of the New Zealand Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
4.3 If our retainer is terminated you must pay Clive Gardner Law Office all fees due up to the date of termination and all expenses incurred up to that date.
5. Retention of files and documents
5.1 You authorise Clive Gardner Law Office (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for this matter (other than any documents that we hold in safe custody for you) 7 years after our engagement ends, or earlier if Clive Gardner Law Office have converted those files and documents to an electronic format.
6. Conflicts of Interest
6.1 Clive Gardner Law Office has procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest. If a conflict of interest arises Clive Gardner Law Office will advise you of this and follow the requirements and procedures set out in Chapter 5 of the New Zealand Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
7. Duty of Care
7.1 Our duty of care is to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may rely on our advice, Clive Gardner Law Office must expressly agree to this.
8. Trust Account
8.1 Clive Gardner Law Office maintains a trust account for all funds received from clients. If Clive Gardner Law Office holds significant funds on your behalf Clive Gardner Law Office will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit with the National Bank. In that case Clive Gardner Law Office will charge an administration fee of 5% of the interest derived for accounting to you for the gross interest earned less IRD RWT and issuing withholding tax certificates in April of each year.
9. General
9.1 These Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not Clive Gardner Law Office sends you another copy of them.
9.2 Clive Gardner Law Office are entitled to change these Terms from time to time.
9.3 Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction.
9.4 Clive Gardner Law Office holds professional indemnity insurance that meets or exceeds minimum standards set by the NZ Law Society.
9.5 If you have a complaint please refer this to Clive Gardner. The Law Society also has a complaints service.