Barristers Clerking, BrisbaneRoma Street Magistrates Court, BrisbaneBarristers Clerking, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

Terms

Disclosure and Offer

This document is published as:

  • disclosure under the Legal Profession Act 2007; and
  • where a barrister has agreed to accept a brief referred to her or him through BarristersClerking.com.au an offer to enter into a costs agreement under the Legal Profession Act 2007.

Fee Disclosure

Fees will be calculated on the basis set out on the BarristersClerking.com.au Scale of Fees as published on this website from time to time.

Estimate of Fees

An estimate of fees is provided by reference to the fixed scale and item description in the BarristersClerking.com.au Scale of Fees as published on this website from time to time and or will be given under separate cover.

The estimate is based on the information provided by you and available at the date of the estimate.

The estimate means just that: it is an estimate, not a quotation and is subject to change.

Termination

If counsel is instructed for a matter involving an appearance in court with the effect that he or she cannot accept another brief so as to occupy that time set aside for the client or the matter, then counsel is entitled to charge a fee for time lost in consequence provided the termination of the instructions is without fault on counsel's part on the basis:

  • If counsel is given more than 7 days notice of the cessation of instructions, no fee apart from time spent on account of out-of-court work.
  • If counsel is given less than 7 days notice of the cessation of instructions, but more than 48 hours notice, 50% of the above fees;
  • If counsel is  given less than 48 hours notice of the cessation of instructions, the full fee for time thrown away will be incurred.
  • If counsel can obtain work in place of the time allocated and lost on cessation of instructions, there will be a corresponding reduction in fees for any fee charged for time thrown away.

Billing Details

Invoices will issue on completion of major events from time to time within the scope of the retainer, for example, preparation of a particular document, conclusions of a conference or series of conferences, after an appearance in court or similar, or at the conclusion of the retainer or failing such an event then monthly at the conclusion of each month, where appropriate.

Invoices may be delivered by email or by post or both.

Contact Person

The client may contact counsel or the clerk at BarristersClerking.com.au to discuss legal costs.

Terms of Payment and Interest

Any memorandum of fees will be issued in the form of a tax invoice.

Invoices are payable on receipt.

Payment is required regardless of whether an instructing firm of solicitors has been placed in funds by its own client.

If bills remain unpaid for one calendar month and a minimum of 30 days of becoming due for payment, interest may be charged on the unpaid amount at a benchmark rate being the rate prescribed by regulations under the Legal Profession Act 2007 which is the rate defined by the regulations to the Legal Profession Act 2007, plus two percentage points as at the date of the bill.

An instructing legal practitioner (whether a company, partnership or individual carrying on business) is personally liable for the payment of counsel's professional fees and outgoings (irrespective of whether or not funds have been received from their client) and the payment of those fees is not contingent upon the outcome of the retainer.

A legal practitioner who provides instructions on behalf of their client for the purpose of obtaining counsel's services, accepts personal liability for payment of the fees to be charged for the service, provided that if the practitioner is not to accept personal liability, the practitioner must inform counsel of the arrangements intended to be made for payment of the fees in writing and counsel must agree to the arrangement in writing. For the purpose of this agreement legal practitioner includes all of those legal practitioners who are directors or shareholders of an incorporated legal practice or who are partners in a legal firm practicing as a partnership at the time the services are engaged or performed and the client on whose behalf the services are preformed and the individual legal practitioner who provides the instructions warrants that he or she has actual authority to bind those other legal practitioners as defined above.

Liability between instructing parties is joint and several.

In the case of a default or alleged default in payment of any memorandum of fees issued pursuant to this agreement, any legal process issued by counsel can be served by ordinary prepaid post to the party's address for business in the case of solicitors or to the address the party advised was their business or home address in the case of a direct access client, this provision being included to give effect to rule 119(1)(a) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 and an affidavit of counsel deposing to the advised business or home address of a direct access client shall be conclusive proof of the advice and the address.

The laws of Queensland and the Legal Profession Act 2007 apply to any legal costs under these provinces.

Standards, Immunity and Scheme Limitation

Counsel’s immunity under common law from suit relating to work done in court, or work done out of court affecting the conduct of this matter in court, will apply to this retainer agreement.

Counsel is bound by the ethical and cognate standards set forth in the Act and the Legal Profession (Barristers Rules) 2011.

Further please note that as a “Class A Ordinary” member of the Bar Association of Queensland, counsel’s professional liability is limited by a scheme approved under the Professional Standards Act 2004.  In this regard, please see the statement to that effect on the base of this website and see also the Professional Standards Council website at http://www.psc.gov.au/psc/schmenesii/bag.html for further information.  Please also note that there are exceptions to the scheme’s operation specified in section 6 of the Professional Standards Act 2004.  These include the circumstance of counsel acting for a client in a personal injuries claim.

Costs Agreement

This publication is an offer by a participating barrister to you to enter into a costs agreement pursuant to Part 3.4 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 with you as a legal practitioner (as defined above) or as a direct access client for any work briefed to that barrister through the BarristersClerking.com.au barristers clerking system by you and accepted by a participating barrister.

It  may be accepted in writing or by conduct.

The conduct that will constitute acceptances includes any act which would objectively be viewed as accepting conduct, and by briefing counsel or by accepting counsel's services or work product.